Old Soap

[wbocrafter]

I have some old soap that I made a few years ago that no longer has fragrance. Is there anything I can do with this before throwing it all out? I hate throwing it out especially with the money invested in the oils. Could I melt it down & make liquid soap and put another fragrance oil into it?

 

[earlene]

You can grate it and rebatch it, make confetti soap with it, or salt it out and re-batch it. As long as it's in good shape and no DOS, I'd go the re-batch route. Some members here have shown pictures of some pretty confetti soaps. Mixing old soap with new soap. I've done it myself, but mine don't look as pretty as some I've seen here.

 

[dixiedragon]

Try using it. Sometimes water wakes up fragrances. If you are very tight on money, or simply want to try rebatching, feel free. This may be tough to melt down b/c it is so old, though.

I really like coconut milk for rebatching, I think it works better than water. Grate it finely and add enough liquid to moisten. Liquid options include water, veggie milk, and aloe juice. (Not dairy milk.) Let it sit overnight for the liquid to soften the soap.

Put it in a crockpot on low for 30 minutes without lifting the lid. (I know it's hard!) Peek and stir every 30 minutes or so. Add more liquid judiciously - a few spoonsful at a time. You can always add more, you can never add less!

If you have an FO that is not suitable for CP - perhaps it seizes badly or perhaps the fragrance morphs, try it in this batch.

I give away huge amounts of soap at Christmas. Honestly I'd give it away rather than trying to "save" it.

 

[DeeAnna]

Bar soap made with NaOH doesn't make good liquid soap. The others' suggestions will give better results. If it's nice soap other than the lack of fragrance, I'd think about doing confetti soap. Or just use it as-is -- Dixie makes a good point that when a soap is wetted and lathered up, the scent often becomes stronger.

 

[cmzaha]

If you decide to try rebatching I would melt it down in the oven at 200º F. I find you get a much better melt without the sides drying out the soap like a crock-pot does

 

[Susie]

You can call your local homeless shelter and ask them if they would like some soap. I would be surprised if they said no. You do need to follow any requests on bar size and such, but they are perennially short of funds, and soap from the store gets expensive.

 

[IrishLass]

If the soap is still in good shape- i.e., there's no DOS/rancidity present- there's absolutely no need to let your ingredients go to waste by tossing it. In our house, that would be committing some kind of soap blasphemy.

If it were my old soap, I'd either just use it 'as is', or else just grate it up to make a confetti soap. I wouldn't rebatch it, but that's just me- the older the soap the bigger the hassle it is for me to rebatch it. It can certainly be done, mind you, but it's just easier just to grate it up for a confetti soap if I don't feel like using it 'as is'.


IrishLass