The infinite cycle of Soap

201202171006
For people who still think it's important to shower with soap, this is neat: a piggybacking soap bar system. When the bar of soap becomes a sliver, you just stick it into the hollow part of a new bar of Stack soap.

Soap bars that join together - STACK

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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snagglepuss

Pish Posh. My herd of gerbils lick me clean every day.
http://twitter.com/sfrazer Scott Frazer

Um. You can do this just fine with normal soap.
- xzzy
  
  Ditto. When I get down to a sliver, I get the new bar wet, then smush them together.. firmly, but not enough to crush it. Let it dry and it’ll be solid next time you use it.
  
  My personal best is having 3 slivers visible on a single bar, I don’t think I’ll be able to get much better than that though because it’s always eroding away.
  - lavardera
    
    Yup, and if you are really good, when break your sliver in two by accident you can still get them both stacked and stuck on the new bar.
    
    But hey, this Stack soap is fine for those who are not soap ninjas.
    - grs
      
      Dang, all this time I thought i was just thrifty. I didn’t know I was trained in the martial arts of soapery. That is a resume builder right there.
  - Paul Renault
    
    Don’t you know that these young folk need instruction manuals with diagrams to explain this to them. Y’know, ‘cuz they could never figure this out by themselves, say, by the time they’re ten years old.
    
    I blame deifying the “I know less, which makes me better” ideology.
brerrabbit23

“For people who still think it’s important to shower with soap”

Has soap become… controversial?
- Ihavenofuckingname
  
  It’s wasteful, environmentally unfriendly, bad for your skin, full of useless perfumes, costly, and actually causes your body to produce more sebum, leading to a neverending cycle of dependence upon… Oh my god, this is why I don’t have any friends.
  - niktemadur
    
    In related news, flipping through channels last week, I finally saw a Debbie Downer sketch, on an SNL rerun.
- http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EQH7EC6KIV4CSG2OIEIE7JYZPE P
  
  I haven’t used soap in anywhere but my nether regions in about 1.5 years. I do use shampoo/conditioner (organic) 2-4 times a week though.
  
  Read this blog, its what got me started: http://blog.seanbonner.com/2010/02/01/ive-given-up-using-soap/
  
  I don’t miss it. My skin is arguably healthier now. I’m just as clean. And my shower stays cleaner because there is less soap scum to deal with.
  - blueelm
    
    I tried that thing with my hair where you don’t use any shampoo. Oh noooo. My hair turns into ribbons. It looks like I should be crawling up out of a well to kill you through your TV.
    
    Maybe for certain hair types, but not mine. I don’t even wash it that much (it’s super long so washing every day really destroys it) but honestly I think certain hair types just really benefit from at least a weekly scrub with some kind of detergent on the scalp unless you plan to lacquer them into a sculpture on your head for weeks on end or something. Where I never use soap though is on my face. Cold cream all the way, best thing I ever did. Fixed all my skin problems on my face.
    
    I use soap on the parts that need it (you know the ones), and to clean my toe and finger nails though. But I’ve never seen the point of soaping up my back just so that I can be dry and itchy all day. Oils are nicer for getting the rest of the body cleaned up IMO. That being said, I really can’t see how you could get your toe nails or hands clean enough without soap.
    - bcsizemo
      
      I switched out regular shampoo for baking soda and it seems to work great. The first few weeks my hair was a little heavy on the oil and kind of stringy, but after that it was a breeze. I usually mix 1 tablespoon to 10-12 ounces of water (just cause that’s the bottle size I keep in the shower.) You go through it a lot faster, but a box of baking soda would last me 6+ months.
      
      Overall it really helped with my scalp psoriasis. As a side note, I’m a guy and have short-ish hair. So again, your mileage may vary. (I can’t really imagine going no poo, mine gets pretty oily overnight.)
  - guanto
    
    Yeah, good for you. For me, no soap for a day = zits, moles and teh stink, not to mention open sores under my (then) greasy hair. Be happy it works for you but don’t proselytize. Not everybody is like you.
    
    (And yes, I’ve gone extended periods without soap due to temporary non-availability of same. Doesn’t work.)
    - blueelm
      
      …Moles?
      
      I’m not saying you shouldn’t use soap, just that moles popping up suddenly could also be something worth checking into.
      - guanto
        
        Checked out plenty, dermatologists (yes, plural) say I’m just fine. Almost all of my moles started out as zits; only way to prevent that is to do my best not to get zits (well, follow proper hygiene that is).
    - http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EQH7EC6KIV4CSG2OIEIE7JYZPE P
      
      I wasn’t trying to convert anyone just offering up my own successful experience and link with more info. It’s soap, not religion.
      Obviously you have bigger issues and it doesn’t work, no reason to bring your negativity.
      
