M&P bars not lasting long enough? Photos added

[KMommy]

I made a 6oz M&P bar with Goats Milk and began using it 4 days ago. This bar is used by two people twice a day. It is already half the orginal size! Is this common for M&P to wear away this quickly? If I were a customer that purchased this bar I would not be pleased.

The photos aren't blurry but you can see the difference in size in only 4 days.

[mountainmadness]

I think that is the nature of M&P. I have seen links before about additives that people use to try and prolong the bar..... If you use too many additives though, then lather tends to become more of a problem.

I wish that I could help you more.... I switched over to CP over 4 years ago!

[Crafty1_AJ]

I love the creativity and versatility of M&P. But one of its drawbacks is that yes, the bars do disappear more quickly than CP or HP bars do. It's one of the reasons I started making CP/HP soaps too.

[soapermom]

you can add some beeswax or stearic to extend the life, CP embeds will also extend it a bit. you can counter the loss of lather with some things like castor oil and coconut oil and I found...even though they say it doesnt work.. liquid foam boosters will, they won't pearlize in MP but they do help boost the foam.

[KMommy]

When I first started making M&P I expected that they wouldn't last as long but less than 1 week is way too soon. I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to sell anything with this short of a use. How much Castor, Coconut and Stearic should I use?

[maryann]

I went AROUND and AROUND with this... I joined a swap and found everyone's soaps were similiar to mine.... they melted away faster than regular soap. I wanted my M&P to last as long as my Irish Spring and it WON'T. No one ever told me that so I racked my brains wondering what they were doing different than me. Glycerin is a by-product of soap making and highly moisturizing. I have added everything that soapermom has suggested and I'm not sure if I see a HUGE difference but their is some. HTH

[soapermom]

I went AROUND and AROUND with this... I joined a swap and found everyone's soaps were similiar to mine.... they melted away faster than regular soap. I wanted my M&P to last as long as my Irish Spring and it WON'T. No one ever told me that so I racked my brains wondering what they were doing different than me. Glycerin is a by-product of soap making and highly moisturizing. I have added everything that soapermom has suggested and I'm not sure if I see a HUGE difference but their is some. HTH

no, no huge difference but some.. and they last more than a week?? I am not getting that, maybe she needs to change her base? I know commercially made glycerin soaps last longer than MP, I wish I knew what stabilizers they used...

[tamtam]

I tend to use glycerine soaps for hand washing vs. bathing, and recommend to customers they do the same., and stress keeping the soap dry. ITs the nature of the beast, without the chemicals, they just don't last. Also to boost lather I use a secret ing.- Dr. Bronners liquid soap, it has moisturizing oils and works great in MP, just add about 1/2 TBSP pp. Lather galore!

[RobinInOR]

Glycerin is water soluable. The more glycerin, the more it's going to melt. Regular soap is just that, mostly soap, with somewhere around 8-12% glycerin? Can't remember the % by weight, just the "3:1 soap molecules to glycerin molecule ratio"

[Rebecca]

That is a short time.

My M & P soaps last forever. I made some last craft season, have some of them in my kitchen and I am still working on using just one of them up and I am a constant hand washer.

The ones that I put in the bathroom last (depending on how big they were when it started) for at least 2 months (sometimes longer depending on size of the bar) and there are 4 of us in the house. The only ones that go faster are the ones that get left on the shelf in the shower. I don't add additives, make sure that the soap drys out in between uses and I use the SFIC bases. weird.

edited for spell check...lol

[Crafty1_AJ]

The thing is, the M&P base is MADE to be soft so you can cut it up and remelt it! If it were rock hard, you couldn't work with it.

[KMommy]

Thanks for the help everyone. I knew they wouldn't last as long as a commercial bar of soap but one week? Just my opinion here but that is way too short. Who in there right mind would spend money on a bar of soap that only lasted a week? The base I am using contains Goats Milk and does not contain sulfates(which I prefer to not use). I knew that would mean it may not have as much lather but I wouldn't think it would change how long the bar last? Since Rebecca's M&P last a long time I wonder what's up with mine?

[maryann]

That's one big thing I forgot about.... if you use a soap saver (helps it to dry out between uses) and make sure that your soap isn't constantly being hit w/ water while your taking a shower that'll make a huge difference.

Using it to wash your hands as opposed to your body is a big difference too! Think of how long its being exposed to the water when you wash your hands vs your body. Also how big is your soap? The small it is the faster it'll seem to melt! Different bases do perform differently I have found.

I joined Mystic's SFIC co-op and have yet to try all the bases I got. I currently use WSP. I need to make soap using both bases doing everything identical and see if there's a big difference in performance.