Sea Sponges in soap?

[LoveOscar]

I took a trip down to Florida in October and stopped in a local owned soap shop while I was there. I was very pleased to find hand made soaps and found two that smelled so delectable I could eat them. But what really peaked my interest was the idea that the soaper used sea sponges in their soaps.

When I first saw them, I thought maybe it was just a sponge stuck on the top of the bar. Eh, no. It's a sponge inside the WHOLE bar. More like a sponge that got dipped in lye soap and molded square. It's really neat and a lovely scrubby from the sponge.

It very much fascinates me and I love using it. I was wondering if anyone has seen or experienced this before?

 

[Arimara]

For some reason, sea sponges really creep me out. I'm sure they're good for what they do but I'm too chicken to try a bar like that out.

 

[CaraBou]

That's cool. You'll have to tell us how it is as the soap wears down.

 

[paillo]

I made some CP ones years ago just for me after seeing some like the one in your photo. They were easy to make, just had to make sure the sponges didn't try to float to the top, poured at a thin trace. As expected, the more they wore down the scrubbier they got. I loved them.

The hard part was finding nice sponges that weren't too dense and scrubby and could be cut to the right size for my individual-cavity molds. I only bought a few in Florida, and when I'd used them up that was the end of it, as I didn't want to order online, wanted to feel each sponge first

 

[Ruthie]

I've done kinda the same thing except I used luffa. It made a lovely soap.

just put it in my mold and poured at light trace; then sliced as usual except that it took a serrated knife to get through it.

 

[lsg]

I have made loofah soap also, however I soaked the whole loofah and sliced it to use in individual soap molds.

 

[penelopejane]

I have made loofah soap also, however I soaked the whole loofah and sliced it to use in individual soap molds.

So you had round molds about the right diameter? How thigh did you make each piece? I thought they would have to be about 4 inches (100 mm) thick? Is that right?

 

[lsg]

I really can't remember. My suggestion is to measure the depth of the individual mold and cut the loofah slightly shorter while it is still damp. I like soap all around the outside of my loofah. Let the loofah dry slightly before placing in the individual molds. It will shrink, but should plump up again when the soap is poured over it. I used round individual molds for my loofah soap and used M&P so that the loofah was visible inside the soap.

 

[penelopejane]

I really can't remember. My suggestion is to measure the depth of the individual mold and cut the loofah slightly shorter while it is still damp. I like soap all around the outside of my loofah. Let the loofah dry slightly before placing in the individual molds. It will shrink, but should plump up again when the soap is poured over it. I used round individual molds for my loofah soap and used M&P so that the loofah was visible inside the soap.

Thank you lsg. I am going to try it.