Cold Process Soap
This is a very traditional “making from scratch” method of crafting soap. We start by combining high quality oils, fats, and/or butters with lye and distilled water – you can’t make soap without lye. Then we blend in other ingredients such as colorants (mica and clay) and fragrance (essential oils and fragrance blends. This process causes a chemical reaction called saponification, where the oils/fats/butters are transformed into soap, consuming the lye in the process. There is no lye in the finished product.
Some characteristics of Cold Process include:
- Pro – Can customize every single ingredient, including oils.
- Pro – Often made in “loaf molds”, each bar and batch is unique
- Pro – Because of the trace and consistency, this method can produce more visually creative bars than other methods, and sometimes incorporates fresh ingredients like milk and fruit/vegetable purees. (Think “cake wars!”)
- Con – Some colors and fragrances can morph in the high pH environment and fade, turn brown, or entirely change over time.
- Con – Some essential oils and scents may not survive the saponification process, especially citrus oils.
- Con – Loss of Original Properties: The original base oil's chemical structure and properties, including its natural oils, vitamins, and other beneficial compounds, are altered, reduced, or destroyed during saponification.
- Cold process soap takes about 4 – 6 weeks to cure before it is ready to be used.
