How to Turn Old Soap Pieces Into New Soap Bars

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Things You'll Need

  • Old soap pieces

  • Cheese grater

  • Glass bowls

  • Distilled water

  • Spatula

  • Cooking spray

  • Muffin tin

Turn pieces of old soap into a whole new bar.
Image Credit: sanapadh/iStock/Getty Images

Instead of tossing out bar soap scraps, you can form the pieces into a brand new soap bar. Your upcycled soap will be just like a bar of soap from the store, but you can customize it by adding fragrances and herbs.

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Step 1

Collect the old soap pieces and separate them into similar types. For example, keep deodorant soaps together and beauty soaps together -- mixing the two generally would not smell good.

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Step 2

Grate the soap into glass bowls to make the pieces much smaller and easier to work with.

Step 3

Add 1 tablespoon of distilled water into every cup of grated soap, and stir the mixture well with a spatula.

Step 4

Set your microwave to high. Cover each bowl with a paper towel. Microwave each bowl of grated soap at 30-second intervals until the entire mixture has melted, stirring the mixture after each interval.

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Step 5

For a batch of 4 cups, stir in up to 10 drops of essential oil, up to 1/4 cup of dried herbs -- such as lavender or chamomile -- and a few drops of food coloring if you wish.

Step 6

Spray a muffin tin lightly with cooking spray, and then pour the soap mixture evenly into each cup in the tin.

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Step 7

Allow the soaps to cool completely. Turn the muffin tin upside down, and the soaps will pop right out. These repurposed soaps do not need curing, so you can use them right away.

Tip

Use a different muffin tin, dedicated to crafts only, for each different type of soap.

Warning

Use extreme caution when handling hot soap mixture, and keep it out of the reach of children -- hot soap mixture can burn skin on contact.

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