Newbie question about shave soap

Ok this is just a beginner question about shave soap. I've shaved about a dozen times now and I've been doing fine with the SRD soap that came with my shave kit. I was interested in all the different scents in SRD soaps so I bought the sample of all soaps. They came in the mail today and I see that they are in little pie slices and are supposed to be good for a couple of shaves. My question is this:

How do I use these little samples to make a lather? Should I just dump the little chunk into my mug and just go from there or do I need to do something else?

I'm just asking because I've read on here of people cutting up the glycerin soaps they've purchased and then adding the shavings to a mug or whatever for use and didn't know if I should do that.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

You can probably throw them in the mug and go to town on them with your brush, I've not tried it that way.

Personally, I put the "pie piece" in my hand, and cup my hand a little to keep it in one spot, then load the brush with it, and then put the piece of soap down, and add a little water to my scuttle and whip up the lather.

If you need more soap on the brush, put it back in your hand and get more on the brush.

That's just the way I do it though :p

Get a small bowel or small cup and put the pie piece in it. Dip the bowell in boiling water and the soap will melt. This soap melts easy. Double broiler method.

Just make sure when you are remelting the soap that you don't get water into the soap. I use a pasta pot like this. Put about 3 inches of water in the bottom, insert the upper container and then put bowls in the larger basket and insert that into the pot. Turn on the burner and watch it melt. Once it is done melting I turn the burner off and walk away until it is cool enough for me to pick up. The bowls that I use are gotten at the dollar store. They come in a pack of 3 and are palm size. Others use candy dishes, but for such a small amount of soap it might be better to just use your hand as previously mentioned.

edit: don't melt it in the microwave.

I put mine in the mug and swirled them around with the brush. Seems to work well enough, really.

How does that melting affect the scent? Doesn't it evaporate the essential oils?

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Originally Posted by ursus

How does that melting affect the scent? Doesn't it evaporate the essential oils?

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I don't know exactly, but I haven't had any problems with it. I use the double-broiler method to put my TGQ soaps in mugs.

I did have an old wooden soap bowl that I keep my Mitchell's in. Instead of melting, I just wet the bottom of the puck and stuck it to the inside of the bowl and it's been fine since.

I put mine in a small glass bowl, and popped in the nuke-a-vator for about 10 seconds. Got just soft enough to flow nicely. I ordered two, and have gotten several nice shaves out of them.

Just thinking about boiling points of various liquids, I don't imagine that a little melting will affect the strength of the essential oils. Always ready to be corrected though.

Fred

Well thanks everyone for the suggestions! I tried just putting it in my hand and it worked ok I guess. I would have liked to melt them down but there's just not enough soap for that imo.