Say goodbye to sad, leftover soap pieces. Do this one easy tip, and you'll never waste good bar soap (and money) again! Functional and efficient, bar soap produces extremely low post-consumer waste and therefore stands heads and shoulders above its bottled liquid counterpart. This tip gives you one more reason to make the switch! Read more for details...
Using bar soap eliminates the need for additional plastic bottles in your home. How many plastic bottles would you eliminate by making the switch? Take into account bottles for liquid hand soaps, body washes, and their refill bags or bottles. That said, here's the how-to on extending the life of your bar soap.
1. This tip involves two pieces of bar soap: your new (or bigger piece of) soap, and your old leftover soap.
2. Please note: The two pieces of bar soap can be any shape! They do not need to be flat like the ones in the photo. Curved and round surfaces work great.
3. After using your new soap (this softens it a bit), scratch several one-inch lines on it, fairly close together and parallel. You can use your fingernail or anything readily available in your bathroom or kitchen, like the corner of a tube of toothpaste.
4. Don't discard the soap shavings. Leave them on, as this eventually forms a paste that bonds the two pieces of soap together.
5. Do the same thing to the leftover piece of soap.
6. Leaving the bigger soap scratch-side up, fill it with a touch of water, just enough to fill the grooves. Be sure not to let the water wash most of the shavings away. The easiest way to do this is to simply fill your hand with water and pour it onto the soap.
7. Positioning the leftover soap scratch-side down, place it on top of the bigger soap and rub the two pieces of soap together, applying firm and even pressure.
8. Leave your newly conjoined soap overnight. It should be well-bonded the next morning.
9. Hint: Be light-handed the first two times you use your newly conjoined soap. Beginners tend not to make enough soap "paste" or rub the two pieces strongly enough.
(Image: Flickr member Soapy Love Deb licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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i used to do this as a child. Without the shavings, scratching... but i had this unexplainable want to not waste those little bits of old soap.
you don't need to do any of the shaving's or scratching, the soap will stick together on its own
I've always done this, also without the scratching.
My mom bought one of those vintage wire soap cages. Even if you have very small pieces of soap, you can just shove the leftovers in the cage and hang the cage up to dry, and it all congeals into a solid bar of soap again. Works like a charm.
We have a mesh thingy that we put old soap slivers in and use that for scrubbing the old body.
These work great for soap slivers: http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10007174&N=&Nao=150&Ntt=mesh
Haven't had an attack of conscience regarding soap waste since I bought one two years ago.
I always heard just take an unused stocking and chuck and leftover bits in. Use it to scrub down with. If you get new bits, add em in. Maybe its just me but having a misshapen bar of soap with added on lumps like that bugs me.
I have to wonder what kind of soap you're using that requires so many steps. Here's how I do it:
1: Wet sliver of used soap
2: press onto unused soap
That's it, and it doesn't require a softer hand while using or "soap paste" or rubbing. Just one piece of wet soap and a little pressure...but I use all-natural handmade soaps.
Yum, is the soap in the photo supposed to look like poptarts?
I've done the just pressing them together version, with mixed success. Like having this to try; thanks!
I actually turn my soap bars into liquid soap. I also reuse the bottles so there is less waste. I find that the liquid soap lasts longer than the bars.
@akay poptarts are the first things that popped into my head when I saw that picture LOL.
When I've tried to just stick the old bar to the new bar, even if they are exactly the same type of soap, my success rate has been about 30%. As the soap bar gets used, it also gets a bit rounded, and there isn't enough surface area in contact to create a good bond.
I'm going to try this method to see if it helps.
yep, poptarts
I've never scratched my soap when pressing the new and old bars together. Maybe that's why they slide apart a lot. I'm trying this!
where can I get the poptart soap?
I save my tiny soap slivers and melt them down in a jar full of hot water when I have a handful. Then I use that to wash sheets. It's fun to have sheets scented like a blend of the artisan soaps I've used for the past 3 months or so.
girlndocs, does that leave any residue in your washer? I like the idea, but bar soap makes tub ring for me that I have to rub off every time I have a bath and wouldn't want to have to climb around in my washer like that.
Tried this today and it worked perfectly. Thank you.
Use all of your soap bar by putting it in a soap saver. Find them at Daylee Naturals...
http://www.dayleenaturals.com/Bath-Cloths-Sponges/Exfoliating-Mesh-Soap-Saver-Assorted-Colors-p26.html