Hand milled soaps are created by rebatching unscented soaps over the stove or in the oven in order to add scent and color, or to salvage a botched cold process soap batch. This is done by mixing the grated soap with milk or water and heating it until it liquifies. Hand milling is great for beginning soap makers, as the process is simpler than making soap completely from scratch, and still allows the soap to be fully customized. It's also great for all those soap slivers you have left that are just too small to use for anything.

Here's an easy recipe to get you started:

Cucumber Loofah Soap:

Ingredients:
3 oz. Unscented White Soap
3 Tablespoons Milk
2 Teaspoons Shredded Loofah
1 Tablespoon Aloe Vera Gel
1/4 Teaspoon Cucumber Fragrance Oil
1 Drop Green Food Coloring

Instructions:
Shred the soap in a food processor, add food coloring to soap and stir well to distribute the color evenly, set aside. Heat milk in a double broiler over simmering water. Stir in aloe vera gel and fragrance oil. Add soap and allow the soap to soften, stirring occasionally. It might take a while so be patient. When it is a creamy mass, add the loofah and stir well. Spoon the mixture in molds and allow to harden, for about 6 hours.

You can find aloe, loofah, and fragrance for this project at Camden-Grey.

Additional Hand milling & Rebatching Instructions:

Rebatching or Handmilling Soap Instructions
"The most common reason a person would go through this process is to save a batch of soap that didn't turn out right using the cold process method. Some people prefer to rebatch, or handmill as it is also called, in order to add ingredients that would be lost to the lye in the cold process method such as benefits of essential oils, emu oil or oils with special herbal infusions. Another benefit is you can keep a large batch of plain soap and customize small batches from it that are ready to use. Colors that might get eaten up by the lye are safer to add during rebatching as well. I feel rebatching soaps gives the bars a different look than cold processed soap, they are not as smooth and sometimes you can see bits that have not fully melted down..."

Instructions for Rebatching
"Rebatching is a good way to get the feel for soap-making without having to handle any caustic ingredients. You can also use a double boiler, but we recommend the crock pot method. Takes about 2 hrs. to make..."

Make Your Own Shredded Soap for Handmilling + Recipe Ideas
"Handmilling - the process of rebatching or remelting freshly grated soap with various scents and ingredients. An advantage to handmilling soap is that you can make several different types of soap from just one batch and use a variety of different mold shapes as well..."

Rebatching
"The water I used for my perfect rebatch had been sitting in my refrigerator for several days. Use 16 ounces of grated soap to 12 ounces (or less, depending on how fine the grind is) of water. The water should be softened water. I've used it both boiling hot and room temperature. I do NOT use cold water for rebatches. The finer the grind of your soap, the less water you'll require to make that gloppy mess..."