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Ack - my bubble bars got mildew!!!!


Meridith

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I made my first (and only) batch of bubble bars from PVS. I made them in some new molds of mine and they were taking a long time to really dry out. I had them laying on a paper towel on a counter so that they would dry out. Then literally overnight, they all got these dark brownish green spots on them that went clear the way through each bar. I think its mildew so they all got thrown away. :undecided Yuck!! I followed the recipe and didn't sub anything out. Do you think it was the glycerine that did this? There isn't much to the recipe - just creme of tartar, sodium laurel sulfoacetate SLS, baking soda and glycerine. These were only about a week old. Anyone have any ideas of what caused this? Anybody have this trouble with these? I wish I had taken a picture but I got grossed out and threw them away.

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Yeah, they weren't that old. The recipe says to use within a month and these weren't even a month - they were only about a week old. I had to edit my first post because I said they were month when I meant to say they weren't even a month old. LOL If this is normal for this recipe, I think folks need to know so that if they are selling them, they know that they can't just sit on the shelf as long as other products. If it's something I did wrong, I want to correct it.

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Sounds like mildew or mold to me. Man I wished you would have taken a pix too so I could have seen! I can't answer that about glycerine either, but I'm thinking no matter what any recipe is that I try I better find a preservative to put in it.

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Sounds like mildew or mold to me. Man I wished you would have taken a pix too so I could have seen! I can't answer that about glycerine either, but I'm thinking no matter what any recipe is that I try I better find a preservative to put in it.

Boy isn't that right Scented! I just didn't think they would turn this quickly. I thought I had time to at least get them dry, and tested. I know they have to be used by like within a month. I did test one that fell apart when I moved it the day after I made them - before they turned ugly on me. I think its mildew too and not mold. It couldn't be scraped off. Went clean thru. :sad2: Total waste. I'm going to try some phenonip next time and see how it holds it. I can tell it will be awhile before I need to worry about how to package these suckers up. :rolleyes2

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These bars still smelled good but just had funny brownish green like dots here and there on them. I would not have been surprised if the scent would have eventually turned too. I just know it was mildew. Does anyone think that phenonip is a good choice for a preservative for these? I had planned on a preservative before I put them out for sale. Now I know it is needed immediately!!

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I had the same problem, but I'm not sure if it's mildew/mold or whether it's just the FOs that are turning some of my bars brown. I made two batches and followed the recipe and instructions to the letter and they turned out perfect. But the bars that turned brown were made a little different, as I'd added a little more FO to these batches (for a stronger scent) AFTER I'd mixed all the ingredients together. The FOs also contained some vanilla, and I'm wondering if the vanilla caused the browning.

The bars with brown on them still smelled very good, it's just the color that's ugly so I threw them out.

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I scented mine Honey Coco Mango. I don't know if it was the FO or not. But it really did look like mildew to me. :undecided They were having trouble drying out - that's why I hadn't given them to my testers yet and I was the only one that got to try one the next day after I made them. It worked great too.

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Sounds like FO to me. Especially if it is a vanilla based fragrance like honey coco mango.

I don't think adding a preservative will help, but you could try and see?

I would be interested if anyone else has these problems. Having a short shelf life is a very bad thing for me and I was just getting into maybe carrying these in my line.

BUT I haven't had any problems so far with the sample I have and I actually threw it in the tub and took it out again to let it sit so I could see the behavior. It looked the same the day it was made.

Anyone else having molding troubles with their bubble bars?

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I would love to say good-bye to them - especially since I don't really know if they are mildew or caused by the FO. I will have to try it with an FO that has no vanilla and see if it happens again. It was my one and batch so I don't have anything yet to compare it to.

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If it helps any I made some of these the other day using the fo Romance and they are still the same color as the day I made them. I don't particularly care for this recipe because they don't get rock hard. I am just going to stick with what I have been using as that one gets rock hard after 24 hours.

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Its the fo...I've had plenty of them turn out speckled & discolored just as CP soap does.

Since you make a lot of these, do they ever get rock hard? Mine are almost a week old and they did crumble when you try to pick them up. I followed the recipe to the T

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It very well could have been your FO. The ones I made with FO's with vanilla got brown specks and have now completely turned brown which is bummer cause they were sooo pretty :(

I used the PVS recipe as well and some did get rock hard after just a few hours, others are a bit soft still after sitting out for days. They all "act" the same in the bath though. So I think it's just a matter of trial and error with the amount of glycerine you use.

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Mine get very hard, but I will say it has everything to do with humidity. From what I've read...glycerin likes to draw water from the air, so if you're finding they won't dry out, try a smaller amount

You could even try and dry them out with the oven. Once they're hard & packaged they're good to go.

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Mine get very hard, but I will say it has everything to do with humidity. From what I've read...glycerin likes to draw water from the air, so if you're finding they won't dry out, try a smaller amount

You could even try and dry them out with the oven. Once they're hard & packaged they're good to go.

Oh I never thought of that. They still aren't hard as of today. Maybe I will bake them a tad and see what happens. Is that what you mean? Or are you just saying to put them in oven until they harden?

Edited to add:

I just tried this tonight and now they are much harder almost rock hard :D

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