What Is Cold Process Soap? A Complete Guide to Handmade Soap

If you've only ever used supermarket soap, you might wonder what all the fuss is about when someone mentions cold process soap.

Isn't soap just soap?

Not quite.

Cold process soap is a traditional way of making soap from scratch using oils and butters, sodium hydroxide (aka caustic soda or lye), liquid and carefully selected additional ingredients such as botanicals, clays, natural colourants, micas and essential or fragrance oils.

And while the finished bar might look simple, there's considerably more going on behind it than meets the eye.

At Pure Bliss Soap Co, our deluxe natural cleansing bars are made in small batches, carefully formulated and given a full six-week cure before they're ready for you.

So let's take a look at what makes cold process soap different and why so many people prefer the way it feels on their skin.

So, What Exactly Is Cold Process Soap?

Cold process soap is made through a chemical reaction called saponification.

This happens when oils and butters are combined with a carefully measured sodium hydroxide solution. The ingredients react together and transform into soap.

The way a soapmaker works with the ingredients can vary depending on the formulation. Some ingredients may be incorporated into the oils before the lye solution is added, others may be included in the lye solution, while ingredients such as certain colourants, botanicals, exfoliants or scents may be added at different stages as the soap batter is being mixed.

There isn't one rigid recipe or sequence that applies to every cold process soap.

That's part of what makes soapmaking considerably more complex than it might appear from the outside.

Once the formulation has been properly mixed and reached the desired stage, the soap is poured into moulds, where it continues to harden and saponification progresses.

After that, the soap is removed from the moulds, cut, bevelled, stamped and left to cure.

And that's only the beginning of their journey.

Why Does Cold Process Soap Feel Different on Your Skin?

This is one of the reasons people fall in love with handmade soap.

A well-formulated cold process soap allows the soapmaker to choose the oils and butters that go into the recipe and formulate the bar specifically for how they want it to cleanse and feel on the skin.

During saponification, naturally occurring glycerine is produced as part of the chemical reaction.

Glycerine is a humectant, which means it attracts and helps hold moisture. In a cleansing product, that matters because a good soap isn't just about removing dirt and oils. It's also about creating a comfortable cleansing experience rather than leaving the skin feeling unnecessarily tight, dry or stripped.

In traditionally made cold process soap, the naturally occurring glycerine remains in the finished bar rather than being removed during processing. It can contribute to the softer, more comfortable skin feel that many people appreciate about a well-formulated handmade soap.

Our bars are made with carefully selected plant oils and butters, including organic cocoa butter and virgin shea butter, and retain this naturally occurring glycerine.

By comparison, some traditional commercial soap manufacturing processes separate glycerine from the soap, where it may be recovered for use elsewhere. Some mass-produced cleansing bars can therefore have a different skin feel, particularly when they are formulated to cleanse very efficiently. For some people, that different skin feel can be noticeably dry, tight or stripped.

Glycerine isn't the only factor that determines how a soap feels on your skin. The entire formulation, including the oils and butters used, the cleansing characteristics of the recipe and how the finished bar is cured, all play a role.

That's why well-formulated cold process soap can feel so different from one bar to another.

And that difference is where the skill of the soapmaker really comes into play.

What Makes Handmade Soap Different From Mass-Produced Bars?

Mass-produced cleansing products are designed to be manufactured efficiently and consistently on a very large scale.

Handmade cold process soap is a completely different proposition.

The soapmaker controls the formulation from the beginning, selecting the oils, butters, scents and other ingredients that go into the recipe.

At Pure Bliss Soap Co, our bars are made in small batches rather than thousands at a time.

They're then individually finished, hand-bevelled and stamped.

That time and attention to detail is one of the reasons handmade soap costs more than a supermarket bar.

We've talked more about that in our blog “Why Handmade Soap Costs More Than Supermarket Soap.”

What Goes Into Cold Process Soap?

There isn't one universal recipe for cold process soap, and that's one of the things that makes handmade soap so interesting.

The oils and butters form the foundation of the recipe, with each ingredient bringing different characteristics to the finished bar. From there, a soapmaker can carefully select ingredients such as clays, botanicals, charcoal, coffee, spices, fruit or vegetable purées and carefully chosen scents to create the look, feel and character of each formulation.

At Pure Bliss Soap Co, we use premium botanical ingredients, including organic cocoa butter and virgin shea butter, along with a variety of natural ingredients to create our distinctive bars.

And because we formulate our soap ourselves, we know exactly what goes into each bar.

No mystery ingredients. No palm oil ever.

Just carefully selected ingredients, thoughtfully formulated and made in small batches.

Why Are Handmade Soaps Different Colours?

One of the fun things about handmade soap is that nature gives us an enormous colour palette.

Clays can create beautiful colours ranging from earthy neutrals to greens, yellows, pinks and purples. Charcoal can create a range from light grey through to black tones. Coffee, spices, botanicals and fruit or vegetable ingredients can all contribute their own colours.

That means our soap doesn't need to look perfectly uniform.

In fact, we'd be disappointed if it did.

The colour is part of the personality of the bar.

Why Does Cold Process Soap Need to Cure?

This is where the patience really comes in.

Once a cold process soap has been made, it isn't immediately ready to use.

Saponification transforms the oils and sodium hydroxide into soap, but the bar still needs time to cure.

During curing, water gradually evaporates from the soap, helping the bar become harder, longer-lasting and gentler to use.

As the bar cures, it develops its final structure and becomes less soluble in water, meaning it doesn't dissolve away as quickly when you use it. A properly cured bar will generally last longer and provide a more pleasant, gentle cleansing experience than a freshly made bar.

At Pure Bliss Soap Co, every deluxe natural cleansing bar receives a full six-week cure.

Six weeks.

For soap.

We know. Patience isn't always easy.

But it's worth it.

Is Making Cold Process Soap Easy?

It might look easy from the outside.

Measure some oils. Mix some ingredients. Pour it into a mould. Done.

Absolutely not.

There is a considerable amount of knowledge and precision behind properly formulated cold process soap.

Recipes need to be carefully calculated. Oils and butters need to be selected for their individual properties. Sodium hydroxide must be handled safely and accurately. Temperatures and the behaviour of the soap batter need to be understood, and different ingredients can behave very differently during the process.

Even the timing of when ingredients are introduced can matter. Some ingredients can be incorporated into the oils or lye solution, while others may need to be added later in the process depending on their characteristics and the formulation.

Then there's curing, cutting, finishing and packaging.

And that's before you get into the years of experience involved in developing and refining formulations.

Making soap is one thing.

Making consistently beautiful, high-quality soap is another.

Why We Make Cold Process Soap at Pure Bliss Soap Co

For us, cold process soap is about having control over what goes into our bars and giving each formulation the time and attention it deserves.

Our deluxe natural cleansing bars are made in small batches using carefully selected botanical ingredients.

They're 100% plant based, palm oil free and cruelty free.

And each bar is individually finished by hand.

There are plenty of faster ways to make soap.

We just don't think faster automatically means better.

So, Is Cold Process Soap Worth Trying?

If you've been using mass-produced soap bars your whole life, trying a properly formulated handmade cold process soap can be a revelation.

The ingredients are different.

The formulation is different.

The way the bar feels on your skin can be different.

And there's something rather lovely about knowing the soap you're using has been carefully made in small batches rather than produced by the thousands.

Cold process soap takes more time, more care and considerably more hands-on work.

But that's exactly what makes it handmade.

And at Pure Bliss Soap Co, that's how we like to make it.

Explore our range of deluxe natural cleansing bars and discover your new favourite.