It happens all the time.
Inspired by a friend or website, someone becomes excited about the possibility of making their own soap.
Then, they inevitably become frustrated by the soap making process.
They need to buy new tools, ingredients, learn how to work with lye, and worst of all - they need to WAIT for the soap to cure when they're finished.
Six weeks can sound like an eternity when you're imagining using your first batch of real homemade soap! At this point, they'll stumble on a website that casually mentions the soap melt and pour method.
"Melt and pour is the perfect way for beginners to get started making soap," the site will claim.
"Just melt it, pour it in to the molds, and let it cool - and you've got soap you can use right away!" None of this "six weeks to cure" nonsense - you get usable soap immediately.
Who wouldn't love that? Unfortunately, these sites don't give you the whole story.
What most would-be soap makers fail to realize is that the ingredients used in many melt and pour soap bases are awful! When you make soap, you choose ingredients that make your skin feel good - real oils, carefully balanced for moisture, lather, and cleaning ability.
With melt and pour, you have no choice.
You purchase a base (most are nearly identical) and choose the colors and scents that you want, but not the ingredients.
You're stuck with whatever chemicals the manufacturer used.
And, they do use chemicals.
Melt and pour bases often contain harsh chemical detergents that will strip your skin of natural oils, and leave you dry, irritated, and itchy, just like cheap bar soap from the grocery store.
Try it yourself - search for melt and pour soap bases online, and then look at the ingredients.
Look for things like sodium lauryl sulfates, sodium laureth sulfates, and triethanolamine.
Every melt and pour soap base that I found contained at least one of these chemicals.
The irony is, many people get into soap making to AVOID harsh detergents like these! Alternatives to the Soap Melt and Pour Method Rather than give up on soap making altogether, consider your alternatives.
Cold process soap making (making soap completely from scratch) does have a learning curve, but it also tremendously rewarding.
Best of all, you'll have complete control over the soap you make.
There's no way for anyone to sneak irritating chemicals into your soap! An even easier alternative is to learn to "rebatch" soap.
Rebatching is similar to melt and pour.
You melt down pre-made soap, add scents and colors, and cool.
Unlike melt and pour, rebatch bases are usually real, cold-process soap that someone else has made, using the same natural ingredients that you would use! If you look at the ingredients, you'll see lists of recognizable oils, rather than chemicals.
So, before jumping on the melt and pour bandwagon, take a minute to compare some soap bases.
Look at the ingredients listed for melt and pour soap bases, and those for rebatch soap bases, and see which you'd rather use on your skin.
Choose wisely, and you can experience both the joy of making soap, and the healthy, beautiful that homemade soap gives us.