From Hating Making Soap to Addicted?!

As promised that I would share about the hot process soap-making story, here it comes! A post sharing my personal opinions on soap making :)

There are many ways to make soap, one commonly used by soap makers is called the "Cold Process". Basically, you can interpret it as doing soap making without adding external heat to speed up the chemical reaction. It takes around 4-6 weeks for soap to be usable on human skin. This slower, soap-forming process buys time for soap makers to create nice smooth swirl designs before it hardens, and I was using this technique a few years ago (which made me hate soap making....)

"Hot process" on the other hand, is adding external heat to speed up the "soap forming" reaction. Basically, you can get soap ready to use within 1 hour. 

This! Is a game changer for me.

Why? The clean up is JUST a gem after doing hot process!

First, let me tell you what I hated about cold process, besides it takes patience.

• The soap forming process takes a longer time, so what you have on your tools, in your mold, on your table are still very high pH! Basically, you can't just randomly put it anywhere or touch it with you bare hands. 
• Again, because the soap forming process takes a long time, if you want to clean your tools immediately, it's just a greasy paste with high pH, not good for your sink, and you have to add soap to wash off that greasy.... What an irony.
• Or, you can wait a few days until the soap that's left on your tools hardens, then you wash your tools, but it means you need a storage place for them, and you probably need more tools as you probably have other things to do and you need those tools!
• Making sure the soap is hard enough when you unmold, especially when you use lots of soft oils, and they do tend to stick to mold more than using hot process.
• Because the soap takes much longer to harden, those little bits that follow off whenever you touch, cut, or move the soap, these bits are like...... butter and it just creates a greasy mush on any surfaces it comes in contact with. I once had a worker in my old studio that was just so sloppy that these soap crumps fall on the ground and being stepped on....... then the floor just becomes so dirty, dirt is stuck to these mushed buttery crumbs, and it's slippery!
• Gloves gloves gloves all the time...
• Since it takes 4-6 weeks to cure before use, you gotta monitor it throughout this time! Don't let the air be too humid or else there will be dew on your soap. Don't cover it too tight or else there will be soda ash. Don't leave it in open space because dust will stick on it....
• So much more, but just to name a few.....

Hot process on the other hand, speeds up the chemical process, and the soap is ready to use within an hour right? What does it bring you?

• You can wash your tools immediately!
• Soap that is stuck on your tools forms perfect lather for you to wash you tools with, no need to add extra soap to wash things
• Since soap is formed already, no greasy paste, no high pH things lying around, no soft soap crumbs falling off
• No need to wear gloves after the soap is cooked because the pH is lowered already, just within that 1 hour, or even minutes (depending on the recipe and temperature you use)
• Much less time to cure, and your soap is ready to use / sell much earlier.
• And, here comes a very important one for me, you have a lot more options to choose from in terms of oil and butter. Cold process soap makers tend to minimize butters or hard oils because it hardens the mixture before they can pour into the mold. But with the addition of heat in hot process, it softens the mixture, so in other words, you can add a lot more butter and hard oils (which are REALLY good on the skin) to the recipe.

Before I get too technical, I just want to say, by changing the method I use to make soap, I have evolved from hating making soap to addicted!

I guess, there is always a reason why you started a hobby, and also a reason why you started to hate it. The life-changing point could simply be just changing the methodology. Know what you hate, why you hate it, and see if there are other ways to do it :)

Have fun with life ~