Oozing fragrance oils on one side of soap

[Garden Gives Me Joy]

Here are images of a 12-month old thick oat milk soap. I am assuming that the oozing is from 'Manzanilla' (aka chamomile) fragrance oil (by 'Mane', a Mexican company). What likely caused this? Outside of this odd look, the soaps are fine. How much of a turnoff can this oozing be potentially?

For more context, there is a consistent pattern with all of the 3 bars that I have. They all oozed almost only on both long sides, as in the 1st image with one bar. As you can see in the 2nd image with 2 bars, the short sides are almost free of this oozing. Unfortunately, I do not know how they were stored during the past year after I made them. Although I poured their batter into vertical log molds that trap heat for a long time. ... I figure that the heat could not be the reason because this phenomenon did not happen consistently over all the surfaces of the 3 soaps. BTW, the flat sides where labels normally go are nearly ooze-free.

 

[TheGecko]

How much of a turnoff can this oozing be potentially?

Is this a rhetorical question...would YOU buy a soap that is oozing?

To be honest, It could be any number of a hundred different things based on the limited amount of information you provided.

 

[artemis]

In other words...
1. What's your recipe
2. What are your methods?
3. How long did you wait to wrap them?
4. Why don't you know how they were stored?

 

[Garden Gives Me Joy]

Here are the recipe and process.
PKO, 19.5%
Palm, 70%
Stearic acid, 0.5%
OO, 5%
Sunflower, 5%

NaOH discount, 5%

HP (no added superfat)

water, 38%
citric acid, 1%
oats, 10%

Fragrance oil (Chamomile), 1.5%

Wrapped after their water loss reached 4% (which is about 1 month after pour). My experience has been that the water loss stops after that point. In my high humidity tropical rainforest environment, mold and water gain are likely outcomes if I do not vacuum seal or airtight wrap it.

I kept a few bars in my care. They were from another batch using the same recipe and methods. The ones I kept look perfectly fine on ALL 6 surfaces. I wrapped them in the same way (vacuum sealed). Even the ugly bars that I tend to keep from the end of the mold are fine. They are free from mold or discoloration, despite the fact I did not worry to seal them as well, including the irregularly shaped parts. I kept my set in a cool, dark sealed container.
I do not know how the oozing ones were stored because someone else (a consignee) had them for around 5 months while she moved around a lot to different farmers' markets.

 

[DeeAnna]

You sound like you want US to tell you if it's okay for you to continue to sell soap that has been stored so poorly that it's oozing stuff and changing color.

That's not something we should be doing. YOU are the business owner. This is your decision for YOUR business.

The question you should be asking is this -- Do YOU want to sell soap like this to YOUR customers? It's YOUR professional reputation that you need to maintain.

Some people don't care -- they just want to sell stuff to make money.

Others do care -- they want to sell a quality product and will recall product that doesn't meet their quality standards, even if it means taking a loss. If that's the route you decide to take, then I'd suggest you also consider whether your consignee is handling and storing the soap properly to maintain your standards.

 

[cmzaha]

I know what I would do, I would recall all the bars if possible as I would not want my name and label connected with a poor oozing product. It just was not the way I did business.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I wrapped them in the same way (vacuum sealed).

I do not know how the oozing ones were stored because someone else (a consignee) had them for around 5 months while she moved around a lot to different farmers' markets.

Lye-based handcrafted soaps that are vacuum sealed and left exposed to hot sun on a table at a farmers market are likely to ooze. If unwrapped and left in the open air, in a cool dark place out of direct sunlight, my guess is, the ooze would incorporate back into the soap. But that's just my thinking. I would never vacuum seal soap for long storage, with the obvious exception of Melt & Pour soaps.

HTH