Ideas to get rid of excess soap in a hurry?

[Saltynuts]

I made waaaaaaay too much soap. Thoughts on how to get rid of it (in a meaningful way) in a hurry?

Obviously sell it or give it away.

Can I use it as a dish detergent in my sink? Guess I would have to turn it into a liquid - soak it in water?

Can I use it in the dishwasher?

Can I use it as a laundry detergent?

If I use it in any of the above machines, do I risk coming home like I did in college when I used dishwasher soap in the clothes washer to finding soap suds ALL over the apartment?

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[AliOop]

It's too soon to give your soap away. You need to cure it for 4-6 weeks. Once cured, give it to friends, or donate it to a shelter.

You cannot make liquid soap out of bar soap. Liquid soap is made with KOH, not NaOH. No matter how well you blend a bar soap with water, it will always re-coagulate into a goopy, snotty mass.

Definitely don't use the soap in your washing machine or dishwasher. Read some threads here about how to make laundry soap.

 

[Zing]

Donate to food pantries, homeless shelters, and domestic violence shelters. Can I get an Amen?!
I push all my soap on everyone I meet! My favorite meme is the guy saying "I want to make soap. I just don't want to have soap." LOL

 

[Hope Ann]

This is why we advise newbies to make very small batches - no more than a pound. Less waste of material for failed batches, more experience with the process as you're making more batches, and less soap stock accumulation.

You should not donate until the soap has fully cured (6-8 weeks) AND you know what you made. I would also only share the first few batches within your family or very close friends. It's not really thoughtful to give bad soap to strangers, and reality is that many first batches aren't very good quality. You especially don't want to donate until you know how well the soap will hold up - for example, does it turn to mush in the shower, and the likelihood of developing DOS. An understanding of proper formulation will tell you what to expect from your soap. If you don't have that, slow down and learn it. And start with the beginner formulas available here for you to learn on. Save the experimenting until you can reasonably predict the outcome and your experiment is to prove the theory out, rather than wildly guessing.

This goes quadruple for selling - that is something that is way far down the road from first batches. Depending on your location you may have government regulations to meet first as well.

Hope

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

If you think that selling is an obvious thing to do with this soap, your balls a little bit too much on the wall..........

 

[lianasouza]

I started in January and only give soaps to two testers, my mother and my sister. I got DOS twice, way after the basic 4 weeks of curing. I also change just one thing at a time, so still got a lot of testing to do. My aim is not a pretty bar, but good soap.

 

[Hope Ann]

If you think that selling is an obvious thing to do with this soap, your balls a little bit too much on the wall..........

Indeed! And they could end up pinned to the wall.

Hope

 

[Benjifrazer]

This is a soap bar cage. this is designed to hold a bar of soap and allows you to swish it around in water for dish washing. Depending on your soap. it may be good to wash dishes but you might find fragrance oil sits on them and you dont want to eat it really.

I also use my bar soap to wash the shower and bath. It gets us clean and is excellent as removing our the human detritus that builds up on shower walls and trays;

 

[violets2217]

I use bars of soap at the sink for dishes. I just lather up my brush or dish sponge and have at it.

 

[Dawni]

Use it in all your sinks. Here it's inside kitchen, outside kitchen (which here we refer to as the "dirty" kitchen lol), both bathrooms, my soap room... There's a bar outside near the garden spout, there's another one near the back garden spout. LOL

And oh, there's several soaps in each of the above, not just one bar each haha

 

[CreativeWeirdo]

Donate to a women's shelter. Women often leave abusive situations in a hurray, and without any personal items at all, let alone hygiene items. Christmas time is one of the biggest times of the year, and these women most likely have noone to give them a Christmas present.

 

[user 49910]

I made waaaaaaay too much soap. Thoughts on how to get rid of it (in a meaningful way) in a hurry?

Give it away to the homeless people there in Houston. That is the quickest and most meaningful way... since you asked.

Plus the Women's Shelters there in Houston like @CreativeWeirdo suggested. Ladies are much more attune to their personal hygiene and would appreciate it greatly!

In the Spirit of Christmas!

 

[violets2217]

Yep, I also give all my batches of soap that I do not consider successful bars of soap to a local shelter. As long as they pass the zap test and cure an appropriate amount of time, I box em up and drop them off.

 

[Dawni]

Oh yes I just remembered. I gave a bunch to the trash collector guys when they came by the other day - here they're nothing like what you guys probably have over there (at least from what I've seen online lol) and they were very grateful. My mom also gave em a bunch of fruits (that's her business BTW).

And I just now remembered I also gave some to our street cleaners last year.

 

[MelissaG]

I made waaaaaaay too much soap. Thoughts on how to get rid of it (in a meaningful way) in a hurry?

Obviously sell it or give it away.

Can I use it as a dish detergent in my sink? Guess I would have to turn it into a liquid - soak it in water?

Can I use it in the dishwasher?

Can I use it as a laundry detergent?

If I use it in any of the above machines, do I risk coming home like I did in college when I used dishwasher soap in the clothes washer to finding soap suds ALL over the apartment?

Thanks for any help!!!

lol, That's what I did in my first six months. It's why I eventually ended up starting my business. In the first year, I made so much that I couldn't use it in years. Selling it seemed like a good idea. You can also donate it to shelters and the like.

 

[Vicki C]

I use bars of soap at the sink for dishes. I just lather up my brush or dish sponge and have at it.

I have sold a bunch of “dish soap” this year - I bought mugs and ramekins at thrift stores - made 95% coconut 5% castor soap - added a little litsea and peppermint - filled the mugs with soap and sold them with a dish scrub brush. Big hit.

 

[Arimara]

Oh yes I just remembered. I gave a bunch to the trash collector guys when they came by the other day - here they're nothing like what you guys probably have over there (at least from what I've seen online lol) and they were very grateful. My mom also gave em a bunch of fruits (that's her business BTW).

And I just now remembered I also gave some to our street cleaners last year.

If there are no pics, it doesn't exist! To be fair, the sanitation workers here are a step below the FDNY- don't mess with them (any of them are nice anyways).

 

[Dawni]

If there are no pics, it doesn't exist! To be fair, the sanitation workers here are a step below the FDNY- don't mess with them (any of them are nice anyways).

What's FDNY? Haha

I'll take pics on Monday I'm sure they'll be glad to pose lol

Here they have no uniforms, the trucks are just ugly old dump trucks, I've never seen them wear gloves or any other safety gear, and some don't even wear shoes, just slippers. I'm sure they "look" better (not that it matters to me lol) in the bigger cities, but here, well, I'm sure small savings from not needing to buy soap and a bunch of bananas isn't too small for them. Same goes for our street sweepers, since we're on the topic. Third world issues and all that...

 

[user 49910]

What's FDNY?

Fire Department New York city.

 

[Michelle0803]

Please do not sell your soap at this time. From all of your previous posts, you have only just begun making soap very recently and need more time to perfect your soap before you sell. Let your soap continue to cure. Test it periodically to see how it is performing, if you are getting DOS, how the fragrance is, etc.

While donating soaps to all of the above mentioned is a very kind gesture, please do not donate at this time until you are positive that you are donating a good bar of soap. You would not want to donate soap that is inferior.

Make small batches and test your soap over a period of 6 months before you even think of selling or donating.