What's The Difference In All The Soaps Out There?

What's the Difference Between all the Soaps out There?

By NaturallyAmy

I get a lot of folks asking me about handmade soap. How it's made, how it's better than store bought and some just wanting to learn the craft. I had someone recently ask "What's the difference between all the soaps out there?"

Great question. The selection of handmade soap can be so overwhelming. There's basically cold process, hot process, liquid soap and melt and pour. I get so many people asking also "What's better, what's safer? What about lye? Oh my God there is LYE in soap." So with that, I hope to clear up some myths and have those of you that never used handmade soap have an incentive to give it a try.

So.. that said, all soap starts as oils, and a base alkali. Soap makers use lye as that base alkali.

Each oil has a specific amount of lye that it needs to mix with to create soap. Soap makers refer to this as the SAP value (the saponification value) and yes even melt and pour soap starts with lye.

You need lye to make soap. Period. Anyone that tells you that their soap wasn't made with lye is fibbing. Once the oils and the proper amount of lye are combined and go through their chemical process, (saponification) the lye converts to natural glycerin. Well made soap no longer contains lye. It's been converted into glycerin and becomes a safe skin product.

Let's look at the different types of handmade soap out there and the processes used to create them.

Cold Process Soap:

This is one of the favorite and best known soap making methods that many soap makers use. I'm a Cold Process or CP soap maker for short. Cold process soap is soap that undergoes the saponification (turning to soap) process in the mold. The natural chemical reaction of the mixing of the lye and oils creates heat and once that begins the lye and oil starts to convert to glycerin. Properly made soap has no lye left in it after it's done.

All of the lye has reacted with the oils, and pure glycerin is left behind. I use a variety of sustainable oils, known for their skin loving properties, and they can include sunflower, coconut, palms, olive, rice bran and shea butters, sometimes hemp seed oil depending on my recipe. The correct amount of lye is measured and mixed with water, or a liquid of choice to the soap maker. Sometimes I use coconut milk, goat milk, butter milk or a combination of liquids. The oils and lye solution are then combined and blended.

I next add any essential oils, and or colorants, herbs or botanicals if I am using them, mix it all again and then pour the soap "batter" into handmade wooden molds, insulate them to further help the gelling phase and then the soap continues to saponify in the mold.

When it's done, it starts to harden. I then unmold the log of soap 24 hours later and it's cut into bars and I let it cure it for a few weeks. The curing removes excess water in the soap and makes it harder and longer lasting. Then it's packaged.

Some soap makers (myself included) "superfat" their soap. That means we use a bit less lye then needed and some oils in that recipe don't change to soap and are left circulating freely in the bar. That helps with moisturizing. Cold Process soap appears smoother than it's cousin, the Hot Processed soap.

Hot Process Soap:

Some soap makers do what's called Hot Process soap making. They do the same thing I do but they use a crock pot or stove top pot to add heat to the mix to speed up saponification, rather than let it happen in the soap mold itself.

Once gel phase is reached in their pot, they scent and color then pour into molds. Hot Processed soap can be used as soon as it's cooled and set up.

Hot process soap tends to look more rustic, not as smooth as cold process, but it is the same end product as cold process soap.

Melt And Pour Soap:

Melt and Pour is basically a pre-made glycerin soap base that has a few additives in it, that make it easy to melt in either the microwave or the stove pot, then poured into waiting molds. It's a great medium for those that have kids and don't want to deal with lye.

Melt and Pour base comes in many types. Clear, opaque, goat’s milk, olive oil—to name a few. Once it's melted it's ready for scent, color and the additives of choice by the soap maker.

There is great creativity to be had with melt and pour and some of the designs I have seen by other soap makers are truly works of art. If you've ever seen those cute little soaps molded into fun shapes, and colors, those are probably melt and pour.

I consider melt and pour soap making an art unto itself and have the greatest respect for those soap makers that create with it. Sometimes I do use melt and pour, if I want to make soap with my son, or just have fun and be creative.

Some soap makers will argue that melt and pour is not a true soap. I say "bah" to that. It is no different than for example baking a cake from scratch vs. using a box mix. The end result is still cake. And so it is with melt and pour soap. It is still soap, and good soap at that.

So why is handmade soap better than store bought? Well for one it's kinder to your skin.

Large soap manufacturers in the process of soap making often remove the natural made glycerin from their soap. This makes their soap long lasting, and harder. They then turn around and add the glycerin they removed from the soap and add it to their lotions. Which is a great marketing ploy. Without the glycerin their soap is much less moisturizing and you end up with dry skin.

So what do you do? You reach for their lotion that has the glycerin they removed to moisturize your skin. Vicious cycle huh? Well that's large scale commercial soap making for you.


Handmade soap is an affordable luxury today. Once you experience the feel and scent of fresh herbs, and botanicals, mixed with pure oils and then combined with the goodness of pure essential oils and fine fragrances that we soap makers use, you will never, ever want to use store bought soap again. I know if I stop making it, I will buy from another soap maker. I will never go back to store bought soap again.