Ok, I know I can't be the only one to make shaving soap from hotel soap.right?

[Mark in the dark]

My lovely wife and I were in Vegas about a month ago and because I'm loath to waste (I'm cheap) I save the soaps and use them when we return home. This time I thought the soap at the hotel we stayed at was particularly slick so I reasoned I might be able to make a passable shave soap out of it.
The first hotel that we stayed at had a grapefruit scent as its signature which gave me the idea to use their soap, and the next hotel's was particularly slick, hence the plan developed.
When we got home I grated a weeks worth of (triple milled) hotel soap, some of it the grapefruit soap from the first place we stayed. I left it to air overnight and added some make-up grade olive oil and food grade glycerin to the mix and then proceeded to heat it in a pot on a low heat stirring until it began to melt. I think I may have stopped early fearing I would somehow burn the soap. I was out of my depth. I pressed the contents of the pot into a cappuccino mug which I also picked up in Vegas...I love soap in mugs. Shaving that night I found the slickness and cushion actually quite good. Certainly no worse than some soaps I had bought, however the scent was so mild as to have no value at all. The next day I re grated the soap and added grapefruit extract and found the result very pleasing.
Now, I'm quite happy with the results, but I can't help but wonder if anyone else has done something similar. To be honest I'm also a little concerned about just how well it turned out. I've been one to think of the artisan soap makers as...well, perhaps not god like, but at least gifted beyond anything I could aspire to.
Thoughts?

 

[TobyC]

Until recently, I used the bar soap leftovers from the shower, just pressed them in my soap dish flat.

 

[nelamvr6]

Um... Nope. I'm not ever gonna do that. Glad it works for you, but the hotels I stay in don't have any soaps that make me think of that for even an instant.

 

[DCRIII]

I got a handful from a hotel in Seattle that were quite nice as a shaving soap. They worked pretty well by themselves without adding anything to them. Mine had a vanilla jasmine sent. Waste not want not.
Though I admire the work artisan soap makers do, namely that their soap looks nicer than mine, I know they possess no godly powers and anyone can make great soap if they put their mind to it. Do some research and you to can make soap. Just keep in mind the first batch is the hardest and a learning experience. After that it's easy.

My lovely wife and I were in Vegas about a month ago and because I'm loath to waste (I'm cheap) I save the soaps and use them when we return home. This time I thought the soap at the hotel we stayed at was particularly slick so I reasoned I might be able to make a passable shave soap out of it.
The first hotel that we stayed at had a grapefruit scent as its signature which gave me the idea to use their soap, and the next hotel's was particularly slick, hence the plan developed.
When we got home I grated a weeks worth of (triple milled) hotel soap, some of it the grapefruit soap from the first place we stayed. I left it to air overnight and added some make-up grade olive oil and food grade glycerin to the mix and then proceeded to heat it in a pot on a low heat stirring until it began to melt. I think I may have stopped early fearing I would somehow burn the soap. I was out of my depth. I pressed the contents of the pot into a cappuccino mug which I also picked up in Vegas...I love soap in mugs. Shaving that night I found the slickness and cushion actually quite good. Certainly no worse than some soaps I had bought, however the scent was so mild as to have no value at all. The next day I re grated the soap and added grapefruit extract and found the result very pleasing.
Now, I'm quite happy with the results, but I can't help but wonder if anyone else has done something similar. To be honest I'm also a little concerned about just how well it turned out. I've been one to think of the artisan soap makers as...well, perhaps not god like, but at least gifted beyond anything I could aspire to.
Thoughts?

 

[adamchur]

I tried an experiment yesterday with cheap soaps available locally, Magno (€1,60-125g), Agua Lavanda Puig (€1,50/125g) and Dove (€1,05/100g) and some shaving sticks to see if I could make some low budget frankensoaps for shaving.....

Firstly I used a parmesan grater to shave down 50g of Dove soap, used the blender until it turned into fine granules, then shaved down 50g of an old Bea shaving stick and used the blender to turn it into fine granules, mixed the 2 together and melted the mix, when melted I added Floid shaving oil, sweet almond oil and some Floid Vigaroso, mixed it well and let it set in the fridge. When set, I shaved it back into the blender, blended it with a few drops of water and put it into a sawn off plastic talcum powder tube and tamped it down well before leaving it in the fridge to cool. The end result is a yellowish soap.

Secondly I shaved down 50g of Agua Lavandra Puig, blended it into granules, shaved down and blended 25g of a La Toja shaving stick, then blended the 2 together with sweet almond oil and a little water, then put it into a sawn off talc tube and tamped it down well before refrigerating. The result is a greenish soap.

Thirdly I shaved down and blended 50g of Magno black soap and 25g of La Toja shave stick separately, then blended them together with sweet almond oil and a little water, and tamped it down in a sawn off talc tube before refrigerating. The result is a soap with a salt & pepper colour.

I used the Magno-mix this morning- it loaded easily onto the brush, lathered fairly well, with a thick, reasonably slick lather and performed almost as well as Lea shave soap.
I'll try the Lavandra on Monday and on Tuesday I'll find out if the Floid soap smells anything like Floid Vigaroso!!

 

[Radium]

Well let`s reverse this I really like Ivory soap and often times when I am travelling I take along a bar of Ivory or Dove with me for shaving and showering. It works like a charm and I don`t use the hotel soap though I maybe take the unused ones with me back home as a souvenir

 

[BSAGuy]

Never tried this, but sounds interesting.

 

[NCJack]

I had to use hotel face soap once, three day conference and of course I'd forgotten my stick. Whatever it was (no brand name), it worked rather well.

 

[opsimath]

I shaved for years using Dr. Bronner's Castile liquid soap and an old boar bristle shaving brush, along with a multi-blade razor. It worked just fine, but I would find it difficult to go back to that after some of the delightful shaving soaps I've discovered since. Dr. Bronner's almond oil soap is wonderful stuff, but it can't compete with Tabac or Mitchell's Wool Fat.

In a pinch, I've shaved with nothing more than cold water -- even without any soap, it beats a dry shave.

 

[nemo]

My lovely wife and I were in Vegas about a month ago and because I'm loath to waste (I'm cheap) I save the soaps and use them when we return home.
Thoughts?

I'm so loathe to waste (cheap) I skipped the entire trip to Las Vegas, had enough left over to buy some real shaving soap.

 

[Ad Astra]

Make soap, but leave the olive oil out- it prevents lather. Surprised you got results.

See any "Joshua Tree Soap" threads ... They make nice smelling olive oil shave soaps that won't lather- or the lather disappears mid shave.

Oh- I don't gamble either, spent my Vegas money firing machine guns and dining.

AA

 

[Mark in the dark]

Awesome, thanks for the post Adam. I can't explain why what I did seemed to turn out, but I'm happy about it. As an added perk it's a fine link to the great memories we had in L.V. Cheers and I hope you're able to match the Floids.

 

[Mark in the dark]

Yeah, I don't know what to say about that Mike. I didn't put a ton of olive oil in the mix but it was significant. It might be the Plisson brush, I get the feeling I could work up a lather from candle wax. As for the gambling, yeah, that's not me, I'm more about following the wife around shopping and looking at the pretty girls... Not than there's anything against machine guns and you know eating and stuff.

 

[Mark in the dark]

Sigh....Ok, I hang my head in shame thinking of the myriad of soaps I could have bought. Having said that I would have to weigh it against the substantial cost involved with giving nearly everything I have to me beloved when she opts to hang me out to dry. Also, the soap seemed to work. Cheers