What is hot process soap?
Hot process soap is made from scratch in the same way that cold process soaps are made with one difference, and that is heat. The heat speeds up the saponification process between the lye and oils to produce a wonderfully hard and lathering soap. The end product is a rich soap that is mild on the skin. There is no lye left in the soap after saponification has taken place. And hot process soaps require less curing time because the saponification has already happened while it cooks. I always let my soaps cure for a minimum of 2 weeks so that they become harder and longer lasting. Some of my soaps are made by handmilling, which is when I first make a batch of hot process soap, let it cure for a week and then grate it down to re-cook and add in the scents and colors. The reason I do this is because some fragrances and color may fade in the original hot process method. So to avoid this I let the soap cure a bit more and then add the final scent and color. The result is a wonderful soap with
In this type of process, heat is added and the soap and it is cooked, going through several stages before becoming soap. At the end of the cook, the soap is cooled, fragrance is added and it is glopped into a mold. Once it is cooled, it can be cut and used. No cure time is necessary but from personal experience, I still feel that a couple of weeks on the curing rack will improve the quality and gentleness of the soap.
