So I pulled out an old favorite soap, in a tub, sealed as well as they can be, last night and low and behold its covered in all these little black specks. The black "dots" are largely around the edges, with the center being stable and "new" in appearance. In my short stint DE shaving (about two years) I don't think I've read about this before and I have done a bit of digging around to see if anyone else has reported it, to no avail. The tough part is that this soap is hands down one of my all time favorites. I'm not posting the posting the soap name or manufacturer simply because they are a small artisan and I wouldn't want to impact their business negatively over something that I don't even understand. Is it common for a soap to develop a black like mold over a period of about three months of non-use?
Mold on Soap?
- Thread starter Loosepagan
- Start date
This can happen depending on what they put into their soaps and how long it has been sitting idle.
Some manufactures will put preservatives in their soaps but others don't. I know the Cello Kilo does not have preservatives and some have reported that after a year or so (depending on how it was stored), it turning a brownish color and start to smell rancid.
I would send the maker an email and ask if they have reports of this happening before and what to do about it.
Some manufactures will put preservatives in their soaps but others don't. I know the Cello Kilo does not have preservatives and some have reported that after a year or so (depending on how it was stored), it turning a brownish color and start to smell rancid.
I would send the maker an email and ask if they have reports of this happening before and what to do about it.
Three months seem extremely short for soap life. I've had soaps for 2-3 years at this point and I haven't seen any mold / black dots. I see some soaps clumping up into white pieces which is the stearic acid coming together but no rancid smell or other visual indications.
I don't suppose you could show us a picture of your soap. Mold growing that soon seems unusual as a lot of guys have soaps that sit for months or longer between use.
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
I have soaps that are decades old and have never had mould on them. I face lather exclusively and only load the damp brush from the soap puck in the jar or mug. After use I allow the soap to fully air dry and do not seal the soap container between uses so that air can circulate. Soaps such as Old Spice, Tabac, and MWF have container lids which are deliberately loose for this reason.
Store soaps and craps open topped in the bottom of your wardrobe. It will prevent mold and at the same time fragrance your clothes.
A photo would definitely help. It could just be an ingredient of the soap surfacing. I have a soap which has some specks and no it is not mold
If it was dried out properly before you put the lid on 3 months is nothing for a soap i'd send a photo to the vendor.
I don't lather in the container in which the soap is stored, so I think that
that way, there is never enough moisture in the sealed container
to enable a mold problem.
that way, there is never enough moisture in the sealed container
to enable a mold problem.
Your soap has probably become like a petri dish. This could be bacteria or fungi colonizing your soap. To prevent it, make sure the soap is not friendly to the unwelcome guests. Another thing you can do is to scoop out the soap you need into another container, instead of swabbing it directly with your brush.
I’ve had soap go rancid, but never moldy. I generally let my soap dry fully before sealing it up.
- Thread starter
- #13
I'll try and get a shot of it later today(heading out the door in the predawn hours now). Thanks for the replies! I should have been more clear on how I use shave soap as well. In my process, the soap in the tub never becomes damp. I scoop some out, put it in a bowl and lather from there. It's really strange.
I've never had mold grow on any of my soaps. I had a Cella go rancid but that was my fault, poor storage.
Only Cella... It formed little hard white dots
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
I am no chemist but I have read that the hard white dots which appear on hard soaps are harmless stearic acid and they can safely be left and the soap used as normal. I think this may be more true of soaps which are older and harder than Cella. I have had this on soaps from the 1970s and have used them with no problem at all and have not discarded any of the soap.
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
I was going thru some old soaps I haven’t used in ages and noticed something bizarre. Sorry no pics because I ended up just tossing out about 6 soaps it was garbage nite so I was acting hasty. Anyway the easiest description is the areas where there was soap lather left in the jar had dried and appeared to transformed into something. It looked like it was a growth or a web of stuff. It was white in all of them. It looked disgusting honestly. It wasn’t black or typical mild but it looked like fibers. Anyone else experiencing this?
That is not a problem. It's just lather that has dried out. Lather is a mixture of soap, air and water. When the water evaporates, you are left with little filaments of soap that were present in the lather. You could hydrate the soap "cobwebs" and use them to shave with.
If you wanted to avoid the soap filaments, you could take your soap out of the container to lather it and then rinse it off before putting it back in the container for storage.
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
Ah ok I overreacted I guess. I scraped some away and got a thick white glob on my finger that didn’t look or feel like soap. It seemed off but I guess not thanks for responding
Something that I've been doing with all my soaps in the last couple years is after I get what I need to start my lather in the jar, I will then use my finger and go around the inside of the soap jar and take what I get and rub it on my face and then do the same to the top of the soap. It essentially removes any excess soap in the jar and helps it dry quicker... Most guys just leave that in there to use as a proto lather to help build lather quicker for the next shave but I've never had a problem lathering any Stirling soap I've ever had so I found removing it is best for me. I've also never found any surprises when I open a soap jar to shave in the morning either!!
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