So I'm going on a trip soon and I would like to take wet-shaving with me. Because I am new to wet-shaving, I didn't have the supplies to do this easily. I solved this problem with some love, magic, and my favorite ingredient Altoids Tins I'll go ahead and walk you through the way I did this: Supplies: Altoids tin VDH soap bar Pan Stove Water Steps: 1st Go ahead and eat or store those altoids and clean the tin out 2nd Cut the VDH soap into fourths 3rd Put some water in a pan but test the altoids tin to make sure the water wont spill over in the tin when it is opened and sitting at the bottom of the pan 4th Set the stove to medium/medium high and put the fourths of soap in the tin. Watch the soap melt away 5th This is the tricky part, find a way to get the tin to the fridge without spilling your soap or just wait for the soap, and water, to cool 6th Enjoy your VDH in a nice travel sized container!!! :happy108 I like little do-it-yourself kinda prjects and am a huge fan of instructables.com so this is me applying those things to wet-shaving. I hope you guys enjoy and your minds didn't get too blown haha
You do know you can melt VDH in the microwave right? You do know you can pour melted VDH into a push-up deodorant to create a shave stick right? Congratulations on successfully creating watered down VDH in a tin :happy102
watered down? the water is only so that heat gets on the sides of the tin. And have you ever tried to microwave metal? Bad things happen... I know that this probably isn't anything new or that big of a thing but I had fun with it and thought I would share, but thanks anyway for your snide remarks
That's why you microwave it in a bowl and pour said soap into said container, Snide yes, your thread title did not deliver! *edit* Regarding the watered down bit, perhaps your directions weren't totally clear to me.
sorry it did not deliver but if I can work anything into an altoid tin I get pumped... those little tins are just so useful and a cheap and easy way to take a container of soap on the go is very helpful for vacations and whatnot. On top of that, I microwaved some Williams the other day and all of my roommates complained about the smell and said even their food had that taste in it, so in order to please them I found a way to melt some soap on the stovetop. So this idea hit a few bases for me and I thought this might be helpful to others. how can you not love those little altoids tin projects!!!!
Keep it civil..... The Altoid tin does make for a nice small travel case, and if that is what you were after, great job! :signs107 The Williams is a tallow based soap, and as such, microwaving it won't work as you found out. Tallow based soap + microwave = burnt soap. :sick007 VDH on the other hand, being glycerin based, will melt fine in the microwave using short 8 - 10 second bursts.
to be honest... the williams didn't actually "burn" so to speak, it expanded kinda like a marshmallow and was sort of malleable so i was able to make it fit into a small glass dish.
nice work! personally, I prefer to melt my soaps double-boiler style, as you did. No matter how careful I've been, using 5 second bursts in the microwave, it's always changed to soap. Either in scent or latherability. It's never ruined it (well, except for scent), but I've never had any issues using the boiler style. and an excellent use of an Altoids tin! :signs107
Neat concept but too much work for me, a small rubber maid container or one of those travel containers for bar soap and 45 seconds in the microwave and done. Lathering abilities and or smell won't be affected unless you leave it in and boil the soap because of to much time.
If you can find the metal Altoids Sour tins that are round I think they're even better than the rectangular tin. I have my "Frankensoap" mashed together in one of the sour tins for travel and it works great.
I feel no explosions, and that's probably a good thing, but it's still a really clever idea. I personally just grate my soaps then press them into the container, but an Altoids tin is a great idea!
so many great ideas! the double boiler method works great and no need to make sure the microwave doesn't smell like your shaving soap! with the rubbermaid containers, did you ever have any problems microwaving the plastic container? i grew up with my dad always saying to never microwave plastic, probably having something to do with BPA or something. @chemerik i thought about using a round container but none of them that i saw opened completely. they all had the share and not share openings. :thanks
sorry for the mild sarcasm offshoot... but i'm glad your mind didn't explode, otherwise someone would have quite the mess to clean up :laugh042
Being a ham radio operator (KC9CS), I use Altoid tins and build entire radios to fit inside. This idea, while I still have my mind intact after reading it, has some merit. I might give it a try, now I need to figure out how to squeeze a badger knot in the same tin.
Wouldn't it have been easier to just get a $2 Arko Shaving Stick and drop it into a tall pharmacy pill bottle?