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Keep it Dry

Peter Lopez

Keep it Dry, Avoid Mushy Soap.

Handcrafted soaps differ from commercially produced soaps in content, shelf life and use. If you've ever left a bar of soap (handcrafted or otherwise) in a soap dish that retained a bit of water, you'll  have experienced the disgusting Mushy Bar Soap syndrome. Yep, that's a thing.

 Any soap left soaking in water will turn to an icky, gloopy mush. The soap bar kept above the water will firm up and air-dry, ready for its next use, but the underside soaking in water is, well, almost disgusting.

 Not to worry, your soap is just fine, mostly. You can drain and dry the dish, turn the soap's mushy side up, and the bar will dry and be ready in no time at all. This is probably obvious and common sense to most of you. What you may not realize though, is what has happened to the mushy underside of the soap that had been soaking in water. That wet mushy side has been partially leached of its essential oils, and some of the goodness that you expected from your handcrafted bar soap in the first place. That goodness is now in a puddle of icky soap dish water*. That's not to say that your handcrafted bar soap is no longer any good. It's still a perfectly good and usable bar of lovingly handcrafted bar soap, just a tiny bit less aromatic and not nearly as pretty as it had been.

 As a general rule, you should try to place your handcrafted bar soap on a drying rack designed for soap, after each use. A good soap drying rack will allow air to circulate all around the soap bar and will keep it above and out of the moisture. This helps retain all the wonderful properties you expected from your handcrafted soaps in the first place. It also extends the life and usefulness of your precious soap.

 Nobody likes handling a gloopy bar of mushy soap!

 -YoPedro

 *Note: You could always take that soapy dish water and ritualistically rub it on your naked body while dancing and chanting, (when no one is looking) but that would be weird, right? I've never done that, but who am I to judge? Heck, it might even have some sort of mystical powers that only the lost civilizations knew of. I hear Ancient Aliens calling!


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