# Soap bar scraps?



## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

I stay at motels and hotels up to 100 nights a year in most years, and I have a giant collection of fancy soap bars from them that we use at home. I end up with lots of slivers of very nice soap that go in the trash.

Can I do anything with these sliver scraps? Can I reprocess them in any way to make use of them? I've only made soap once, and that was the lye type, not the instant melt and pour stuff. I know little about soap.

Suggestions or ideas?


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## swamp_deb (Jan 9, 2004)

You can use washcloths to make little bags either drawstring or just put the scraps inside and sew them up. If you use drawstrings, you can wash and reuse them. It's a good way to use trimmings from home made soaps too.


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

That's a good idea, Swamp Deb; the wash cloth bag would be a great way to use up the scraps.

Lezlie, what I wouldn't try is rebatching it into a new soap; the old fragrances rarely can be removed even when you add more fragrance or essential oil. Most folks are pretty disappointed in the final result. But the washcloth bag...yes!


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

My grandma had a friend that worked at a motel and would save her all the little soaps. She ground them up in our meat grinder and then melted them down enough to add fragrance, and color and then she molded them into balls. We used "ball" soap for YEARS when I was a kid. She must have made hundreds of them! LOL She even gave me a box of them for my first home when I got married! We also used some of the really fine ground soap in the clothes washer. Worked fine! My grandma was a very frugal old world German lady.


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## Puddin (Mar 31, 2003)

MY version of a soap bag:
I make my soap bags out of tulle (for the little scraps to go into), the tulle serves as a soft 'scrubby' for my body in the shower. Works fine, dries out nicely. I put a drawstring on the tulle bag so it can be used over and over. You don't have to worry about washing it either (in the washing machine). It doesn't stand up to the use for a really long time. I sometimes make my scrubby out of those netted bags they sell onions or oranges in. 
Heh, I hope this is readable to most of you. I didn't know how to explain it easier, sorry.
Gloria


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## DivinityGardens (Jul 18, 2007)

I use my shavings and small pieces of soaps that I've handcrafted and grind them in a coffee grinder to as fine a grind as I can get. I've found that adding some 20 Mule Team Borax helps get it down to an even finer grind. So I'll add a teaspoon or so to each small batch that I'm going to grind. Give it a few whirs in the grinder and you've got a fairly fine 'powder' to be put in a small container on the back of the kitchen sink. I then put a small scoop in the container and use a very small amount (only takes about 1/2 tsp. or so) to hand wash dishes that don't go in the dishwasher. The borax helps it to suds a little but it won't suds much. Your dishes do come out nice and clean and you've used up your scraps!


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