Sea Salt Crystal Hairs?

[Kamahido]

A soaper on another site posted an interesting photo of their Sea Salt Soap which appears to have crystallized hairs on it for some reason! Has anyone else experienced this and/or can explain it?!

 

[earlene]

I think there are some photos on the lye heavy Andalusian Castile soap thread that have similar growth. I believe the conclusion in that thread was that, in their cases, it was soda ash forming from the conversion of the excess lye while curing.

Here is another thread with pictures of hairy ash: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/white-fuzz-on-my-soap.43013/

 

[Dawni]

A soaper on another site posted an interesting photo of their Sea Salt Soap which appears to have crystallized hairs on it for some reason! Has anyone else experienced this and/or can explain it?!

I saw that on Instagram. The lady is from near my place and is a darling. She gifted me some of her extra micas for Christmas and I sent some of my soaps.

Anyway.. I meant to ask her about her soap to find out more about the hairy stuff.. If it's just this one soap what made it different from her others, if her other soaps with ash are powdery or hairy like this, etc.

 

[penelopejane]

Yes it happened to me once with lye heavy soap. It kept producing the hairs even after I washed it off numerous times. It’s not caused by salt. It is caused by excess lye but it doesn’t zap so I think Earlene’s right - it’s some sort of ash caused by excess lye in the soap mix.

 

[Clarice]

Here is another thread with pictures of hairy ash:

Hairy Ash? Oh My! I blush to think! I daren't look!

 

[newbie]

Yep, it's ash. I had some bars that looked like they were growing beards. Usually they were on bars that I used ample water to make and the Andalusian recipe gave the most hairy growth of any recipe I've ever used. Not impossible to get with a regular recipe though.