Strange dark substance in my soap

August 7, 2012 10:06 AM

I just found a soft, dark mass in a bar of white soap. WTF could it be?

I noticed when I was taking a shower that a small area of my bar of ordinary white Dove soap, maybe about a quarter used up (you can still see the logo), seemed strangely dark. I scratched at it with my finger and apparently there is some sort of substance there distinct from the rest of the soap (the rest seems totally normal). The color is dark gray with a yellow/light green tinge. It is soft, as some of it came away when I scratched it. The size of the visible area of the substance is maybe 1/4 cm by 3/8 cm and the shape is vaguely oval or rectangular (i.e., it is all together, not spread out at all). I put the bar of soap away and used another, but now I am really creeped out. What the hell could this be?

posted by Mummy of a Lady Named Jemutesonekh to grab bag (14 answers total)

Sounds like it could be anything from a bug to a bit of sweater fluff that fell in when they were molding the soap.

I promise that the soap will not become sentient and try to kill you in your sleep.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:08 AM on August 7, 2012 [7 favorites]

Does it smell like anything in particular? Could be something that didn't get mixed up properly.
posted by resurrexit at 10:14 AM on August 7, 2012

It could be a glob of whatever other soap/body care product is made nearby in the Dove factory? It could be a glob of condensed goo from when they were flushing out the machines?
posted by elizardbits at 10:14 AM on August 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Are you sure it was already part of the soap? It sounds more like a small mold growth.
posted by DoubleLune at 10:20 AM on August 7, 2012

Why put it away? Throw it away.
posted by sweetkid at 10:21 AM on August 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Just ring them: 1-800-761-DOVE (3683)
posted by DarlingBri at 10:23 AM on August 7, 2012 [8 favorites]

Yeah, throwing it away would be my first reaction. If you are economizing, you can trim away the sections surrounding the squishy intruder and throw just the tainted bit away.
posted by elizardbits at 10:23 AM on August 7, 2012

Whatever it appears to be, it's certainly a simultaneously disturbing and unknowable harbinger of dark powers militating against your -- and all of our -- precious bodily fluids.

Without a picture, it's hard to say, and even with a picture it might be impossible to say. DarlingBri's advice is, as usual, excellent: just call them and say Hey, I found this weird dark thing in my soap, did a Madeleine L'Engle book fall into the machine or something like that. It's almost certainly not dangerous, and they'll probably send you a nice coupon or some free soap if you register a formal complaint.
posted by clockzero at 10:28 AM on August 7, 2012 [9 favorites]

Just ring them: 1-800-761-DOVE (3683)

In my experience from a similar circumstance with a different product (part of a machine found inside canned food) if you call the company they will offer you a coupon for more soap, and they might ask you to mail the "soft, dark mass" back to them. If so, they will mail you a postage-paid envelope.
posted by cribcage at 10:32 AM on August 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Don't throw it away! Take pictures of it and show them to us.
posted by sleevener at 10:34 AM on August 7, 2012 [10 favorites]

Few things can survive the soapmaking process. Even FEWER things can hurt you by being rubbed against your nekkid body (unless you're a mass of open sores, in which case you have bigger problems than just soap). I'd gouge it out and mail it to Dove (they'll send you free stuff, most likely) and continue using the soap. But that's just me.
posted by julthumbscrew at 10:37 AM on August 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Anytime weird stuff has shown up on products I've bought, I always email customer service. Usually they can tell you what happened.

Vitamin Water example
posted by KogeLiz at 10:38 AM on August 7, 2012

Take pictures so that you can gross out your friends and your fellow MeFites, and then throw it out. It's just a bar of soap, it's worth what, a dollar? Whatever's in there might be gross (could be a bug!) but it's vanishingly unlikely that it's anything actually hazardous to your health.

If you're feeling especially civic minded you could track down Dove's corporate number and explain the situation to them (nicely). They'd probably ask for you to send them the soap so they can figure out what happened and try to prevent it happening in the future (maybe one of their machines is messed up and they don't know about it) and you might get some free soap out of the deal.
posted by Scientist at 10:53 AM on August 7, 2012

Do you have a roommate?
posted by AkzidenzGrotesk at 6:09 PM on August 13, 2012