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Convenient travel soap in a tube. These little personal portable soaps are perfect for traveling. Keep one in your purse or gym bag, you'll never know when you'll need some soap! Each one is about 1.2 ounces of soap. A perfect size for those on the go. These also make ideal stocking stuffers or additions to gift bags and baskets. MicrowaveMicrowave safe glass containersSharp knife to cut soap into cubesSpray bottle with rubbing alcoholButter knives for stirring soapRubber glovesDisposable Pipettes1 ounce Clear Push up TubesThermometer to monitor soap temperatureMelt & Pour soap bases of your choice (Natural, White, Ultra clear, Goats Milk, Shea butter)Frosted Winter Berry Fragrance OilGel Soap Colorants of your choice Get your tubes ready:Step 1: Take the caps off each tube and make sure the "push-up" mechanism is all the way down as far as it will go. Gently push down with your finger until it stops moving. Push down to make sure the push-up mechanism is fully down. Each tube takes approximately 1.2 ounces of soap.Step 2: Pick your favorite melt and pour soap base (or pick a variety, like me!). With a sharp knife, cut up enough soap base to fit the amount of soap sticks you are going to be making. Add a bit more to take into account that there will be some soap loss due to the soap sticking to the pouring container.Step 3: Melt 3 ounces of soap base (will make 2 portable soaps) in a microwave safe container. Melt using 15 second bursts until melted. This is not a lot of soap and may boil if overheated. Do not burn or boil, this will result in a poor quality rubbery soap. If there are any small chunks of soap left, stir slowly; the heat of the soap will melt these small chunks.Step 4: Mix in 5 drops of your favorite Gel Soap Colorant. Stir slowly until mixed well. Always stir the soap base slowly to avoid forming bubbles in the soap. Mix in 5 drops of your gel color and stir slowly until mixed Step 5: Using a disposable pipette, add 2 ml of Frosted Winter Berry Fragrance Oil. Stir in slowly until fully incorporated. Drop in your fragrance oil and stir slowly until incorporated Step 6: With the thermometer make sure the soap base temperature is around 135 degrees before pouring the soap into the tube. Take the soap's temp – it should be around 135F before pouring into the tube Step 7: Spritz the inside of each tube with alcohol to help the soap pour evenly into the tube. This will also help prevent bubbles from being trapped on the sides. Prevent bubbles by spritzing with alcohol before pouring soap Step 8: Slowly pour the soap almost to the top of the Push Up Tube. Pour soap almost to top of tube Step 9: After pouring, spritz with alcohol to get rid of any stray bubbles. Finish with a spritz of alcohol to get rid of any stray bubbles Step 10: Wait overnight for the soap to set. The soap will shrink a bit after completely set and this will help you push up the soap. If the soap won't push up, stick it in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes, take out and let stand for about 5 minutes, then push up. You only need to do this once to help break the seal that forms.TIP: Optional – Instead of spritzing with alcohol in Step 7, you can spray a bit of Pam cooking spray. This can help the soap "push up" and break the seal.all poured and waiting until fully set Step 11: When finished, cap the soaps and they're ready for travel and gift giving! Making DIY portable soap offers several benefits, making it a popular choice for those who frequently travel or prefer customized hygiene products. Here are some of the advantages: Customization: One of the main benefits of DIY travel soap is the ability to customize it according to your skin type and preferences. You can choose the ingredients, scents, essential oils, and additives that suit your skin's needs, whether it's moisturizing oils for dry skin, tea tree oil for acne-prone skin, or a calming lavender scent for relaxation. Size and Shape: These soap sticks are the perfect size and shape for traveling. You can easily store them in your purse, carry-on, or luggage, and you won't have to worry about leaks. Eco-Friendly: DIY travel soap allows you to reduce plastic waste by avoiding commercially packaged products. Push tubes can be cleaned and reused. Cost-Effective: Making your own soap can be more cost-effective in the long run, especially if you buy ingredients in bulk. This can be particularly economical if you travel frequently and use a lot of soap. Avoiding Allergens and Irritants: By making your own travel soap, you control what goes into it, which is ideal for those with sensitive skin or allergies. Commercial soaps often contain preservatives and artificial fragrances that can irritate the skin. Gifting: DIY travel soaps make excellent gifts for friends and family who travel. Personalized soaps can be a thoughtful and unique gift that shows you care about their comfort and hygiene while traveling. Learning a New Skill: The process of making soap can be a fun and educational activity. It allows you to learn about the properties of different oils, scents, and other natural ingredients and how they benefit the skin. Safety and Hygiene: Carrying your own soap ensures that you have a trusted source of hygiene products, particularly in places where high-quality soap might not be readily available. Creating DIY travel soap not only enhances your travel experience by providing tailored skincare benefits but also contributes positively to environmental conservation and personal health safety.

