At MakeYourCosmetics, we consider "handmade" only those soaps that are made from scratch using raw materials such as olive oil, coconut oil, water and sodium hydroxide (lye). However, since pre-made soap can be purchased in bulk, and then melted, scented and colored to suit your tastes in literally a fraction of the time that handmade soap can be made from scratch, we are delighted to include instructions for melting, coloring, scenting, molding and shaping what has become known as "melt and pour" (M&P) soap, which we refer to as "handcrafted" or "hand-sculpted" to distinguish them from soaps that are handmade from scratch.