I take my own bath products when I travel and my favorite soap no longer comes in a small travel size. The regular bar is huge... and will not fit in my travel soap tin. When I tried to slice it, it crumbled.
Does anyone out there know how to soften a bar enough to make a clean cut?
Thanks, in advance!!!

For long-term planning, why not just save the next one you use in your bathroom when it gets to a manageable small size? Meanwhile, have you tried using a HOT knife?

Don't know if this will work for soap but I've used fishing line to cut a cheesecake so that it won't crumble. Dental floss might work too.

I like to use my own soap too because the scented stuff at hotels gives me hives.

I just use my soap regularly at home until it's small enough that it breaks in half. Then I save these pieces in a ziploc bag and bring them with me on vacation.

Good ideas... the only problem I have is that I travel every week. I just flat out have to figure out how to cut it. I am going to try the string and maybe I will put it in the micro for a few minutes to see if that helps too.
Thanks

I save the ends of my soaps when they are too small to use, then put 3 or 4 ends in a small ziploc and nuke it on defrost for 15 seconds. Then you can mold it with your hand to the shape that you want.
If it crumbles when you slice it, just mold the pieces back together after nuking.

We take a full-size bar on all our trips, especially to Europe.

TxTravelPro - buy yourself a larger soap tin. You can get the plastic travel ones at any drugstore for about a buck. Problem solved!!

Actually, it's quite a simple procedure:

1. Determine the exact centerline of the bar; this can be done by balancing it on the blade of an ordinary table knife.

2. Lightly score a notch along this line

3. Leave soap in a sunny location for approximately 4.237 hours

4. Place notched, softened soap on railroad track within 12 minutes of oncoming train. A freight train is preferrable, since the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you'll never be able to predict when an Amtrack train will pass over a specific length of track.

5. After enjoying the ensuing "spat", go out and buy a bigger soap dish (ref. Budman above)

hee hee hee....

How about boiling the bar of soap in a small amount of water for 10 minutes and then pouring into an ice cube tray to harden?





Okay, I just made this up.

While I'm not an expert on cutting the soap, I can tell you how to cut the cheese. 8-O
Kal

ps. Carry a small plastic bottle of liquid soap if that company makes it?

I'd use a hot knife and just cut it.

how many fodorites does it take to cut a bar of soap?

And they said that registration would kill the humor here. . .

how many fodorites does it take to cut a bar of soap?

Answer: 233.
- One to ask how it's done.
- One to point out that there's already a thread for that.
- One to answer with how they did it for a trip to San Francisco.
- One to jump in warning against staying in SF's Union Square.
- 49 to endlessly, bitterly debate the Union Square/Embarcadero decision.
- One to post a very long, point-by-point sales pitch for buying and cutting your soap in the Best Soap-buying Place on Earth, Asheville NC (where he/she works in the hotel/hospitality industry, coincidentally).
- One to note that bar soap is overrated anyway and to suggest simply walking through a car wash in LA.
- 129 to argue the whole "LA"/"anywhere else on earth but awful LA"/"San Francisco and nowhere else" debate.
- Another 49 people bringing the Union Square/Embarcadero debate back into the thread.

LOL~
I was just thinking that this might be a Polish joke or whatever nationality it would be.....how many people does it take to cut a bar of soap? So far, 13!
Would it not be just a tad easier to just go out and buy the small bar of the soap you like?
Or if you reeeeally want that exact bar of soap..just take a small hatchet and hack the thing in two! I would use my Ginzu type knife that cuts chicken bones in half.

I'm back...
This is pretty funny. Actually there is more than the original reason for my question.
These bars of soap are OVERSIZED. They will not fit in a standard soap box to begin with. Also, they do not fit in my hand too well. So I want to cut them for BOTH reasons.
Yes, they make it in a liquid. I have that, too BUT I must have bar soap, too. God only knows why. I suppose if I must have a OCD, this is a good one.
I mean, it could be much worse, right?
I will get this damn bar of soap cut!

OK, this is a less smartass answer.... Electric carving knife? Circular saw?

This can be an annoying issue. Those damn oversized bars of soap often don't fit in soapdishes or those little soap cubbyholes by your tub. If they can put a man on the moon, why can't someone fill this niche and market "Washo Soap-- Now in Human-Sized Bars!"?!

So, I write about the city I live in and love, rjw_lgb_ca. So what? But seriously, you asked for this.

Now, concerning soaps, one of the most popular brands of soap to be bought in Asheville is Tea Tree soap, an herbal brand that users recommend because of the light fragrance, all natural ingredients, and the way it leaves skin so smooth and soft. It's available at the WNC Farmers Market, as well as at herb fairs and pottery shops all over town.

Of course, Asheville being the city that it is, there are numerous independent manufacturers of soap in town, including Appalachian Naturals, a company dedicated not only to producing high quality organic soaps, but to preserving the natural heritage of the mountains by producing their soaps in the same manner of the area's pioneers and early settlers. I personally recommend the Cinnamon-Oatmeal and Appalachian Forest brands, both of which boast a clean and refreshing aroma. The cinnamon soap is best used in winter, though... it makes even a cold day feel cozy.

Now, another type of locally produced soap, what you might call "gourmet" is that produced by the Grain and Salt Society, headquartered in where else but Asheville. They also produce a cinnamon and oatmeal soap, as well as a lemon and rosemary soap that looks promising. Their website recommends a natural hemp washing bag for extra exfoliation and an extra clean feel. If you weren't aware, Asheville is also a center for all things hemp and here you can buy such items as high quality rope, jewelry, sandals, and even clothing, not to mention unique items as the hemp washing bag.

Lost Objects Found Treasures (LOFT) also offers unique soaps for sale, by a company called Pre'de Provence. Among the interesting soaps offered by this company are sage, milk, and green tea.

Now of course, those aren't the only places to buy soap in Asheville. One place definitely worth a look is the Mast General Store. This company operates a chain of old-fashioned general stores that offer everything from hiking boots to cooking pots, based in a handful of downtowns throughout the mountains of Western North Carolina. Each store takes on the flavor of the building it's located in, thus the Asheville Mast General Store, located in 1940's department store building, has that 40's feel to it. The store in Hendersonville, for another example, is located in a circa 1905 emporium, and has a Victorian-Edwardian feel to it. You can find locally produced soaps, including many of the brands I've mentioned here at Mast, but the stores themselves are worth a look even if you don't plan to buy a thing! But for durable, attractive, locally produced goods of all kinds, these stores can't be beat!

Outside of Mast, the places to do your soap shopping in Asheville are the organic supermarkets, of which there are two (French Broad Co-Op and Earthfare), as well as candle shops, and possibly a few of the food stalls at the Grove Arcade Public Market. There's also the farmers market, of course, which I mentioned before...

Man, maybe Asheville is the best place to buy soap! Thanks -- that's another superlative I can be proud of! I really ought to start writing these things down -- there's just so much to love about this town, and I'm always discovering more, that I can't keep trakc of them all!

What brand of soap are you using anyway??? You know what they say: "big soap bar, big clean ...."

hauntedheadnc, just a gentle bit of funnin'! (But I KNEW you'd chime in eventually!)

You really do know a lot about your city-- if you're not already running their on-line visitor's guide, maybe you should. Have you thought of getting a guidebook published...?