Soap Sliver Hand Soap!

Between yesterday and today, I made my own hand soap!  I feel so accomplished!  I should get an award!
Well, maybe that's pushing it, but it was really exciting to make a lot of hand soap from something that was going to be trash!  Wanna know more?  Read on...

So, I'm staring at these 3 little slivers of soap that my husband claims he's going to use, but never does.  He's one of those 'no wash cloth' type of guys.  I don't get it..  Anyway, I decided I'm gonna make some handsoap with them, by golly!  Waste no more!  Having never done this before, it was an exciting experiment that spanned two days, but didn't need to.  Here's the low-down and the 'scientific' equipment needed to make your soap.

An aluminum pan, a microplane or cheese grater, a plastic or 

metal spoon, soap slivers, a soap dispenser and some water.

First, carefully grate your soap slivers using the microplane.  I held on to my soap with a paper towel.

Next, throw them into the pot with your water.  I started with 1 Cup.

Note: I ended up using a LOT more....read on.

When your soap shavings melt, it will look like this.  

I did eventually bring mine to a boil, but I don't think

it was really necessary.  Please be careful...it QUICKLY boils over.

I did find that not all of the soap actually melts.  I had just a couple

of small hard pieces like this that I had to discard.

After all of the soap shavings have melted,

turn off heat and set your pan where it will be undisturbed.  

I put mine in the kitchen sink.  After an hour or two,

I ended up with what I can only describe as a rubber pancake!  Ewwww!

So, being worried about putting too much water in and ruining

the whole batch, I only put another 1/2C water in and

started the reheating process.  I didn't bring it to a boil anymore.

It really didn't need it.  It just needs to re-melt.  

After cooling, this is what I ended up with.  

A larger, slightly less rubbery pancake!  Almost looks like blue-green Crisco, lol!

So I added another 1/2C Water and reheated.  This time, 

I ended up with something close to children's play slimey goo junk!

Now I was just getting annoyed.  I let it sit in the sink overnight

and started again the next day.  Today, I was a rebel.  I put in

1 whole Cup of water!  I like to live dangerously...

I ended up with an egg-white type consistency, which I 

thought would be really gross to wash with.

So I added another 1/2 cup of water and started again!

Uh, oh....this wasn't looking good. 

See, my thinking when I started this was

that the only kind of hand soap I could possibly make

with this is the kind that comes out of a lotion-type dispenser. 

So, I poured in into one of the only ones left we have in the house...

and here's what I got....cuhrap!  Too watery!

So, I thought I'd take a big chance and

put it in my foaming dispenser.  It worked!

I couldn't believe it, but I actually made

foaming handsoap from bar soap!

Look how light and fluffy that is!

Almost brings a tear to your eye, dudn't it?

Here's what 1.1 ounces of soap slivers 

(yes, I weighed them. And yes, I'm a dork) 

and 3 1/2C of  water created...THREE whole cups of soap!

And here's the old jug I USED to buy at about $4.50, which 

was actually cheap for liquid hand soap!  This batch filled that

container up about 40% and cost almost nothing.  

It was going to be trash before this!

It's even pretty enough to put in a see-through soap pump!

Notes and things I learned:

I'm very excited about this new cheap hand soap, but I do have to say that it took a whole lotta messing around with to get it right! Next time, I'm just going to weigh my soap and put about 3 1/2C of water per ounce of soap in the pan right away!

Be sure to only use a metal (aluminum) pan without any Teflon coating, unless you like your mac and cheese tasting like Irish Spring for evermore.  Be sure to use a plastic or metal spoon for the same reason.

Speaking of Irish Spring, that's the kind of soap slivers I used.  In all honesty, it might be easier to just use one new bar of soap and do this, because grating those little slivers is a doozie!  But then you wouldn't have used up your slivers and felt like a hero!  Your brand of soap may create an entirely different effect, so I cannot say if my measurements will work for you.

I found that each time I reheated, I really only needed to heat it up enough to melt the soap all over again.  It needs a good stirring, too.  Otherwise, I really don't think I needed to boil it at all.

The finished product is actually very pretty.  It's kinda pearly and completely emulsified, so no weird stringy things floating around like I had envisioned when I started this experiment.

When pouring from your pan into your storage container, please use a funnel.  Or in my case, a paper plate rolled into a flute-like shape.  This stuff is kinda like an egg-white.  If you think you're pouring a little, a lot comes out at once.  And it doesn't stay in a steady stream.  I lost a good 1/4C trying it without one.

The cooking of this soap over and over sure did a good thing for my old pan.  It was all dingy inside and almost looked like it was dirty when I started, but this cleaned it right up!

I cannot say what my (stored) soap will look like in a couple of weeks, but for right now, it's lovely and it makes me happy!  Especially since I wash my hands so many times a day.  If you try this for yourself, let me know how it came out!

Update:   Here it is, 3 weeks later and my soap pump is only half empty!  I decided while I had it open, I'd add some more.  Well, the above (40% full jug) was somewhat gelatinous again, so I filled it to the top with water, gave it a good shake and filled my soap container.  Worked fine!  I guess I got a whole big bottle of soap out of the deal.  Not bad for two tiny soap slivers!   Let's hope this doesn't turn into one big glob, lol!

{Printer Friendly SHORT Version}

{Printer Friendly LONG Version}

Pin It