It’s supposedly the same soap through and through, all the way to the core of the bar, right? Why does it react so differently to water and being rubbed on skin when it is reduced to a sliver?
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The surface area of used soap gets smaller and requires more rubbing to produce the same amount of lather compared to new one. Lather needs friction. More surface area more friction and more Lather.
Over time, evaporation and oxidation change the consistency, moisture content, and even chemical composition of a bar of soap. Over time the bar goes from a soft, easily lathered substance to something more resembling a hard wax.
My ‘theory’ is that the components of the soap bar that actually make the lather are leached easier than other components that make up the filler and or colour of the soap.
So by using it regularly, you extract more and more of the good stuff, while leaving behind all the parts that don’t like dissolving.
This can result in the remaining soap being less effective at producing lather, as key lathering components such as surfactants are depleted over time.
If you have hard water, the magnesium and calcium ions in your water will bind to your soap turning it from soap into insoluble soap scum. The older the bar of soap, the more of it that can convert into soap scum.
This doesn’t happen with hand made soap. I make soap from oils and lye and the bar produces a great lather right down to the last slither.
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So is it sill as efficient at cleaning/cleansing?
That’s one of the reasons why I prefer liquid soap. Also can’t stand seeing the bar becomes uglier overtime.
Fun fact. Dove isn’t a soap. Dove calls it a beauty bar not soap. It doesn’t meet the legal definition of soap.
If lather is important to you try using castile type soaps. These soaps use oils instead of lyes. The brand Kirk’s is usually available at Walmart
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