Some individuals continue to make soap in the home. The traditional name "soaper", for a soapmaker, is still used by those who make soap as a hobby. Those who make their own soaps are also known as soapcrafters.

The most popularsoap making processes today is the cold process method, where fats such as olive oil react with lye. Soapmakers sometimes use the melt and pour process, where a premade soap base is melted and poured in individual molds. This is not really to be considered soap making though. Some soapers also practice other processes, such as the historical hot process, and make special soaps such as clear soap (aka glycerin soap).

Handmade soap differs from industrial soap in that, usually, an excess of fat is used to consume the alkali (superfatting), and in that the glycerin is not removed. Superfatted soap, soap which contains excess fat, is more skin-friendly than industrial soap; though, if not properly formulated, it can leave users with a "greasy" feel to their skin. Often, emollients such as jojoba oil or shea butter are added 'at trace' (the point at which the saponification process is sufficiently advanced that the soap has begun to thicken), after most of the oils have saponified, so that they remain unreacted in the finished soap.