Yellow Water?

[HorseCreek]

Ugh, Ok so I had a customer today tell me that my "just soap" bar makes the water in her sink turn almost a neon yellow when she washes with. I have never heard this before or of this before, and not another single customer has ever brought this to my attention, and I have alot of repeat business. I may be showing my ignorance, but what on earth would cause this? It's"just soap" using my basic oo, co, po, cb, sb, castor and avocado recipe. No scents, no colors. I stumped!

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[HorseCreek]

Forgot to add, it passed the zap test with flying colors and is about 2 months old.

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[Candybee]

I'm curious too. Thats a new one. Could it be something in her water? A trace chemical reacting to the soap? Too much iron or something?

 

[HorseCreek]

That was my initial thought. She's a local customer, so I'm going to take a scrap I have of it into work tonight and see what it does. I love in the country so on different water. That being said, there are a bunch of other people in town using it with no yellow water lol.

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[Crazy8]

Well I'm just throwing another guess or two but maybe she's using water from a well and not city water? Another idea that just popped into my head could be lighting. There are many different bulbs and types of lights out there, especially for bathroom.

I know it seems a bit out there but I'd say that its well in the realm of possibility. Hard water? Soft water? Just more ideas. I'm thinking if none of your local repeat customers have said anything, either none of them are having the problem, or they don't have any issues with their water turning neon...lol

So you have a very unique case here (assuming she's the only one) which means something unique to where she is and perhaps the room she's in is contributing to this issue. Hope that somehow helps with trying to nail this down.

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[Moody Glenn]

I'm curious too. Thats a new one. Could it be something in her water? A trace chemical reacting to the soap? Too much iron or something?

I thought the same thing Candybee about iron and Crazy8 makes a good point about lighting - which can create optical illusions. Maybe both are the problem and not the soap.

I love a good mystery so I decided to do a Google search and came up with some sort of water treatment website. Part of its literature was this snippet: "Iron (0.30 ppm will stain). Stains fixtures and clothing red/brown. Unstable in water when water is exposed to oxygen. Yellow water indicates that part, or all of the iron, has oxidized and will precipitate out of the water. ...Oxidized Iron is indicated by yellow color as soon as water is drawn from tap. A sediment filter will remove this iron, but should be followed by a softener to remove iron still in solution."

If this is the actual problem why hasn't that customer seen the yellow before using the soap? Does her lighting make the water even more yellow? Doesn't make sense. :crazy: The easy way is to blame the soap and Horse Creek Soap Co. for making it. Relax, you did nothing wrong. Your customer really needs a water treatment conditioner to remove the overabundance of iron. Thanks for your interesting mystery! :clap:

 

[Obsidian]

I had a friend years ago who had excess iron in his water. It stained everything, even glassware and the bathroom stunk from it. It was more a light rusty orange color, not yellow.

If the custom has high iron, she would have known it by now. I would suggest she have her water tested for pollutants and chemicals. As far as lighting goes, get a bucket of water from her and use your soap in it outside in natural light or have her do it.

 

[savonierre]

That is very very strange, I hope you can figure it out.

 

[Robert]

What kind of soap was she using before yours? I had ideas like the above too, but then I thought, why would that not have been the case with other soaps she'd used in that sink?

 

[HorseCreek]

Thanks everyone for "putting your heads together". What really got me was that she bought 3 more bars of the same soap because she loves it so much and then told me about it, lol. I was, of course, horrified, but she was totally cool about it. I really do think it has to be something with her specific house/system as using the soap here at work doesn't turn the water yellow. So.. I guess unless I get more complaints about it, I'll just go with it. It's just such a random thing, lol.
Thanks also for all the research you dug up.

 

[greenmountainwife]

When I wash my hands after working in my vegetable garden with tomato plants, the suds are a bright yellow/green. Maybe she's a gardener?


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[kazmi]

Does this happen with one particular batch of your soap? Give her some samples of other ones from other batches just to try (if you make different soaps with different oils, colorants, FO,etc). That may rule out is it a water thing or could it be just that batch.

 

[HorseCreek]

She is a gardner! A major one! I wonder if that's the deal.....

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[Candybee]

A good way to resolve the water issue is to ask your customer to buy some distilled water, pour it into a basin, and wash her hands with the soap really working up a good lather to rinse in the basin. I bet she will see a whole big difference.

Also, its possible she may not have noticed it until now. We don't know when or how her water is treated or if at all. It could be something new or she just got a new lightbulb. But I am willing to be she has seen signs and did not put it together until she realized the soap water rinse was yellow.

 

[Moody Glenn]

When I wash my hands after working in my vegetable garden with tomato plants, the suds are a bright yellow/green. Maybe she's a gardener?

She is a gardner! A major one! I wonder if that's the deal.....

Just checking back on "The Mystery of the Yellow Water". The plot thickens...

GreenMountainWife has a really valid point. When I used to pick many tomatoes to make sauce and later washed my hands the lather was a vivid yellow and I always wondered why it did so. And if the customer is a big-time vegetable gardener that could be the reason. Never entered my mind until now. Wow. Excellent observation and deduction GreenMountainWife! :clap: So, it's either the framed soap, the not-so-innocent water, the possible red (herring) tomatoes or the suspicious lighting that is the culprit.....or culprits. :shifty: Is there something else waiting to be discovered? :shock: Stay tuned to find out..........

PS: I don't mean to be flippant about this HorseCreek. I love a good mystery!

 

[HorseCreek]

Thanks everyone, I have some ideas to get back with her now!
Moody Glenn, no worries. I got a chuckle!

 

[creativemumsie]

I would be inclined to have the customer bring back the soap and suds it up in front of her to test it out with normal water and lighting. That will narrow the issue down a little. Hmm love a good mystery.

 

[karenbeth]

Moody Glenn you make me laugh:clap: and that's not easy!