Tips and Tricks
Handcrafted soap is more delicate than commercially produced soap and usually you pay a little more for it. So, you want it to last as long as you can to get the most out of your purchase. Here are some tips on how to stretch your "Kreations".
Handcrafted soap is more delicate than commercially produced soap and usually you pay a little more for it. So, you want it to last as long as you can to get the most out of your purchase. Here are some tips on how to stretch your "Kreations".
- Don't let your soap sit in water in a soap dish. Keep it on a higher rack or in a closed soap container so that the shower spray doesn't get to it.
- If you choose to put it into a container, let it dry completely before closing the container
- Cut it in half and use one half at a time.
- Use a washcloth, sponge or loofah instead of your hands.
- When you are down to the scraps, save them in a small pouch. When the pouch is full, you will have a new bar of soap made up of all your favorites.
- Buy more than one bar at a time and alternate. ☺️
- Summer heat may cause "sweating" soap. It is natural and harmless. Glycerin is being released.
- Keep body butters refrigerated in the summer for best results. They are coconut oil based and may melt in temperatures above 76 degrees.
Some Things to Keep in Mind
Making homemade soap is both an art and a science. It is art because you are creating and expressing that creativity in much the same way that a chef creates a beautiful new recipe and plates her creation. Yet, each time it is plated, there is a slight difference in position or in the placement of that pretty swirl of chocolate at the edge of your dessert plate. Each is unique. In each batch of soap, where two colors are swirled for example, no two batches will ever have exactly the same swirl. For that matter, no two bars will ever be twins. That is the beauty of the art.
But it is a science in the same way that one needs to follow a recipe and measure carefully. Too much or too little of anything will alter the product. Sometimes it is a positive change, sometimes it makes little difference and sometimes it is disastrous. For example, the color of soap can be influenced by the type or even brand of oil used. Picture several bottles of olive oil on the supermarket shelf for a minute. The colors can range from a golden yellow to greenish. If you made three batches of soap using three different bottles, each of those batches would have a slightly different color at the end of the cure time. No disaster there, but for consistency, it matters. Unless again, you see it as a work of art. Eye of the beholder, right?
Cure time is another important thing to keep in mind. Depending on the process, cure time will vary. Cure time is the time it takes for the lye and oils to completely be "ready" and for the excess liquid to completely evaporate. If you don't allow for a full cure, the soap could be harsh on your skin and the bar will probably be soft. The longer the cure time the harder the bar. The harder your bar of soap the longer it will last you.
At Kimsoapia Kreations, no bar is sold before it's time. Patience is a virtue because soap made using the "cold process" method takes 4-6 weeks to fully cure. The "hot process" method allows for a quicker (1-2 weeks) cure, but the result is more rustic looking and it is not as creative or fancy looking. I use both methods and love the look of both for different reasons, but cold process allows for those exquisite looking bars with color swirls and designs that you almost don't want to use because they are so pretty, where as hot process designs are simple and more limited in creative ways if you want to incorporate color and designs.
Either way, the functionality of the soap itself is the same. And again, the longer it cures the harder it will be. Keep in mind that the evaporation of water also may cause the bar to shrink a little. Meaning the longer you keep it and don't use it, the harder but also smaller it will get.
Making homemade soap is both an art and a science. It is art because you are creating and expressing that creativity in much the same way that a chef creates a beautiful new recipe and plates her creation. Yet, each time it is plated, there is a slight difference in position or in the placement of that pretty swirl of chocolate at the edge of your dessert plate. Each is unique. In each batch of soap, where two colors are swirled for example, no two batches will ever have exactly the same swirl. For that matter, no two bars will ever be twins. That is the beauty of the art.
But it is a science in the same way that one needs to follow a recipe and measure carefully. Too much or too little of anything will alter the product. Sometimes it is a positive change, sometimes it makes little difference and sometimes it is disastrous. For example, the color of soap can be influenced by the type or even brand of oil used. Picture several bottles of olive oil on the supermarket shelf for a minute. The colors can range from a golden yellow to greenish. If you made three batches of soap using three different bottles, each of those batches would have a slightly different color at the end of the cure time. No disaster there, but for consistency, it matters. Unless again, you see it as a work of art. Eye of the beholder, right?
Cure time is another important thing to keep in mind. Depending on the process, cure time will vary. Cure time is the time it takes for the lye and oils to completely be "ready" and for the excess liquid to completely evaporate. If you don't allow for a full cure, the soap could be harsh on your skin and the bar will probably be soft. The longer the cure time the harder the bar. The harder your bar of soap the longer it will last you.
At Kimsoapia Kreations, no bar is sold before it's time. Patience is a virtue because soap made using the "cold process" method takes 4-6 weeks to fully cure. The "hot process" method allows for a quicker (1-2 weeks) cure, but the result is more rustic looking and it is not as creative or fancy looking. I use both methods and love the look of both for different reasons, but cold process allows for those exquisite looking bars with color swirls and designs that you almost don't want to use because they are so pretty, where as hot process designs are simple and more limited in creative ways if you want to incorporate color and designs.
Either way, the functionality of the soap itself is the same. And again, the longer it cures the harder it will be. Keep in mind that the evaporation of water also may cause the bar to shrink a little. Meaning the longer you keep it and don't use it, the harder but also smaller it will get.
Two-color design in hot process soap
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Swirls in cold process soap
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