Melt and Pour Glycerine Soap Base is different from traditionally made cold process soap. It is a soap that has been created to produce an easy to use base to which you can add colour, fragrance etc without the need to use Sodium Hydroxide. Melt and Pour Glycerine Soap started out in the same way as traditional cold process type soap but has gone through additional processes to form the glycerine soap base. It depends on the ingredients used and the manufacturing process as to whether the glycerine soap base is clear or translucent.
Melt and Pour Glycerine Soap does not need to be cured and can be used immediately.
One form of soap or another has been used for thousands of years. During the “Dark Ages” soap was little used for personal hygiene. The type of soap made, known as Lye Soap, would have been made from left-over, boiled, animal fats mixed with an alkaline solution made by combining fire ashes and water to create lye. The lye solution would be poured into the melted animal fats which causes it to heat up. This was stirred constantly while it thickened which could take several hours, before being poured into containers to set up. Lye soap was made for cleaning wools and cooking utensils.
It was not generally used as a cosmetic product for a long time. When it did become more popular for personal hygiene, it was an expensive product that was highly taxed, making it a luxury only the wealthy could afford.
Modern cold process bar soap uses factory produced Sodium Hydroxide to saponify the oils. Cold process soap makers create recipes designed to give the soap a variety of properties that are beneficial to the skin. Once made the soap bars are cured for 4-6 weeks while the saponification process is completed and the bars harden.
