Repurposing Soap Bars

After writing the blog article on ways to use soap slivers, we were inspired to turn the soap slivers we had collected into new soap rounds.

The Process:

We had a small collection of soap pieces that we had saved and dried. 




We wanted to repurpose these for Husband's shaving soap dish. I thought about pressing it into the cup itself, but we had too many slivers to fit into the cup. Since cupcake holders fit inside, I decided to mold it using cupcake holders instead. This would give us a few soap rounds to refill the shaving dish.


We looked up a few articles on how to remake soap bars from soap pieces. We settled on following Bottega Zero Waste's instructions. First, we ground the soap slivers into shavings.


Then, we added the shavings to a pot and added a bit of water.




We heated it on low and slowly stirred it. It didn't melt in a couple of minutes like the instructions claimed it should. We had quite a bit more than the quantity shown in the instructions, which made it soften more slowly. In addition to the larger quantity, I am pretty sure I didn't add enough water, which made it difficult for the soap to melt.


After it was softened enough to stick together, we pressed it the mass into silicone cupcake holders and allowed them to cool and dry.



Once cooled, we added a round to the soap dish. It was a bit on the small side for the dish, but it should work okay. Next time we may go ahead and use the dish as a mold and only use the cupcake holders for the extra.


Bonus Project:

Because there was a layer of soap left on the bottom of the pan, we added water, warmed the pan, and stirred well until all the soap had dissolved into the water. We used this water to refill our foaming soap dispensers. It works really well. There is a tiny bit of settling, but if you shake it every couple of days, it mixes in well.



The liquid soap and the rounds are grey due to the charcoal soap slivers we had in our stash. It is fun to see what color the soap and water turn out after combining all the different kinds together!

Parting Thoughts:

  • I would absolutely do this again - it didn't take very long and was a worthwhile project, even if only to get some shaped soap to refill Husband's shaving cup.
  • Next time, I will add more water to the grated soap to help it melt better and to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
  • I loved getting two soaps in one project - soap rounds and foaming hand soap refill!
  • This was a simple, useful project that didn't take much time.






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