      If fact, if you’re not too close minded, you may want to check that link out. There’s probably 200 comments of people with different experiences. You might be able to learn something that will help you.
      - guanto
        
        Oh, sorry, wasn’t trying to be antagonistic ;-).
        
        The one thing that “will help [me]” (not patronizing at all, right? ;-)) is good quality body soap (without any eeeeevil additives, in case you’re concerned), a mild soap substitute for my face, shampoo and moisturizer. That stuff was invented for a reason, and that reason is it helps most people stay clean and healthy. A good part of what soap and shampoo do is getting dead skin and oils off your body and head (AKA as your “soap scum,” soap alone doesn’t cause that stuff, it’s soap combined with the gunk it gets of your skin). Turns out that really is important for most people, which is why they use it.
        
        I have no “issues,” I just degrade into an oily mess if I don’t take care of myself. This “issue” is widely known as “being human.”
  - Their feldspars
    
    Your shampoo isn’t really organic.
    - http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EQH7EC6KIV4CSG2OIEIE7JYZPE P
      
      says the troll
      - Their feldspars
        
        What, precisely, is your insult intended to mean, sir? I’ll be happy to clarify my point:
        youtu.be/QBXZeJcwB8E
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    I use soap on my hands and feet (for hygiene purposes), my face (to get it wet enough to shave) and I shampoo (because it looks nasty if not.) The rest goes soap-free and, shockingly!, I smell just fine.
    - Their feldspars
      
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_fatigue
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I teach yoga in a pricey spa/fitness center. I’d be fired if I didn’t smell like lotus blossoms.
- theophrastvs
  
  yes oddly enough, historically on BoingBoing, it is.
- tyr
  
  It’s part of the neo-hippie pseudo scientific ethos here. I think it’s kookie but as long as I don’t have to be in the same room …
Chrs

I’m assuming it’s just repackaged Dove bars.
- awjt
  
  Dove bars are a soap AND a chocolate. Kinda like Skippy: a peanut butter AND a dog food.
Geekized

This proves that wherever there’s a half-arsed idea, someone will market it.
http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan

Those scrubby things I call “soap sacks” work well for this. Drop partial bars in them, keep using, and the question of whether the total quantity of soaps in there can be expressed as an integer becomes moot.
- robdobbs
  
  Gross. Those sacks get filled with bacteria – ironically I’ll admit.
  - http://fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/ Sheri L. Williamson
    
    So? Naked bars of soap have bacteria on them, too, but it’s not like they’re subway men’s room bacteria.
    - blueelm
      
      Actually I think some of the bacteria wash off of the soap when you wet it, but the fabric of the sacks tends to give them more places to live. Same thing with brushes. How bad they are really depends. Usually, they probably are the same relatively harmless ones that are on most of your skin at any minute and a few random generally benign ones from the environment in your home. Buuut some times you probably come into contact with something less nice. This is why you have to sterilize epilators and things like that too. Most of the bacteria they have will be harmless because most of the bacteria around you and on you is harmless, but it only takes one overgrowth of something less nice to give you a rash, zits, boils, or other annoying skin problems. All that being said, I guess if you throw the thing out after so many uses…
      - http://fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com/ Sheri L. Williamson
        
        Unnecessary additives in soaps and laundry detergents are frequent and often overlooked causes of the aforementioned skin conditions, while microbophobia is a leading cause of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Unless your immune system is compromised, you’re not doing yourself any favors by letting it get weak and flabby.
      - blueelm
        
        Lol. You don’t use soap or detergents on epilators or other equipment, but they really can get and spread disease. Heh… but it keeps the lawyers happy!
        
        I actually don’t use soap personally at all because it dries my skin out too much, with the exception of a moisturizing body wash on the critical parts. I actually don’t *get* soap at all on my face or non-sweaty skin except for things that come into contact with other people frequently. Also: no, bacterial infections are caused by bacteria and that is why they respond to antibiotics. Boils are infections. It really is that simple. Not cleaning your equipment can lead to simple and even very bad infections. What started as one small infected hair follicle can easily become a swath of them if it’s ruptured and spread. It’s like changing your toothbrush regularly. If you don’t change your toothbrush you will eventually be doing a disservice to your mouth.
boo

Really? Nobody’s obsessive Mom told them to stick the old bar to the new one, or save them all in a net bag saved from the grocery department so that you get that “extra scrubbed clean feel” of using hardened hydrocarbons on your skin?
10brooks

“For people who still think it’s important to shower with soap..”
They still exist? How provincial!
http://twitter.com/kpkpkp Kevin Pierce

I’ve been doing this sort of thing for years.

As Jobs might have railed: That’s not a product – it’s a feature.

