Melt and pour soap is made from a pre-made solid soap base. The base is made in bulk from
vegetable glycerin. It is sold in 2 basic types – a clear transparent and an opaque white. The bases are made from the same ingredients but the white soap contains titanium dioxide, which gives it the white colour. The glycerin gives the soap a moisturising quality.
The soap can be melted down in a microwave or bain-marie, colour and fragrance added, and then poured into moulds. The soap sets quickly and once it is turned out it is ready.
There are numerous bases you can buy now. Some bases contain Sodium Laureth Sulphate, which is a chemical which is often found in commercial soap and increases it’s lathering properties. Unfortunately, it has also been found to be a skin irritant. However it is possible to buy bases that are SLS free.
You can add some butters, oils and other ingredients to your soaps to enhance the quality of them.However, you can also buy a good range of soap bases with butters, oils, or Aloe Vera already added to them, from most reputable soap suppliers. These kinds of bases do not cost much more, but will save you time, as the properties have been added for you and you will also get a consistent product, as these companies will produce the bases in bulk and add consistent amounts.
You can easily colour and fragrance your soap to create different effects. You can choose synthetic fragrances, or essential oils depending on what effect or fragrance you want. You can even buy ‘designer’ fragrances like Dior, Burberry or Chanel if you want to replicate fragrances that people already know and like.
The clear melt and pour soap is transparent and so is great for creating different effects within your bars of soap. There are many techniques that you can use to achieve these. You can use several colours at once, in layers, or marbled, or you can embed pieces of soap in other bars or loaves of soap. You can use herbs, flowers and other natural products to add to the decorative qualities of the soap. These can be purely ornamental, or used as an exfoliating tool.
Because your soap base will be consistent each time, if you repeatedly buy from the same supplier, it is easy to replicate your recipes. The white and clear soap bases allow for great clarity of colour and the opaque and transparent aspects will ensure easy contrasting effects within your products.
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