Different soap making methods that create good soap

The path to a finished soap can look a little different and it is not obvious which one gives the best soap.

Hot bar soap

Here the sodium hydroxide solution is boiled with the oils to produce a finished soap immediately after solidification. There are different variants of the hot-mix soap-making method, and even the modern conventional industry makes its soap hot-mix. Either you boil the soap and just put it in a mold, just like with the cold process. Or there are variants in which the beneficial moisturizing glycerine is broken down to either sell it or add it back to the soap batter later. Many large craft soap makers also buy so-called core soap from someone else to then grate, scent and press out their soap. Hot-stirred soap is recognized by its chunky shape or molded form. Are also more compact and blunt than those cold stirred. 

Hot-rolled traditional production

Oils and lye are boiled in large cauldrons. Then the soap is salted to precipitate the glycerine which is usually added again at the end.

Pressed hot-stirred soap

Soap is made using the hot-stirred traditional method, and then the finished soap is grated to be mixed with fragrance and extra oil. The new soap mass is passed under pressure through tubes and punched or cut into pieces. The process can be done many times, triple milled soap is a term that means that the soap is grated and pressed three times. The reason is to get a better lather structure and at the same time a more durable soap.

Cold process soap

The most modern method of soap making (dating back to the 19th century), it also requires the least machinery and space and is the most creative. Cold-stirred means that the lye and oils are mixed together without the addition of heat, although it gets a few degrees hotter when the components meet. The oil and lye are mixed together, often with a mixing rod, overfat is added and any fragrance and color is added. The batter is poured into molds and step two of the saponification process begins. The mold with the soap batter should be kept warm for at least 24h or until the soap has solidified. When the soap is solidified, it has become a useful soap, but for the last molecules in the formation of glycerin to set and also for the sake of the scent, the soap should be stored for about 14 days. Tvåla & Tvaga's own organic soaps are created with this method.

How do you recognize a cold process soap? No molded edge from punching machine. If the soap is marbled, it is cold-stirred, no other soap method creates such a workable smear.

So which one is best? It depends on the soapmaker we say and organic and with equal ingredients there are soaps from both methods. But the jungle gets thornier around the hot-mixed ones because that method is also used in the conventional industry and it can be generally a little more dry in its feel.