About all this has going for it is a branding play. The STACK raised lettering should be molded onto the outside so it remains visible post-meld.
- ialreadyexist
  
  So THAT’S why Steve Jobs is so popular around here….
Timothy Krause

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJEArOnEbcE

(Don’t have a dog in this fight, just thought of this song, which is lovely and silly.)
oschene

Prior art: Pears soap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pears_soap
- http://www.sriplaw.com/ Joel Rothman
  
  Indeed. Pears soap pioneered this over a 100 years ago.
LaughingLemon

You can do something similar with Pears soap. There’s a indentation in both sides of the bar, part of the design, which serves just that purpose.
- missrain
  
  My mother had a 1902 Pears ad in her bathroom: “As it is the best and lasts longest, it is the cheapest; when worn to the thinness of a wafer, moisten and stick the worn piece on the new cake. Never a particle is lost if you use Pears soap.”
  
  I wonder if Stack takes a different approach and says this is why it costs more.
  - Jonathan Roberts
    
    It also helps to ease the white man’s burden -
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1890sc_Pears_Soap_Ad.jpg
    Quite amazing stuff, really!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ANE3SDHCG2366ZWWZSIRSO6WDY Juby Monkey

I make my own 100% olive oil soap and I love it. It’s nice and gentle (although it doesn’t foam up like ‘normal’ soaps). Part of the fun of a shower is getting all soapy and shit. Not using soap in the shower would take away one of the pleasures I think…
- danegeld
  
  how do you do that?
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ANE3SDHCG2366ZWWZSIRSO6WDY Juby Monkey
    
    It’s a cold process soap using lye. It’s super-fatted to about 5% so (theoretically) all of the lye is converted during the saponification process. It’s a great soap and 1.5 kg of olive oil is good for about 15 hefty bars that last at least 1/2 the year. Working with the lye is sort of scary, but you just gotta be careful and it’s all good. It will totally clean yo butt.
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

I can just see this appearing as a scene in a police procedural… excavating the victim’s soap stack for DNA, only to find that each strata has its own unique sample of pubic hairs.

Hmmm… they could count the layers like tree rings to date them, and come up with rates of soap usage based on time of year and square footage of relevant dermis.

Egad.
blueelm

… shower gel?
louisleblanc

Save the environment by using the last little part of your soap. (Something any two bars of soap will do anyways in hot water). Now shipping worldwide by air-mail.

I don’t see anything wrong with that, nothing at all.
Paul Bickart

Dial Soap has a hollow that works just as well.
bcsizemo

My left over soap pieces never look like that. Mine are usually much shorter and lumpy in the middle…
- Lobster
  
  Mine are usually much thinner and have a distinct curve to them.
  - guanto
    
    This calls for a study, nay, dissertation on possible and observed shapes of left-over soap pieces.
    - Lobster
      
      First we must define the point at which soap becomes left-over. We could say that it’s simply, “when it no longer sees use,” but that opens up quite a penumbra that includes everything from the the super-thrifty who’ll stick it to their fingertip to use every last molecule of soap, to the recently deceased who leave behind a nearly new bar.
goopy

I thought they are obsolete.
awjt

What did they do with all the disk-shaped pieces they carved out of the soap bars at the factory?
- Alpacaman
  
  The disk shape thingy isn’t carved out, it is from a mold
  - Anon_Mahna
    
    You’ve rolled a 2 on your perception check..
    Your character hears a faint “woosh” sound as the joke flies over their head..
    
    :D
Laura

I purposely buy two colours of soap to alternate, so that when I fuse a new soap to the old it looks fancier. I can do it without the ridge too, but I can see how it would help beginners. Not fancy soap stratifiers like me, I’m a level 3 soap fuser.
- Anon_Mahna
  
  Well, that made the notion of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour-dream Soap” pop into my brain….
  
  Go! Go! Go! Joseph lather and rinse…..
  
  …..pretty sure the hamster in my brain has been drinking and fell off the wheel. >.<
allybeag

I keep all the bits and pieces of soap until I’ve got enough to make a new bar, then I soak them ’til they’re all squishy and press them into a mould and let them dry, thus creating a new bar of multicoloured, multiscented soap. I always thought I was being a cheapskate but it looks like I was just ahead of my time.
ialreadyexist

What a bunch of wimps on this site. I alternate between Fels Naptha, Lava, and Boraxo.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Oh, please. I use scouring rushes.
AbdulAlhazred

Yes! Finally my OCD is satiated. My only lingering doubt is the fear that when I die, nobody will use up the remainder of the soap, leaving the resulting piece in that dreadful limbo between soap and not-usable-soap.
Dear company, please include a lifetime recycling warranty with each purchase, promising to collect the sliver upon my untimely demise.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002416542187 Luke Bales

nice idea. Amway did it the same idea in the ’80′s with their bar soap.
http://theanthropocene.blogspot.com/ Jordan Wright

