About the Book
How to Make Melt & Pour Soap Base from Scratch will teach you the long held secret recipes for the popular soap base often called "Melt & Pour Soap," "Glycerin Soap," and "M&P Soap." It also reveals many unknown truths about this popular soap base including that it is not a natural soap.It is the first book published with recipes, methodology and tips on how to make Melt and Pour Soap from Scratch. It is written from the perspective of a Cosmetic Formulator. Whether you are a crafter, hobbyist or business owner this book has everything that you need. This book give you guidance on how, as a small home based business, you can follow the regulations, labeling laws and industry standards for selling soap and cosmetics.My entire journey into the cosmetic industry started with Melt and Pour Soap shortly after I discovered aromatherapy. The roots of our business, Essential Wholesale, all started in December of 1998. Over the years we moved from our home kitchenette to a 600 square foot space, to a 2500 square foot building, to a 10,000 square foot space in a bigger building, and from there we have expanded into 30,000 square feet of that same building. In 2011 our business will be moving to an even larger 58,000 square foot building.As our business expanded we began to focus on natural cosmetics and personal care products. However, I never lost my curiosity and fascination with Melt and Pour Soap. Our relationship with Melt and Pour Soap changed over the years. At first we sold retail customized Melt and Pour Soaps. We then bought and sold the company Critter Soaps. Later we sold thousands of pounds worth of wholesale Melt and Pour Soap base and eventually discontinued selling Melt and Pour Soap because the price kept rising. At the time Melt and Pour Soap was the only cosmetic base we sold that we didn't manufacture ourselves. It simply didn't make sense to wholesale someone else's base when our business model had changed to selling only the bases we manufactured ourselves.It was at this point in our business that I decided it was time to formulate our own Melt and Pour Soap ourselves. It didn't take long to have working formulas, but at that moment we were using up every inch of space in our 30,000 square foot building. We were bursting at the seams and couldn't accommodate the manufacturing and cooling of the Melt and Pour Soap Base in bulk. Our space was so tight we couldn't possibly cool an 8,000 lb batch of Melt and Pour Soap base into multiple 1 lb, 20 lb and 40 lb blocks to sell in bulk. But we got continued requests to manufacture and sell Melt and Pour Soap base.My solution is this book. I decided to share these basic recipes with you to give you the freedom to make your own Melt and Pour base in the quantities that work best for your business. These recipes will teach you the foundational information that you need and give you tips on how to customize your base.
About the Author: Kayla is a Certified, ARC Registered Aromatherapist and the co-Founder and Chief Formulator for Essential Wholesale and its lab division Essential Labs. Wife and mother of three, she runs her company along with her husband Dennis. In 1998, Kayla started creating products in her kitchen using essential oils. They turned the profit from their first batch of products into more supplies, have repeated the process over and over again to remain a debt free company. In 2000 they started an all natural aromatherapy based Home Party Plan. In 2002, they changed their business plan and became the distribution and manufacturing company, Essential Wholesale. This was followed by the addition of Essential Labs in 2005. The initial $50 investment from their home kitchen, combined with blood, sweat and prayers, has now become a multi-million dollar organically certified and FDA compliant company. Kayla is the go-to industry specialist for formulating and supplying information on aromatherapy, natural, organic and pure cosmetics and personal care items. She formulates thousands of products including: mineral make up, skin care, body care and products for bath, spa, hair, baby, pets, aroma and much more. Through her lab division, Essential Labs, Kayla formulates private label personal care products for all size businesses worldwide. Kayla can be found on YouTube in the Essential Wholesale series Kitchen Chemistry with Kayla where she teaches a variety of Do It Yourself (DIY) recipes. Kayla's articles can be found in dozens of publications including: Dermascope Magazine, Les Nouvelles Esthetique, Global Cosmetic Industry (GCI) Magazine, New York Metro Parent, Saponifier, National Association of Holistic Aromatherapists and Essential Wholesale's educational arm the Essential U blog. Kayla has been featured and has given expert advice for hundreds of magazines including Real Simple, Self Magazine, Prevention Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Home Business Magazine, Women Entrepreneur, Elle, Private Label Buyer, Redbook, InStyle Magazine, Woman's World and more. She wrote a chapter in the book Millionaire Mom, The Art of Raising a Business and a Family at the Same Time by Joyce Bone. Kayla has been a guest on Millionaire Moms Radio, Organic Beauty Radio, Indie Radio, Good Day Oregon and more. Kayla is the driving force behind the Essential U blog, an educational center for aromatherapy, cosmetics, industry standards and business ownership.
