Collection: Melt & Pour Soap Bases

There are no rules out there suggesting that melt and pour bases can’t be mixed! In fact, some combinations have become quite popular over the years, including shea butter and oatmeal! 

Different types of melt and pour soap bases can also be layered to create fun visual effects, with the most common being half-transparent and half-opaque. Some of our customers have even placed goat’s milk shapes inside glycerine bars! The opportunities are endless, but getting things just right may require a bit of research, trial, and error! 

Be sure to share your final creations in our marker’s gallery - tag us on Instagram @TheSoaperyUK! 

Melt and pour soap bases really are as simple as it gets when it comes to soap making. Whether you’re trying things out for the first time as a hobby, want to avoid the trials and tribulations of cold process, or simply want to keep things quick and easy, it’s one of the best possible options out there.

Once you’ve chosen a base best suited to your needs, all you’ll need is a large knife, bowl for melting, microwave or double boiler, mould, and any desired pigments, fragrances, and decorations. 

After prepping your equipment, simply take your base out of its tub, chop it into small cubes, and place it in a bowl. Next, melt on a low heat using a double boiler or microwave, ensuring your liquid doesn’t boil. 

Mix your chosen pigments and fragrance into your melt and pour mix at quantities suggested in your recipe, and pour into your mould. 

Leave to set, and voila! You’ve just made melt and pour soap. 

When it comes to making soap from scratch, there are two main processes - hot, and cold. Each of them requires an acid and base (most often lye and oil) in order to drive the chemical reaction that creates soap, known as ‘saponification’. 

Whilst this reaction is an absolute essential for creating homemade soap, it’s not the easiest to carry out safely. Lye in particular can be hazardous to work with, proving caustic to the skin and eyes. If you’re going to do things the old-fashioned way, we highly recommend buying the right safety equipment, doing your research, and working in a well-ventilated area. 

For those of you who don’t want to work with lye, there are still ways to bring your soap visions to life! Melt and pour soap bases are one of the safest, easiest ways to get started with soap making, as they come pre-saponified! All you’ll have to do is chop up your base, melt it down, mix in your chosen colourants and fragrances, and mould it! The opportunities are endless. 

Colour is one of the best ways to bring life to your handmade melt and pour soap - whether in bright bold shades or subdued natural tones. Of course, there are multiple ways to achieve this, but our preferred method for simplicity and pure pigment power is adding mica powder to your melted mix. 

There’s no prep or extra colourants needed - simply select your mica powder, and mix it straight into your melted batch, stirring until it's fully integrated. If bubbles begin to form, a spritz of alcohol should do the trick. Of course, our soap making experts recommend consulting your exact recipes for colouring suggestions and measurements.

Natural colourants (such as charcoal power, cocoa powder, and nettle powder) can also be used to spice up your soap! Be sure to check The Soapery blog for further tips and tricks on these techniques.  

The truth is, there’s no one universal ‘best’ melt and pour soap base. With so many available, there’s a base out there to suit every need, from sensitive skin to unique colour requirements and more. 

With this being said, our experts recommend oatmeal and shea butter for its naturally exfoliating and anti-inflammatory properties, argan for its high levels of vitamin E, and classic clear or opaque white for their natural cleaning abilities and thick lather. The options really are endless - why not discover our individual product listings for more information?

Which soap base is the most moisturising?

If you’re looking to make a hydrating, moisture-locking bar of soap (or 10), you’re in luck! There are plenty of easy melt and pour soap bases out there with moisture-rich base ingredients. A few of our top recommendations include:

• Triple Butter Melt and Pour: The original base for dry skin. Packed with vitamin E and known for its standout moisturising properties. 
• Shea Butter Melt and Pour: High in beneficial fatty acids, shea butter melt and pour base blends seamlessly into the skin, providing high volumes of moisture. 
• Goats Milk Melt and Pour: This soap contains plenty of glycerine – a humectant that helps retain moisture within the skin. 

Unfortunately, there’s not a huge amount of ‘instant fixes’ out there when it comes to the lather level of melt and pour soap. As it's already gone through the saponification process, following tips that would normally work for cold process soap such as adding sugar or additional oil most likely won’t have too much of an effect, or may even make your bar lather less. 

Put simply, not all soaps produce the same level of lather - but may have additional benefits! Say you’ve purchased a melt and pour bar of shea butter melt and pour-based soap - although it may not lather well, its skin conditioning qualities will prove excellent! 

If you’d like to achieve a nice, fluffy lather in the future, our soap experts recommend looking out for varieties labelled as such - for example, our goat’s milk soap base.

Whilst your melt and pour base won’t necessarily go mouldy, rancid, or ‘bad’, it will have an approximate shelf life. After this time, it may begin to lose moisture content, becoming brittle and less effective when whipped up into a soap. 

Our melt and pour soap bases last for approximately 1-2 years - but can exceed this if stored correctly. Our team recommend that, if not using your melt and pour soap immediately, you keep it with its airtight plastic container, and store it in a cool, dark area.

Melt and pour soap bases are designed as a blank canvas for markers to explore without the stresses of the saponification process. Once you’ve chopped up and melted down your base, you’re free to add a range of colourants, fragrances, and more. 

Popular colouring options include mica powders and natural colourants (such as cocoa powder, nettle power, activated charcoal, and more). Available in a rainbow of unique colours, these additions give you the chance to bring your plain soap bars to life. 

In terms of fragrance, a few drops of all-natural essential oils tend to do the trick! From lavender to cedarwood and beyond, there are over 100 options to choose from. 

Exfoliants are also an excellent option - especially for all-natural soap creators looking to add further benefits to their bars. 

Other decorative additions to melt and pour soaps include botanicals - beautiful natural pieces such as dried flowers and petals designed to add to textures and visuals. 

‘Sweating' is a common challenge encountered by many soap makers using melt and pour bases. The phenomenon mostly occurs due to the high levels of glycerine content in this type of base.

Glycerine, being a humectant, attracts moisture from the air. When your melt and pour soap bars are left exposed to the atmosphere, especially in areas with high humidity, they may begin to ‘sweat’ – or collect small beads of moisture on their surface. Factors such as storage conditions, ambient temperature, and even air pressure can exacerbate the situation. 

The most effective way to prevent this moisture attraction is to wrap your soap bars after they've set. By doing so, you'll providing a protective barrier against ambient moisture, helping ensure your bars remain pristine and sweat-free