Thread: This is probably silly, but...

I'm using Mitchell's Wool Fat Soap, which works great, and as it's worn down, it won't adhere to the bottom of my shave mug, which makes it difficult to make lather. How does the more experienced solve this problem? Thanks in advance.

I had the same problem with my Plisson Shaving Soap. I took it out the bowl and cleaned the bowl very well with aid of a dish washing detergent. Next I grated the small puck of soap in flakes (with a plain regular kitchen grater). I put them back in the bowl, added a few drops of hot water, placed a sheet of cling wrap on top and compressed the soap with my fingers.
It now sits firmly in the bowl again.
It's also a great way to play with leftovers of soaps. I actually added some Tabac to my Plisson.

Best regards,
Bart.

I haven't gotten to the bottom of mine yet but I imagine I will have the same problem
perhaps melting it down in the microwave will let it reform at the bottom
else as said above mixing it with the leftover of another batch would beef it up again

Don't try melting your MWF in the microwave!

You can only melt glycerin based soaps such as Mama bear, VDH, honeybee spas, etc. It's not a problem to melt these, just remember to do a little at a time and check (maybe 10 seconds on high at first, and 5 at a time there after). The soap will literally melt to a consistency of melted wax, so don't let it go sloshing around when you remove it, or you'll make a fantastic smelling mess and probably burn yourself in the process

You CANNOT melt triple milled soaps, tallow based soaps, or other hard soaps. They won't melt, they will burn!

For the hard soaps, as Bart mentioned, you can grate them with a cheese grater, either the rotary kind or the plain old flat cheese grater, and then just pack them into the mug or bowl your choice by hand.

I've also heard a good idea about grating and re-packing old shave sticks with soaps that aren't available in stick form. I've yet to try it myself, but I'm definitely going to give it a try one of these days. The only thing is, you'd need to keep working the soap up and down in the stick as you re-pack, to prevent it from adhering to the sides. I'd really like to try this with some C&E Sienna.

Take some Marine Epoxy, waterproof kind.

Take a flat thumb tack, the old metal kind not the long plastic type.

Glue the tack to the bottom of the bowl. Wait the proscribed time period and mount the soap.

Originally Posted by singlewedge

Take some Marine Epoxy, waterproof kind.

Take a flat thumb tack, the old metal kind not the long plastic type.

Glue the tack to the bottom of the bowl. Wait the proscribed time period and mount the soap.

Cool idea!