This video demonstrates how easy it is to make smaller sample loaves of soap using the affordable Crafter's Choice - Small Loaf Silicone Mold (1504). Included in the video are fun ideas for creative, one-of-a kind loaves of soap!

Do you feel a tinge of envy when someone proudly tells you they’ve gotten their Christmas shopping completely done— in September? Well, you know the old saying: If you can’t beat them, join them.There’s still time to get an early jump on things to ensure that you have a successful, less stressful holiday season. A little foresight, planning and organization are all you need. 

Soaping in Slippers is back! For this episode, we make handmade Micellar Water, Facial Cleansing Oil, and a foaming Grapefruit Face Soap. Join Debbie as she makes all three facial cleansers with Abby from the Wholesale Supplies Plus Marketing Department.

Whether you’re handcrafting soap for a business or tackling a new weekend DIY hobby, choosing the best oils for soap making is part of the fun. Speciality oils offer emollient properties as well as other benefits for the skin and hair.

Setting yourself apart from the competition doesn’t require a significant investment, change in strategy, or earth-shattering product idea.  In fact, you’re already armed with most of the tools you need to start creating a brand identity that customers will notice, and remember. Here are few simple ways you can stand out from your competition.

Learn how to make liquid soap from scratch with this guide by Wholesale Supplies Plus! Making liquid soap from scratch is easier than ever with our recipe.

1. Challenge: The water and oils separate.Lotion is made up of waters and oils. The two naturally want to separate so an emulsifying wax is used in the formulation to help them stay together. If not enough emulsifying wax is used or if water is added to a really thick lotion the marriage breaks up and the oil will float on top of the water....

This week we highlight beeswax. We have four new recipes that use beeswax and in this video we will show you how to make one of the recipes. A wickless candle throws beautiful aromas in your home without the open flame. Learn how to make them in this video.

Many small business owners enjoy their work, however, how much is too much? With a little bit of planning you can step away for a much needed break!

