A wood mold must be lined, but you can unmold your cold process soap faster under normal conditions. They can be more difficult to clean if you get soap on the outside of the mold, but if you can manage to keep the soap inside the liner, clean up is as simple as throwing away the paper liner.
Silicone molds do not require lining, and the sides and bottom of the soap will have super smooth surfaces, but it may take longer for the soap to release from the mold. If the soap overheats, it can create bubble patterns on the surfaces that touch the silicone. Silicone molds require cleanup, but are super simple to rinse off.
You can check out this video I made a LONG time ago on how I line my wood molds with freezer paper so that the soap doesn’t leak.
Here’s a video showing the unmolding of two soap logs made at the exact same time, one in a wood mold and the other in a silicone mold:
You might have different results if you CPOP (cold process oven process). More information about CPOP HERE.
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