Soap Gone Bad - Mike's Lavender

I got this tub of Mike's Lavender during Maggard Meetup this year. After a couple of uses, it quickly became one of my favorite lavender scents - I sold a few other lavender soaps. But it was a while back. Today, a friend of mine asked me to describe how it smells, and I went on to lather it since I don't remember whether it was spicy/floral or mixed.

When I opened the tub, it smelled weird - definitely not something I would call my favorite. I started lathering anyway, and it started smelling - definitely not like lavender. So I mixed the soap with my fingers, thinking maybe the top layer developed a film or something. But no, it smelled weird all the way. If I have to describe the scent, I would say the foul smell you will get if you try to clean old grease from a stove top - burnt, rotten (?) oil smell.

Anyway, I have heard about bad batches of soap but never seen a soap going bad like this. I guess there is a first for everything.

For the record, I have 6 other soaps from Mike and all of them perform and smell superb. And I properly dry my soaps after every use, never bloom.

Any of u have experienced something like this? (With any soap/cream)

That almost looks like Cella when it's gone bad.

It’s possible that the tallow has gone rancid. I’ve had this happen with Cella and Vitos before and the stench isn’t pleasant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've got some Hungarian Lavender that hasn't been lathered since January. Still smells normal to me.
The one time I had an issue was with some Irish Moos soap that I was keeping in a tin, and somehow the scent of metal transferred into the soap. Sadly had to toss it.

That’s odd because Mike’s is on the firm side. Rancid tallow sounds like a reasonable guess. Would that mean it wasn’t saponified correctly?

That’s odd because Mike’s is on the firm side. Rancid tallow sounds like a reasonable guess. Would that mean it wasn’t saponified correctly?

No clue here man . All other mike soaps seem firmer to me as well. Anyway, at least I got another empty container for samples

That's weird. Maybe we can get someone with some soap making knowledge to weigh in. I can't imagine there'd be any tallow left to go rancid after the saponification process but then, what do I know.

I've had aftershaves go bad, specifically Kyovu - I think thats one of the reasons they're not made any more. Too bad because I loved them. Unfortunately in the modern wet shaving world most of us have so much product that some items can go years without use and some of the products were not meant to last forever. I'm now going to go sniff my tubs of Mike's.

I have a tub of Viking soap that has done the same thing, and it is also lavender. Really ironic that I just noticed this last night.

I have a tub of Viking soap that has done the same thing, and it is also lavender.  Really ironic that I just noticed this last night.

Sad day for lavender it seems.

Did the soap lather up well? If there were a problem in the soap making process I wouldn't expect it to lather properly, however, if its a fragrance oil (lavender) going "off" somehow it should lather fine but smell wrong.