Dove and Pringles are already planning to sue. jk.
pjcamp

We didn’t figure this out a thousand years ago? About the same time we learned to detour around soap-avoiders.
Mr. Winka

If you use soap at all, why not use liquid soap?
bpratt

Excellent! I was thinking we were overdue for the annual pissing match over the no-soap thing.
It fascinates me how so many BB readers get totally freaked out by this. The idea that The Man historically sells the public useless and even harmful crap by spreading made-up fears of public humiliation is a pretty common theme here (old Listerene douche ads and whatnot) but otherwise clued-in folks cling to the soap thing like it came direct from Jeezus hisself. I mean, there’s an almost religious intensity to the objections, it’s bizarre. Personally I kept an open mind and tried the soap-free experiment – that was about a year and a half ago and it’s awesome, I never went back. Skin isn’t dry and itchy in winter, I don’t get zits, and nobody has ever said boo about BO. Go figure, a bazillion years of evolution actually works better than some shit from a factory in New Jersey. YMMV but for me and a lot of other folks its been a revelation. And just to clarify, nobody is suggesting that it’s not necessary to bathe or shower – you gotta knock those stinky bacteria off daily. You just don’t actually need anything but warm water to do it. That guy you’re smelling on the bus isn’t just not using soap, he’s not using water either.
- guanto
  
  nobody has ever said boo about BO
  
  Other rude things I don’t do: telling people they have bad breath; telling people they are ugly.
  
  PS: You do know that humans have been using soap for thousands of years, right? Up next: don’t use toothbrushes, since clearly a bazillion years of evolution actually works better than some shit from a factory in China.
  - apoxia
    
    My bf didn’t tell me he’d stopped using soap until six months later. He hasn’t used deodorant for about two years now. I’ve never caught a whiff of BO, off him or his clothes. I’ve caught many from my own soaped and deodorized body. Trust me, I would tell him if he stank. This is no room for socially restrained politeness in our relationship.
    
    So, are you willing to accept that some people can forego soap (and even deodorant) and not stink, or do you remain militantly, and vocally, opposed?
    - guanto
      
      As for your questions: I’m not opposed to anything, militantly or otherwise, that doesn’t affect me.
      
      I do, however, object to direct insults to non-subscribers to the Cult of Soaplessness such as the comment I replied to: “harmful crap by spreading made-up fears of public humiliation”, ”cling to the soap thing like it came direct from Jeezus hisself.”
      
      As I said, if it works for you, be happy, you’re a lucky minority; but be nice enough not to call others mindless, stupid, “fearful” consumers who succumb to eeeevil advertising that seeks to hawk “harmful crap.” Look at that for a moment and you’ll realize just how kooky that sounds.
      
      Soap exists for a reason. Period. Peace.
  - bpratt
    
    Man, in my house you totally hear those things.
    And yes, soap is a good and useful thing that has been in use for a long time. This does not mean that it can’t be oversold and over consumed.
    And yes, this is exactly the weird touchiness the subject provokes. Like I said, fascinating.
http://profile.yahoo.com/BNWJGNWQP24UYROFPBRDPCQPEU Roger

Actually, dudes, if you use baking soda in your hair it BECOMES soap. Soap is fat or oil plus an alkali. Your sebaceous glands provide the oil and the soda is alkaline. No suds, of course, but who said soap needs to make suds? It just needs to make water wetter so the grease (and the dirt that sticks to grease) will float away.
MauiJerry

The concept of stacking old remnants of soap bars in new ones goes back to the 1800s. A company called Isdale and McCallum (Paisley, Scotland, UK) patented the idea way back then, or so the family story goes. The modern history book (internet) doesnt give many clues on quick hunt.
http://www.facebook.com/savagejen Jennifer Savage

After pregnancy, I had pretty bad acne. One day I ran out of soap, so I just started using some of the baby soap we had in my daughter’s bathroom and then just kept using it. I am now zit free. So if anyone out there doesn’t want to give up soap, but wants to go half way, I’d recommend the baby stuff.
niktemadur

Since reading about it here on BB about a year ago, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of going soapless, but I’m not gonna take the plunge of feeling like crap until my skin adapts and kick-starts its’ natural processes.

That said:
Toothbrushes do NOT need a huge amount of paste, a modest to small amount is fine.
Large loads on the washing machine come out perfect with half the recommended amount of detergent. Also, a spoonful or two of fabric softener is fine.
While in the shower, very little soap is actually needed on the washcloth. FTR, I use a cream soap with blue exfoliating grains.
Beanolini

For people who still think it’s important to shower with soap

People still shower? I haven’t showered this century, and it’s awesome.