Because the chemistry of Cold Process (CP) soap is delightfully complex, I have spent many happy hours devising experiments to answer questions and solve problems for those who make CP soap. Makers of Melt and Pour (MP) soap, however, face problems different from those I have investigated before. For example, while CP and MP soaps can be poured in layers, CP layers are usually at the same temperature and in the same state (liquid). But a hot, liquid MP layer is usually poured on top of a cold, solid MP layer, and because of these differences, the joint between layers may not be strong. Additionally, transparent soap is much more common in the MP world than it is in the CP one, and so bubbles and blemishes within a transparent layer must be minimized. Fortunately, makers of MP soap have largely solved both of these problems by spritzing each layer of soap with alcohol. So all that remains for me is to figure out why this works. To begin with, I have to distinguish two usages for the word soap. For chemical and regulatory purposes, soap is an alkali salt of a fatty acid. But MP “soap” is almost always a blend of soaps, solvents, and detergents. For this project I used Crafter's Choice Premium Extra Clear Soap, which consists of sorbitol and propylene glycol (solvents), sodium laureth sulfate (detergent), sodium stearate and sodium myristate (soaps), and sodium cocoyl isethionate (detergent). Crafter's Choice Premium Ultra White Soap has the same ingredients plus titanium dioxide colorant.I also need to clarify the word alcohol. This is actually a family of chemicals with some familiar members. Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, Everclear) is the one used in beverages. Isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol) is the one used for first aid. Soaps and detergents are surface-active agents, or surfactants, meaning that they form organized structures at aqueous surfaces. The molecules organize into a film on top, which we recognize as bubbles, and into droplets called micelles in the interior. When soap or detergent is added to water, they don't actually dissolve—they form an emulsion. You can see this for yourself by adding, for example, one gram of MP soap to 200 mL of hot water. A soap/water emulsion is cloudy (because of the micelles), not transparent, with bubbles at the surface. In contrast, soaps and detergents actually dissolve in ethanol and isopropanol. Rather than forming a cloudy emulsion with bubbles at the surface, a soap/alcohol solution is transparent, with no bubbles. The soap and detergent molecules do not organize into films and micelles, but float around in the alcohol as individual molecules. Figure 1 shows a soap/water emulsion on the left, and soap/ethanol and soap/isopropanol solutions in the center and on the right. Even when these solutions are shaken, no bubbles form because the soap molecules do not form a film at the surface. So when you spritz alcohol onto bubbles at the surface of MP soap, the soap dissolves in the alcohol. The ordered film of soap molecules breaks up into individual molecules, and the bubbles disappear.In addition to removing bubbles, I wanted to explore whether alcohol helps soap layers to adhere to one another. I began by supposing that alcohol dissolved some of the soap at the surface of a cold, solid layer of soap, and that when hot liquid soap was poured on top of it, the hot liquid mixed with the soap solution, forming a zone containing soap from both layers. But how to test this hypothesis? I wanted to pour two layers that could be easily distinguished from one another, so I chose a transparent layer and a white layer. I also wanted to be able to try to break the layers apart so that I could see whether they had, in fact, blended together. But layers are most frequently poured horizontally, and pulling apart such layers seemed problematic at best. So I opted to pour two white bars of soap. After they cooled to room temperature, I cut each bar in half and returned a white half-bar to the left side of four single-bar molds. I then poured transparent soap into the right side of each mold. The result was four bars, each with a white half and a transparent half, as shown in Figure 2. I wanted to be able to treat the white/transparent interface of each bar to see what, if any, effect alcohol might have. One bar was not treated. The interfaces of the second, third, and fourth bars was treated with water, ethanol, and isopropanol, respectively. The joint between the layers was crisp and clean for three of the bars, but the one treated with water had visible tendrils of white soap penetrating the transparent layer. I then tested each joint by laying it over a pencil and pressing the ends down with both hands, as shown in Figure 3. The untreated bar broke cleanly at the joint, with no white soap clinging to the transparent soap. The bar treated with water did not break over the pencil; it just bent. I had to use all my strength to break it with my fingers and thumbs, and when I did, there was lots of white soap adhering to the transparent soap. The bar treated with ethanol broke with some difficulty over the pencil, and there was some white soap adhering to the transparent soap. Finally, the bar treated with isopropanol broke cleanly over the pencil, with no white soap adhering to the transparent soap. Figure 4 shows the broken joints, face up. Compared to the untreated bar, the one treated with water had the strongest joint, but streamers of white soap visibly penetrated the transparent soap. This could be an interesting feature if done on purpose, but most people would consider this a blemish. The bar treated with isopropanol was very similar to the untreated bar. In a horizontal layer, bubbles could weaken the joint, and spraying with isopropanol may eliminate bubbles, but it does not seem to otherwise improve the joint. The winner in this round was ethanol. The white/transparent interface remained crisp and clean, but the joint was noticeably strengthened compared to the untreated bar.This does not mean you have to ditch isopropanol for ethanol. After all, if it ain't broke... But if you have a problem with weak joints between soap layers, ethanol may provide improved adhesion between layers without sacrificing clean lines. And if you want some interesting texture, you may want to investigate a joint venture with water.

