Jill, I keep a decorative tray of paper handtowels in the guest bath. I have a cloth towel there also, but that's just for dh and I. I think they sell paper hand towels now at Walmart, but online you can buy the most beautiful colors and patterns to match any bath. And as soon as company leaves, almost before they're out the door, I put the cloth towel in the dirty clothes so neither of us uses it. I'm with you, it grosses me out. My DIL does the same now. Cam, I bet it's the perfume in the liquid soap. Most of them are scented so I wonder if you tried scent free it would be okay? I say this because one day my ds (in high school at the time) showe me his hand and they were peeling really bad. Then I saw him sprinkle his cologne in his hands and not washing them afterwards, and we figured out it was the cologne. It was kind of a funny moment. Last year I tried to save money by buying a name brand liquid soap from the grocery store, after using B&BW for so long, and they don't even compare. So I went back to B&BW. With just the two of us, they last quite a while. Except my SIL always begs for a bottle when she comes over. lol

Yes, it is called rebatching, and I will avoid it if at all possible. It's time consuming and tedious. To let you know, I make cp soap by the 10 pound recipes. I presently have 2 buckets of soap scraps, I would guess about a 2 or 3 cubic foot container. Instead of rebatching it I will add it to a new recipe of soap. Unlike what you have, this is still virgin soap scraps, not previously used. I will make soap and give these away or use them ourselves. What I would do if I had these previous used scraps, I would just add it to a new bar as they are being used; they do stick fairly readily, and they rarely come off. If you are going to still rebatch, I would grate them, then lightly mist them (not dripping) the night before, then add them to a crockpot on low or medium heat. You will need to set aside about 4 hours or so, depending on how much soap you need to do. The trick is to add just enough water (by the tablespoon) to keep the soap pliable and not dry, while you are trying to mash it, until it is thoroughly melted. Be careful, this soap is very hot while in the crock! Any scent of the scraps will disappear in the final product, so if you want it scented, then let the soap cool down a bit and mix in scent just before pour/mashing it into any molds. hth

Check out the subject YAL half way down the main page. That should help you out.

Very thoughtful of you. That's a sweet gesture.