Making Soap!

I had a block of melt and pour coconut soap base that was sitting around, taking up space in the house.

Today, I decided to finally use it up!

To begin with, melt and pour is extremely easy soap to make. You literally chop the block of soap in small pieces, melt it in the microwave, then pour it in to molds.  Done.  Oh yes, you can color it, and fragrance it- you can add things to make it an exfoliating bar, but ultimately, it's as easy as its name implies.

My one pound block of based made 4-3oz. bars of soap and 2 2-oz. bars of soap.   A few of them are Eucalyptus scented, the rest are apple scented.

I think that ultimately, melt and pour soap will be less satisfactory than the soap you're used to using in the stores.  Not to mention that start up costs, while not prohibitive, they are at least going to cost you around $15 for the bare minimum block of soap, fragrances and mold(s).  The fancier you get, the more costs you have.

Now, if you are clever with your use of coupons (think 40% off at Michaels), you can cut your start up costs to $9.00 or under.  Still, you are looking at $0.56 per ounce of soap, plus the time to actually make it, costs to wrap it up and keep it clean, etc.

Now, if you have an excess of goats milk, a good market and really want to go at this in a business sense, I know there is money to be made selling a good quality milk soap.  However, it is certainly not melt and pour easy.

If you don't mind the extra costs and time involved, if this is something you just want to do for the pleasure of working with your hands, then it's enjoyable to see your creations pop out of the mold.  If you think you are going to save a ton of money, then at best I am thinking you can eventually get down to around $0.32 an ounce or cheaper, but you can still purchase soap at the store cheaper, especially if you coupon.  So- it is what it is. 

-Kristen