Taking a look at temperature profiles for cold and hot process soap. Last month we looked at the possibility of using very high temperatures to shorten the time needed to completely saponify an oil. In extreme cases, this may happen in as little as 5 minutes. One might assume that “hot process” (HP) and “cold process” (CP) soaps differ in the temperatues used, but the designations have more to do with technique than temperature. In the hot process, oils and lye are mixed in a container capable of applying heat to the mixture. The source of heat might be a crock pot, microwave oven, conventional oven, or hotplate. The soap batter is typically heated until it reaches gel phase and the saponification reaction is complete. Interestingly, it is possible to make HP soap at low temperature by using only gentle heat. In the cold process, oils and lye may be heated, but no external heat is applied after they are mixed. The bulk of the saponification reaction happens in the mold. Also interestingly, it is possible to make a CP soap at high temperature just by heating the oil, as described last month. Here we will explore the relationship between time and temperature. Typically when lye is mixed with oil, the mixture becomes gradually more viscous until it reaches trace. The batter then continues to thicken until it no longer flows. At this point it is essentially a solid. But if conditions are right, the solid soap remelts, a condition called “gel phase” by handcrafted soapmakers, and “neat soap” by commodity soap chemists. The temperature at which this phase transition happens depends on the oils used and the lye concentration.Consider, for example, our standard four-oil blend: coconut oil 28%, palm oil 28%, olive oil 39%, castor oil 5%. We can make soap from this oil using lye with a wide range of concentrations. A medium-water soap, typical of what many people use, might use lye with a concentration of 33% NaOH. A low-water soap, (often referred to as a “water discount”) might use lye with a concentration of 40% NaOH. The temperature profiles of these soaps depend on the starting temperature when the oils are mixed with the lye. A temperature profile is a useful way to characterize a soap formula. Simply heat the oil to the starting temperature you wish to explore and, after mixing with your lye, measure the temperature periodically over the course of a couple of hours. An infrared thermometer is particularly convenient for this task, since you just point and click to take a reading. A stopwatch (perhaps on your smartphone) is convenient for measuring time.You don't have to hit an exact starting temperature, and the lye need not be at the same temperature as the oil. For example, you might intend to start at 100°F, but because your lye is at room temperature, you could wind up at 95°F after mixing. Just record the actual time and temperature. You will want to record the temperature frequently (about once per minute) at the beginning when the temperature is changing rapidly. You can then record less frequently as the soap slowly cools. It is not important to hit any particular time or temperature. Just record the actual time and temperature as close to one another as possible. If you notice the soap moving into gel phase, be sure to make a note of it. Figure 1 shows a temperature profile for a medium-water soap. The horizontal line at 71°C (160°F) marks the division between gel phase and solid soap. The soaps labeled 40°C and 60°C never get warm enough to reach gel phase. They gradually warm as the exothermic saponification reaction proceeds. Eventually, the heat produced by the reaction is less than that lost to the surroundings, and the soaps slowly cool. The soap labeled 65°C gradually warms until it reaches gel phase. Then the reaction takes off, climbing well above the gel temperature. The two hot soaps start above the gel temperature and the saponification reaction proceeds very rapidly. They hit peak temperatures in a matter of minutes, and once saponification is complete, they cool more rapidly than the other soaps because no further heat is coming from the reaction. Figure 2 shows a temperature profile for a low-water (water discounted) soap. With a lye concentration of 40%, this soap gels at 87°C (189°F), much higher than the medium-water soap does. While the soaps labeled 40°C, 60°C, and 65°C get hotter than the corresponding medium-water soaps, they do not reach this higher gel temperature. Only the two hottest soaps reach gel phase, and they do so very quickly. The specific temperature for the gel phase transition depends on the oils used as well as the lye concentration, but the general trend is that the gel temperature increases as the lye concentration increases. At the same time, soaps made with high-concentration lye get hotter than those with low-concentration lye, and they do so more quickly. Whether or not a soap gels depends on whether the soap reaches the gel temperature. The temperature profile also gives you a clue as to how quickly the saponificiation reaction is completed. When the temperature reaches its peak and begins to decline, it is because heat is being lost to the surroundings more rapidly than it is being produced by the reaction. The temperature profile can also be used to diagnose problems with ingredients that are adversely affected by high temperatures. While measuring the profile on a batch, notice the temperature at which the adverse effect takes place. In subsequent batches, you can gradually decrease the starting temperature or decrease the lye concentration to prevent the soap from getting too hot.The temperature profile is very easy to add to a batch record. It requires only a thermometer, a stopwatch, and a few extra minutes to write down the time and temperature. You can plot the data on graph paper or using a spreadsheet, or you can just look at the data without plotting it. While you may not bother to record it for every batch, it can be useful for diagnosing problems and solving them. Footnote:1. Data in this article were collected by students John Campbell, Andrew Basinger, Tyler Bowman, and Ron Davis under the supervision of Kevin Dunn. Parts of it are documented in Chapter 22 of Scientific Soapmaking (Kevin Dunn, Clavicula Press, 2010).