Soap Gone Bad - Mike's Lavender

iamsms, Sorry, I did not carefully read your first post, that is, the soap became so after some time of use. On the Russian shave forum I read about the same precedents, some owners say that their Mike’s soaps is spoiling, maybe it was a bad batch of soap. I have four soaps from Mike, I use them for about a year and everything is okay, but I do not take the soap from the jar with a wet brush, but I scoop a dry spoon and make the foam in the bowl. Perhaps these soaps are not for long-term storage, I will observe what happens to them further.

This would be my take. In short, I would consider this a fluke, especially from a respected maker like Mike's.

I looked at Mike's Natural soap ingredients. The only one I know of that will go rancid is avacado oil. Whether or not it can go rancid after saponification, I can't say.

Many artisan's don't use preservatives and I don't see any on Mike's ingredient list. My best thinking is that some bacteria go in the soap and the conditions were just right for it to grow. You've probably heard of staph infections and how they kill people if not caught early. The human face, and probably the whole body, is covered with the same staph bacteria that can cause infections. Yet, men hardly ever get serious staph infection from shaving. The conditions have to be just right.

Using that example as an analogy, I'm thinking the conditions were just right.

I've had two soaps go bad in a manner that I discarded them.

Mike's is one of my top soaps. Never had one go bad. I agree with the last post, human's are full of bacteria and occasionally we spoil our stuff. I believe vitamin E, an ingredient in Mike's soaps, acts as a preservative in oil-based products. However, it's preserving property, like other preservatives, is for supplier shelf-life before the sale.

So Bacteria from my face can cause the full 4.5oz soap to go bad within a few months? Sounds ridiculous to me, but I don't have any proof against it.

Have you scraped down into the "fresh" soap to see if it all smells bad?

Have you scraped down into the "fresh" soap to see if it all smells bad?

Yep, they smell same. (Matter of fact, some of that "fresh" soap will be sent to you day after tomorrow)

Have you scraped down into the "fresh" soap to see if it all smells bad?

Yep, they smell same. (Matter of fact, some of that "fresh" soap will be sent to you day after tomorrow)

Yussss

I had a similar thing happen with two tubs of Mikes - barbershop and Hungarian Lavender. All the scent had dried up and they smelled like a saddle soap or basic glycerine soap. I probably hadn't lathered them in about 6-12 months.

Interesting. I have 3 Mike's soaps (HL, BR, OCBP) and I have used all 3 for 3 years on and off. The Bay Rum, I even keep somewhere other than my house, which means I will usually not get to dry it off for more than 30 minutes vs my usual 24 hours after each shave. And none of these soaps have gone bad or lost their scent. Maybe an issue with more recent batches (judging by the plastic container...all mine are in tins).

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Can confirm @iamsms. This Mike's lavender of yours smells like old grease. X^p