Teach Soap

How can I make new soap from old soap bars that I have laying around? I have some store-bought, very large (good-quality) french milled soap in my bathroom that has lost their citrus scent and color. They have also dried out and have large, open cracks running through the soap.

Can this soap be grated and used as rebatch? Do I have to add water or something to make up for the dryness of the existing bars? Any help would be appreciated as I am very new to soapmaking and have not yet tried cold process soapmaking.

While we're on the subject, can I grate new bars of Dove or Ivory to make rebatch soap?

Thanks very much,
Linda

My question is, why would you want to work with, much less use soap with who knows what ingredients they are made of? I'd suggest tossing those chemical filled bars and make your own wonderful soap then read about rebatching if you have overages. If you use quality butters and oils your soap will be wonderful and your family's skin will thank you for it. I've been struggling with making soap-on-a rope with 3D molds. On my forth try, with the help of this teach soap forum, I finally suceeded. I guess a person has to be unwilling to quit to accomplish worthwhile goals.

Commercial soaps do not rebatch very well. I wouldn't do it. If you don't want to work with lye, get yourself some Melt N' Pour soap base from BrambleBerry. http://www.brambleberry.com/Bases-Melt-Pour--C151.aspx

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I just received some shredded rebatch from Bramble Berry the other day and I do plan to make my first ever soap this weekend. But I wonder why commerical bars don't rebatch very well? I just hate to waste all those bars of old (but good quality) soap :-)

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

What brand of soap is it? I have noticed some natural brands from Europe are glycerin based.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Awesome YouTube video! Thanks for sharing that link. I don't remember the brand of soaps that I have but they are the big, oversized bars that places like Marshall's sell. They are soaps that didn't sell at upscale stores so Marshall's ends up with them. I am just learning to make soap so I will be starting off by making products for myself, family and friends. If I can learn to make soap successfully then I may sell a few items to friends and neighbors but I would never even consider selling soap made from leftover, used soap. I was just wondering if it was worth doing and how the resulting product would turn out.

Maybe I'd better concentrate on one thing at a time. I'll toss the old, used soaps for now. I'm thinking of attempting my first ever rebatch soap this morning as well as my first ever melt & pour sugar scrub cubes. I'm very nervous! I'm on a tight budget and I'm afriad I'll mess up and end up wasting some of these new soap making products that I've bought. Wish me luck!

Good Luck! You'll do fine (I had the same fears, but I bet you will surprise yourself!)

You will be fine As for the old soap, I would throw it away too. Some of the stuff at Mashall's and TJMax may seem nice, but really aren't. I had a family member who was higher management there.