Melt and Pour Soap Base Shea Butter 1kg-5kg SLS FREE (1kg) by Stephenson's Soap

Used for making Halloween soaps - it’s fabulous. Very easy to use, lathers ok - a bit less than clear M&P but feels great. Hands feel smooth and soft. Product takes scent & colour well. I’ve seen some reviews and would like to maybe help anyone who’s new to M&P. Please do your proper research, the 5 minute soap hacks you see online are not usually safe! Please don’t add things like cinnamon, fresh aloe vera, or honey to your soaps. To be helpful though- when you have a new soap mould, just gently wash/rinse in mild warm soapy water before use & then use a water measuring jug to see how many ml the mould takes. Grams and ml are the same so if mould takes 120ml water - allow 120g soap plus about 20g more. That’s what I do. For those who’ve had problems mixing mica powder into soap base - mix your mica with a little bit of isopropyl alcohol first ( preferably 99%) & then add to base & stir. For those who have slight bubble problems - spritz your mixed soap base with isopropyl before pouring. Also, spritz your mould lightly with isopropyl before pouring! Once poured - see any bubbles on the top? Spritz again! I mean just a very light spray! Let your soap settle for about 15-20mins - until if feels slightly hard on the top if you touch it gently, then loosely cover over in clingfilm (very loosely) which will stop any dust etc sticking to your soap. And let it cool/harden - I leave mine around 15-24hrs depending on size. The Stephenson's M & P soap bases are marvellous & the soaps they create are lovely. I think it works out economically, they feel - and are - much better than shop bought soaps.

The quality of this soap base is excellent. It is easy to use, it lathers well and the base itself is just a bit fragrant. It is good value for money.

Very good quality would buy again

Edited review, increased to 4* I decided while I had my mica and scents out I’d have another go with this stuff, you really do need to take the lid off, hack it up with a knife and melt the whole tub full. I’d given it a trial run with some I’d cut out of the block and therein lay most of my issues of it drying to quickly etc. I’m still not 100% impressed as the mica was really hard to mix in and had the tub been as full as it should have been I would have struggled with getting it out of the microwave and into a jug. As it was I had to reheat it to completely mix the tiny bit of colour I’d added. I used 3% fragrance oil which I found was enough. It poured easily but left a lot of air bubbles on the base of the bars. I managed to remove them with the help of a heated metal flat edge once they were cool but this is something I need to look into more and see if there is a way to avoid the bubbling. As a soap it’s nice, not as moisturising as Shea butter might suggest but not drying either. It’s not cheap but it does make pretty soaps which release from silicone moulds really easily. My daughters are now asking for me to make more! So definitely use it all at once, I found it filled 8 moulds in total, including the first disastrous attempt! Original review The soap wouldn’t melt, once it did it hardened within 30 seconds so that bits of it were like hardening, sticky candy floss. It made it impossible to put into moulds without pressing down the lumpy bits, so the resulting soap looked terrible. It lathers and washes reasonably well, but if I’d known it was so awful to work with I wouldn’t have spent the money I did on it. I was hoping to make gifts with it, not have it to use up at home.

This stuff is amazing. Batch numbers clearly labelled and no suprise ingredients. I've made a few soap bars and will continue to use this brand long term.

Ok

Great for crafters. Makes beautiful soaps. Suitable for vegans

So this was pretty easy to work with, I melted it in bursts in the microwave as I have done multiple times in the past. The reason for the low score was that there is absolutely 0 lather, no matter how long I rub it in my hands after wetting them, there is absolutely no soap bubbles, feels really hard in my hands too, kind of like rubbing a smooth stone between my hands!!