What happened ?

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Smellynewbie

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Hi guys these 2 batches. My batch 3 n 4 are 4 weeks old I went to check on them today and they don't look good they seem to be a little crumbly on batch 3 and on batch 4 they are crumbly and discoloured any ideas what went wrong ?
Hi guys these 2 batches. My batch 3 n 4 are 4 weeks old I went to check on them today and they don't look good they seem to be a little crumbly on batch 3 and on batch 4 they are crumbly and discoloured any ideas what went wrong ?
batch 4
They look awful do I need to throw them away ?

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Recipe? Any special ingredients? Are you sure you measured everything correctly? Have you tested for zap? The third pic with the gray-green muffin-tin soap looks like that's just ash. Should wash off and be fine.
 
It all looks like ash to me which is harmless and will wash away with a couple uses.

Edit: the more I look at batch 4, the more I think it looks like mold which I've never seen on soap. What color should that bar be?
 
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I agree with Dixie- knowing your recipe and soaping procedure will go a long way in helping us to help you.

In the meantime, just going by the pics, it looks like harmless ash to me. The flower-shaped soap especially looks like it got the brunt of it. Based on my own experiences with the times I've poured soap in individual decorative molds, that amount of ash is not unusual, especially if you used full water (I've gotten some pretty dang thick ash from such soaps). Generally, soap poured into individual decorative molds does not go through the gel stage, which makes it more vulnerable to ash.

The crumbly aspect could be from the ash itself, or it's possible they could be lye-heavy. Have you checked for zap?

How did the flower soap look when you first unmolded it? I ask because it looks like it did not make a clean break from the mold?

If they do not zap, I would not throw them out. I'd keep them and let them cure for awhile (minimum of 6 to 8 weeks if un-gelled). If your scales were not off and everything was weighed properly, they should cure out fine and be usable.

If they do zap, I'd still not throw them out. I'd keep them on hand for observation to see what happens down the road.


IrishLass :)
 
It all looks like ash to me which is harmless and will wash away with a couple uses.

Edit: the more I look at batch 4, the more I think it looks like mold which I've never seen on soap. What color should that bar be?

mold? wow really how would that happen they brand new soaps ?
they look alot better after a bath in cold water but the batches ive done after these are perfect upto yet
 

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