Can shaving soaps be melted/remolded

Hi,
New wet shaver here who is starting to acquire a lot of different shaving soaps. I have question about moving some of the pucks I have into new plastic containers. Is it OK to heat the soap to melt it and then pour it into the container to get to be a perfect fit?

If heating/melting is OK is better to do in the microwave or another method?

Before I attempt this I want to make sure I don't ruin my soap investment. I have some glycerin soaps, some with tallow and shea butter.

Thanks,
Bruce

Not a full melt. Just soak the container in some water to soften the soap up. Cut or scoop it out and transfer. You can mash it into shape by hand. Also, you can take it from first container and grate it into a second.

The soaps I want to do this on are some artisan (Stirling, Mike's Natural) and some Dominican Nun's soap. The Dominican soap is a great scent that I love, I have 6 1oz pucks that I'd like to combine into a single container. Their soap is made with glycerin, shea, kaolin clay.

I guess I could try grating it, it would be worth the effort...

Do not melt tallow based soaps

Don't melt the artisans in the microwave. It's possible (Eyebright will detail how if you dig around for a thread we've discussed this in the past), but it is not easy and requires the addition of water. Both stirling and mikes should be soft enough you can pry them out and just mash them down.

Dominican nun's is possibly a melt and pour, which can be somewhat easily melted in a microwave. Do it 20-30 seconds at a time and stir it between pulses. If you see it starting to singe then stop, that would mean it's most likely not melt and pour.

Although some types can be melted, I recommend that you skip microwaving altogether. The heat can affect the fragrance oils of the soap, hence altering the strength or quality of the scent. For softer soaps, pry it out of the container and then press/mold it into the next container. For harder soaps, use a cheese grater to grate the soap puck into the next container. Press these soap shreds to compact them in...if needed, add a tiny amount of water to help with the forming.

My vote is to skip melting. Almost all soaps can be mashed or cut into a couple of pieces and mashed. A couple of lathers will smooth things out and bond everything together. Grating the soap and pressing into the container also works though again it's largely unnecessary for most soaps.

There is a soapmaking trick called "rebatching" that is used to add fragrance to an unscented cold or hot process artisan soap (or to remedy some defect in a batch) - it doesn't work with hard commercial, triple milled soaps though. You grate or finely chop the soap to be melted in a Pyrex mixing cup and add a very tiny amount of water (in proportion to the amount of soap) - in the case of a puck of soap, maybe a tablespoon or two. Cover the container with plastic wrap and microwave for short bursts. It will soften enough to stir smooth-ish, just be careful to not let it scorch. Essential or fragrance oils can then be added. I wouldn't advise this method to shape a soap to a container, because you'd lose scent (every fragrance/essential oils has a "flash point", above which the smell will burn off).

Wow, thanks for all the great tips and answers! I learned a great deal in this thread in regards to soap...

Bruce

The method I use is similar to others I grate the puck up and shove it into my bowl, then I get out the garment steamer! I just hit it a couple times with steam which introduces moisture and melts it just enough to make it maluable and stick together I dont feel that it takes away from the scent

Grating is simplest and works, *ahem* great!

If you have to nuke anything, short 5-8 secs bursts to liquefy just enough to pour. The entire puck doesn't need to be liquid before you're done. If you're going this route, you will lose some scent and, most importantly, .....
............ Don't nuke anything with tallow.