What weird things have you put in soap?

cursivearts · May 4, 2013

After seeing the citrus poll and someone mentioning banana-slushie soap and then I saw another post where someone wanted to put avocado in soap, I find myself wondering what kinds of crazy things you ladies and gents have put in soap, and how you went about it and how it worked out?

So far the craziest thing for me (but I'm a comparatively new soaper) is coffee. That's actually in the mold as we speak.

lemontongue · May 4, 2013

I made strawberry cream soap once and used real strawberries as per the recipe I used, it didn't turn out very well - the strawberries kind of like congealed in a layer on top of the soap but under a thin layer of soap crust. It was terrible and I haven't revisited it to see what went wrong yet. This was a long time ago too.

Lotus · May 4, 2013

I only once made a batch of soap with "stuff" in it, until recently. I recently made some star anise soap.

But, this one batch was crazy weird. I put saffron, oats, turmeric, and who knows what else. I don't remember. But, I made it years ago, and just now am using the last bar of it, which has been sitting around all this time.

soap_bubbles · May 4, 2013

I've put oats, cucumber, potato water, banana, and carrots in various soaps.

AngelMomma · May 4, 2013

I have used bananas. Its a really, really nice soap! I mashed them with a fork. Then I put them through a strainer. Then put them through the strainer again. The main problem I foresaw would have been if I had a chunk of banana that might have gone moldy etc. So that's why I strained twice. I added cream to that batch as well so I just stirred the banana and cream together well and added the at trace.

Lotus · May 4, 2013

soap_bubbles said:
I've put oats, cucumber, potato water, banana, and carrots in various soaps.

I so want to make a soap with cucumber!! It's on my list.

AngelMomma · May 4, 2013

Potato Water

soap_bubbles said:
I've put oats, cucumber, potato water, banana, and carrots in various soaps.

What would the potato water do for your soap? Does the starch add slip?

soap_bubbles · May 4, 2013

Yes it did! Lovely soap! I was making mashed potatoes and saved the water and used it in the soap. Worked like a dream!

Smee · May 4, 2013

One wedding ring.

Sad to report, not only did it not add any good qualities to
the finished soap, it also bent my stick blender blade.

In the final analysis, I don't recommend you try this one

makemineirish · May 4, 2013

soap_bubbles said:
Yes it did! Lovely soap! I was making mashed potatoes and saved the water and used it in the soap. Worked like a dream!

Do you think rice water would do the same?

I make sushi at home and part of cooking sushi rice is that you rinse the grains multiple times before cooking. There is enough powdered residue on the rice grains to turn the rinse water a milky white. I usually dump it into my bath, because I am THAT person (the kind that takes their own tupperware to the restaurant because waste is so intrinsically abhorrent:crazy

.

Lotus · May 4, 2013

Smee said:
One wedding ring.

Sad to report, not only did it not add any good qualities to
the finished soap, it also bent my stick blender blade.

In the final analysis, I don't recommend you try this one

Ha! Funny. You put it in during blending, rather than after? Hee hee. It is a clever idea!

Lotus · May 4, 2013

makemineirish said:
Do you think rice water would do the same?

I make sushi at home and part of cooking sushi rice is that you rinse the grains multiple times before cooking. There is enough powdered residue on the rice grains to turn the rinse water a milky white. I usually dump it into my bath, because I am THAT person (the kind that takes their own tupperware to the restaurant because waste is so intrinsically abhorrent:crazy.

Oooh! My husband makes sushi! Good question.

soapguy · May 4, 2013

While picking up pinecones in my backyard, I decided I should put them to use. I ground them up into a fine powder and made a batch of soap. The soap came out pretty good, but after doing some research I found out they are cytotoxic and carcinogenic in the dust form. To bad, it was a nice batch.

Lotus · May 4, 2013

Oh, sad, soapguy. Before I finished reading your post, that thought crossed my mind. I'm SO glad you researched it. So sorry it turned out to be a waste. : (

ETA: I should look up actual pine needles. An interesting idea, and more "scently."

Nevada · May 4, 2013

Parts from my stick blender. Good thing it was Lard Soap, turned DOS!

Lotus · May 4, 2013

Nevada said:
Parts from my stick blender. Good thing it was Lard Soap, turned DOS!

I wondered if the metal might react in a bad way. Whatever kind of metal the ring was made of.

Sorry, Nevada. : (

soap_bubbles · May 4, 2013

I don't see why it wouldn't work! I would try a small batch and see what you think makemineirish

Mommysoaper · May 4, 2013

I haven't done anything too crazy. I think I've hit a lot of the usual suspects: coffee, milk, beer, carrots, pumpkin purree, tea, strawberries, blueberries.... I think that's it. I really want to try cucumber too and maybe a banana soap--- that sounds awesome!

bodhi · May 4, 2013

soapguy said:
While picking up pinecones in my backyard, I decided I should put them to use. I ground them up into a fine powder and made a batch of soap. The soap came out pretty good, but after doing some research I found out they are cytotoxic and carcinogenic in the dust form. To bad, it was a nice batch.

where did you hear that?

bodhi · May 4, 2013

A broken fingernail in a 10 pound batch

What weird things have you put in soap?

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