# Re: Soap. Do you stick the sliver of the old bar to the new bar? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973 "2007-12-06T00:29:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/21 "2007-12-06T03:04:40Z")
I graft the sliver onto the new bar like the last several posters in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/22 "2007-12-06T03:09:36Z")
I stick 'em together even though my Darling Marcie laughs at me. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/23 "2007-12-06T03:16:37Z")
I stick them together, sometimes the bits fall off anyway. Looks like I need to check out \*\*NurseCarmen’s \*\* technique. I’ve also rubbed a sliver entirely away onto my body. Beware the ‘razor blade’ stage. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/24 "2007-12-06T03:28:40Z")
**NurseCarmen** has the right idea. I like to compress the sliver into the new bar when both are adequately sudsy, then continue to massage the bar until everything is homogeneous. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/25 "2007-12-06T03:58:47Z")
I stick the sliver onto the new bar. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/26 "2007-12-06T11:17:42Z")
[QUOTE=Donna Gedde Mistarted] I’d always done this until I was married. It was just what people (i.e., my mother) did with them. General idea: Waste not, want not. My hubby always threw them out, based on his worldy wisdom of what his mother did. General idea: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Of course neither of us thought we could ask our friends without appearing petty. So we compromised and kept separate soap dishes and separate habits. [/QUOTE] Welcome to my marital life (genders reversed), except my wife doesn’t even wait until the soap is a sliver to throw it out. She just uses the bar until it is a smallish bar, with plenty of life still on it, and throws it out then, preferring not to rub it with the exquisite and gentle care necessary for it to last until it becomes a sliver suitable for attachment to its sister bar of soap. We now have separate soap dishes (it helps we like different soaps) and try to avoid speaking of the matter, though I occasionally fear the pressure the purchase of an extra bar of soap or three every year puts on the family budget. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/27 "2007-12-06T14:41:18Z")
I used to just use them up, but Fast Eddie is the Official Sliver-Sticker-Onner of the soap in the shower. Self-proclaimed, of course. 😉 Everywhere else we use liquid soap. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/28 "2007-12-06T14:51:18Z")
I find it immensely satisfying to watch the old sliver blend into the new bar of soap. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/29 "2007-12-06T15:37:14Z")
I toss the sliver into the toilet which is usually conveniently located right next to the shower or tub. Poor sliver. ---
**Author:** ![Grossbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba8739/32.png) [@Grossbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grossbottom)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/30 "2007-12-06T15:47:04Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Plus, I always found it hard to get the sliver to stick, and what if the new bar of soap is a different brand from the old one? What then? Frankenstein soap is what happens then. It’s neat watching a sliver of hard Irish Spring worm its way into a soft bar of Ivory. It’s alive, aliiiiiiiive ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/31 "2007-12-06T15:54:12Z")
[QUOTE=Grossbottom] Frankenstein soap is what happens then. It’s neat watching a sliver of hard Irish Spring worm its way into a soft bar of Ivory. It’s alive, aliiiiiiiive [/QUOTE] I’m glad I’m not the only one that thinks it’s neat. Yes, I do stick the sliver to the new bar. Sometimes, if I change brands of soap than change again (usually back to the first) I can get a new bar with the outline of the old bar with the outling of the older bar. That’s pretty cool! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/32 "2007-12-06T16:14:45Z")
The sliver falls off (at least it does withe me) as soon as the soap gets wet and any pressure is put on it, so I just throw it out. If yours doesn’t, why not? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/33 "2007-12-06T16:19:43Z")
While Mom used to stick the sliver to the new soap (always Dial yellow, so no problems with inter-saponin relationships), she would save one every so often for use in her sewing - the yellow sliver of soap can be used to mark fabrics with notches and circles for lining up pieces correctly. Me, I use liquid soap. We have one bar of lavender something or other for guests who are into that sort of thing. It’s been three years now we’ve had that bar, so the sliver question hasn’t come up. I actually uttered the phrase, “No honey, we don’t use that soap, it’s just for the guests,” to my child the other day. Oy. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/34 "2007-12-06T16:21:22Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] The sliver falls off (at least it does withe me) as soon as the soap gets wet and any pressure is put on it, so I just throw it out. If yours doesn’t, why not? [/QUOTE] See post #17 for proper sliver-sticking technique. Always worked for Mom. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/35 "2007-12-06T16:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I actually uttered the phrase, “No honey, we don’t use that soap, it’s just for the guests,” to my child the other day. Oy. [/QUOTE] [nelson muntz] HA HA! You’re turning into your mother. [/NM] (I remember the first time I said…when I was your age. It was tramautic.) ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/36 "2007-12-06T16:27:16Z")
Haven’t bought bar soap in _years_. Liquid soap all the way. I use the [stuff with the pump-top](http://www.colgate.com/app/Softsoap/US/EN/LiquidHandSoap/Decorative.cvsp) by the bathroom sinks, and [this stuff](http://www.colgate.com/app/Softsoap/US/EN/BodyWash/Men.cvsp) in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/37 "2007-12-06T16:28:07Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] [nelson muntz] HA HA! You’re turning into your mother. [/NM] [/QUOTE] AM NOT! I use \*chalk \*for marking my fabric! 😛 (Try, “Because I said so.” Ouch.) ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/38 "2007-12-06T16:29:15Z")
We have a soap monster. When husband and I got together, neither of us really did ANYTHING with the sliver but toss it into a soap dish and get a new bar out and put it in the shower. Then when that bar got to be a sliver, it too went into the soap dish. And so on. And so on. It grew into the soap monster. Made completely of slivers. It’s pretty big actually. It’s not the ORIGINAL one (that one got lost during one of our moves) but one we started when we moved to where we live now (around six years). Since neither of us is necessarily all that bright, we sometimes run out of new bars and the soap monster fills in until we can buy another eight pack of Irish Spring (there’s no cross contamination since that’s the only soap we’ve ever used). I could take a picture of it if anyone wanted to see it… ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/39 "2007-12-06T16:35:47Z")
Right after we were married, as is required of all newly married people, we were poorer than the poorest of the poor dirt. When each bar of soap got to the sliver stage, I’d attach it to my supplemental ‘clod-o-soap’ which was comprised of all those slivers slammed together into a ball, and kept behind the shampoo on the shelf in the shower where it wouldn’t disintegrate. When we ran out of soap and needed diapers more than we needed soap for the shower, we had the clod to fall back on. After years, and moving with us a few times, the clod was the size of a baseball, and quite colorful. I became pretty attached to the colored clod, even sometimes choosing to use it just so I could see what colors would be revealed after a few uses. After a time, I would even intentionally buy soap for the color, thinking ahead to the effect a new color would have on my clod. Stop looking at me like that. ETA - I was writing while \*\*Missy2U \*\*was posting practically the same damn story. Unfortunately, I threw the clod out several years back, but I know that deep inside were 20+ year old bits of soap, dying to feel the rush of water, and the comfort of a warm underarm just one more time. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973/41 "2007-12-06T18:40:33Z")
I just always assumed that the handy dandy concave side of the Dial soap was so you would have a convenient place to attach the sliver of old soap. No? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-soap-do-you-stick-the-sliver-of-the-old-bar-to-the-new-bar/428973.md?page=3)