Soap shreds (grated soap)
For looks: specks in the soap, or scattered over the top. Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source, Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source
Opens the calculator’s starter recipe, 1000 g of oils, with this additive at the dose it fills in, ready to change.
What it is
Soap shreds are finished soap, scraps or whole bars, grated and stirred into a fresh batch as confetti. Faiola makes them from batches that did not turn out as planned; the grater’s larger holes give shreds that show best.
Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source, Soap Queen supplier or guide
How much
- 33.3 % of the batch filled in Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source
- 15.15–18.18 % of the oils (from a published recipe) Soap Queen supplier or guide
The calculator fills in 33.3 % of the batch: 710 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: at light trace.
- Also used: at thick trace.
- Stir it in as it is.
Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source, Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source, Soap Queen supplier or guide
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
Worth knowing
- Stir the shreds in with a spatula or whisk: a stick blender chops them up. Soap Queen supplier or guide, Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 1.04 g
- 1 tbsp ≈ 3.13 g
- 1 cup ≈ 50 g
Go Native NZ supplier or guide
INCI name
CosIng has no single INCI name for it: label it by what it contains.
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking (Storey Publishing, 2016), chapter 10. Almond Milk Confetti Bars: "5 cups finely shredded leftover soaps in various colors" for 55.2 oz of oils, stirred "in with a spatula" into the white batch at very thin trace; "Embedding soap shreds in this soap ensures that no soap goes to waste! You can use scraps or batches that didn’t turn out how you planned". Rosé & Champagne Peaks: "Shredded pink soap (made at least 1 day ahead)", ¼ cup stirred into batter at very thick trace and the rest sprinkled over the top.
David Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making (Creative Publishing International, 2018), pp. 122–123, Wildflower Shreds Soap (Maggie Hanus): "Calculate the ratio of shreds to the amount of fresh soap you want in your batch. One-third shreds to two-thirds fresh soap is typical"; "Weigh the appropriate amount of soap to use for shreds"; "Adjust your soap recipe so the amount of shreds plus the amount of fresh soap will equal the total amount of soap you want to make"; the shreds stirred into the fresh soap at light trace, some kept back, sprinkled over the top and pushed down lightly.
Soap Queen, Violet Confetti Cold Process Soap: "about 5-6 ounces of shredded soap" for 33 oz of oils, all of it whisked into the white third of the batter; the larger holes of the grater "were most visible in the finished soap"; "If you add the shavings while the soap is still quite thin, do not stick blend to thicken. The stick blender will blend the “confetti” into small chunks".
Go Native NZ, laundry powder: "1 cup - Clear melt & pour soap base nz grated (approx 50g)".
Grated melt and pour soap; grated cold process soap packs differently with the grater.