Why use Mimi's Soaps and other questions?

Note: This is not a How To for making soaps.  If you want to make soap please take a class from a qualified instructor, use proper safety equipment and follow proper procedures. If you decide to get into soap making we are sure you will enjoy it. Just be sure to respect the process

Do All of Mimi's soaps contain honey and or beeswax? Why does Mimi use lye in her soaps? Won't the lye make Mimi's soaps harsh? What about the grocery store soaps that really are soap? What is the difference between Cold Process, Hot Process and Melt and Pour soap making? Cold Process soap making? Hot Process soap making? Melt and Pour soap making? Why Not Melt and Pour? Do All of Mimi's soaps contain honey and or beeswax? When Mimi first began to make soaps her original intent was to include products from the beehive in every soap. Currently Mimi uses raw unfiltered Texas wildflower honey in her Goat Milk Honey and Oatmeal soap. After much study and many experiments she concluded that although beeswax made a harder bar of soap the high melt point of beeswax was detrimental to other more delicate ingredients. She uses beeswax in almost every other product she makes. Mimi has several new products still in the development stage. Why does Mimi use lye in her soaps? Soap that is not made with lye is is not soap at all. Lye is necessary for the chemical reaction called saponification to take place. Saponification occurs when fats such as vegetable oils are combined with a water and lye solution. A bar of soap made without lye is actually a "detergent bar" made from petroleum products. These detergent bars are what you will most likely find on grocery store shelves. Won't the lye make Mimi's soaps harsh? Absolutely not. Everyone remembers stories about Grandma's lye soap. Poor Grandma had to make soap without the knowledge and tools available to today's serious soap makers. The properties of the vegetable oils used for soaps are well documented and Mimi uses the proper amount of each oil in her recipes to totally consume all of the lye used PLUS a surplus of oils for skin nourishment and conditioning. This practice is called 'superfatting' (the oils are referred to as fats). Superfatting is critical to making a nice bar of soap. Not enough superfatting and the soap will give great lather but will be harsh. Too much superfatting and the soap will be great for conditioning but will neither lather nor clean. Mimi thinks a bath should make you clean. If all you want is conditioning use a good lotion. Those of you who have tried Mimi's soaps already know they have a nice balance of skin conditioning, great creamy lather and they will actually get you clean. What about the grocery store soaps that really are soap? Won't they be just as good? There are a few manufacturers who market non-petroleum based bars of soap. Unfortunately they usually extract most of the glycerin from these soaps and sell or use it for other products. When you bathe with Mimi's soaps the abundant naturally occurring glycerin is obvious. What is the difference between Cold Process, Hot Process and Melt and Pour soap making? Cold process method: Mimi uses the cold process method for all her soaps. In this process the oils are warmed just enough to be liquid. The lye/water mixture is then added to the oils. She then uses a stick blender until the chemical process called 'saponification' has started.  We call that 'stirring to trace' (trace means when you move a spoon or spatula through the mixture it leaves a trail or 'trace'). Once the mixture has reached trace she can add her fragrance or essential oils, oatmeal, colorant, etc. Then the soap can be put into the mold. Saponification is an 'exothermic' chemical reaction. This means it generates heat. In the mold the soap temperature will rise to around 140 degrees F. After staying overnight in the mold the soap can be unmolded and will need to cure for several weeks before it it is ready for sale. Hot Process: In the hot process method everything starts off the same bs the cold process method above but external heat is applied once the soap has reached trace and the rest of the ingredients have been added. Then the mixture will be continuously stirred (possibly up to an hour or more) until the saponification process has finished. The soap  will then be put into the mold.  Soap produced in this way can be cut and used immediately after it comes out of the mold. This method lets a soap maker produce soap relatively quickly and cuts out  the curing time (it will still need to dry). While these soaps are typically very mild and nice to use Mimi feels the higher temperatures (up to 175 degrees) are detrimental to the some of the delicate ingredients.  These bars will stay softer and won't be as long lasting as the slow cured soaps made with the cold process method. Hot process soaps are also much thicker and harder to put into the mold.  The soap makers who love to use this process do find ways to overcome the problems. There are variations and hybrids of these methods but the above two are the main processes for 'real' soap making.   There is plenty of room for soap makers to disagree on which is the better method.  Melt and Pour: This method is technically not soap making. In this system the soap is already made and sold in bulk. Practitioners of this method simply melt the proper amount of the bulk material and pour it into molds. They usually add fragrance, colorants, or a small amount of other ingredients like shea butter or cocoa butter. There are some nice things about melt and pour soaping. These soaps are ready for bathing as soon as they cool.  The colors of these soaps tend to be more vivid. Melt and pour soaps can be used in more intricate molds than cold process soaps because cold process soaps tend to stick to the mold and leave a lot of the nice detail in the mold.  Melt and pour soaps with fragrances containing vanilla will be somewhat immune to turning brown. Cold process soaps using fragrances containing vanilla will tend to turn a shade of brown. Why not Melt and Pour? With both the cold process and hot process methods the soap maker is in total control of ALL the ingredients. Not all of the Melt and Pour manufacturers provide accurate ingredient lists. Many contain synthetic foaming agents like sodium laurel sulphate (sometimes labeled as sodium lauryl sulphate) but still call themselves 'Natural'. Their so-called goat milk soaps may contain only a thimble of goat milk. Don't get us wrong. There is a place for Melt and Pour soaps and there are some wonderful melt and pour soaps out there. Many fantastic artists make some stunningly beautiful melt and pour products but many call their products handmade or homemade soaps when they are actually only hand poured or hand decorated. Probably 95% of the people claiming their soaps are 'handmade'  are actually delivering melt and pour soaps. This is a very simplified discussion on the various methods of soap making and the lengths to which Mimi goes to provide the best possible product.  There are other important factors such as the choice and ratios of oils used. Questions? Email: mimi@mimisbees.net