Pinterest Test #2: semi-liquid (whipped) soap!

**please read the update at the end!!!**

The next thing I decided to try on Pinterest was making my own liquid soap from bars of soap that i liked. I love liquid soap, but bar soap is cheaper and I thought this would be a fun project.

What you'd need for this:
1) bar of soap (i used ivory)
2) pan
3) 2 cups water
4) grater
5) wooden spoon
6) container for storage

Step 1: grate the soap
The first thing I did was went upstairs and grabbed a bar of Ivory Soap. I used my cheese grater to reduce it to shavings (not too hard, ivory is pretty soft soap).

smells like teen spirit?

I also located a clean 16 oz wide-mouth mason jar from my newly acquired stash (more on that later).

Step 2: melt the soap

I put 2 cups of water on the stove to heat, and then added the soap to melt it. Little note: when the recipes online say not to boil your soap, you should listen. soap makes suds...boiling soap makes LOTS. They go down pretty quickly but it's probably easier to avoid them altogether and heat it up VERY SLOWLY.....

Step 3: cool down

Pour your new soap into the jar and let it cool. I left it for a while (couple of hours?) - when it was hot it was mostly clear and you could see all the way through the jar, but as it cooled it got white and thick.

Step 4: mix it up

The only thing that went kind of weird was that all of the glycerin solidified in the soap as it cooled. It looked kind of like clear jello (go figure...). So i thought "I'll just mix it all up and break the glycerin back down" - so back it went into the pan and I basically whipped it with my spoon. 

Step 5: repackage into soap bottle

So with all that air added to it, my single jar of 'liquid' soap turned into two. And it's quite frothy (2 weeks later and all the froth is still in tact, it hasn't sank...). It's so nice to wash your hands with - it's already mostly-sudsy. 

Then I decided, since I had all this soap in mason jars I'd just make a pump top so I didn't have to put it from one jar into another. I've made one, so far, and I didn't have the right size drill bit so I had to use a small one and enlarge it with snippers. Unfortunately that makes the edge really rough and uneven, so it doesn't pump quite as well as I'd like (too much air gets in) - but it does work. Eventually I'll get a new drill bit and make a new one.

When I make the new one, with the right sized hole, I'll post those pics too. I've seen other people use empty condiment bottles (like the ketchup bottles you see at burger joints, you can get white ones at walmart too), or repurpose other things that work. All sorts of options!

*******UPDATE********
Just as a note, Ivory may not be the best soap for small quantities like this. I have experimented with two soaps - Ivory and Oil of Olay. From what i've read on line Ivory works fine if you super-dilute it (i.e. 2-3 gallons of water per bar). I haven't tried this yet...

IVORY: after a while the 'whipped' part of it gets all spongy and won't come out of the pump. Also, not good to use as a body-wash, since ivory REALLY REALLY dries out your skin.

OIL OF OLAY: I used the Shea moisturizing soap. This one grates much easier since it is a much softer soap, and when you dilute it has almost no glycerine solids. MUCH better for soap pumps. I used this in the shower, and loved it.

The moral of the story: Experiment with different soaps until you get the consistency and qualities you like.