Here we go again. Just when I think I have a handle on a lot of every day things something pops up to show me not to think I'm so smart. Since I never heard of this I thought I would pass it along so no one else has to experience it.
I guess for the past 2 weeks or so I wondered what was up with my bathroom sink. The new one was installed about the same time so I thought it might be something to do with that. Any way it seemed like when I turned on the hot water this horrible smell would surface, sort of like a sour sewage smell. Sometimes it was there, sometimes not, but it was always when the hot was turned on. The hot in my bathtub and kitchen don't smell so I was kind of puzzled.
It dawned on me tonight it actually corresponds to when I am washing my hands (which is basically most of the action that hot water gets in that sink) and since I use a different cleanser when I do my face...well time to see if it's that soap.
It was. I have a pump container, ceramic, not see through. I have exactly the same liquid soap in my kitchen sink dispenser, from the same original bottle of soap and they were both filled the same time about a month ago, but when I opened that ceramic container (which came from Linens & things so this isn't home made or anything and is glazed inside and out) I nearly fell over from the smell. It's antibacterial, clear gel type soap that looked normal coming out of the plunger but when I emptied it into the sink there were layers of white and black thick moldy stuff coming out of the container too. It was gag worthy in look and smell.
I don't know what other people do, but I've always just cleaned it out with hot water and then filled it again. No problems ever before as the cap goes on and doesn't come off again until it needs to be filled again but that's it for me and soap containers that aren't see through. I've just never seen liquid soap do that before.
What makes me really wonder is how does an anti-bacterial soap grow mold and especially one that smells that bad? How does a glazed ceramic end up doing it either? I've seen normal bar soap go icky which is why I use a pump to start with. Meanwhile the stuff in my kitchen is still fine, no ick in it at all (and it's in a plastic container so I can see it's still fine) so I'm just guessing as to what happened with that container or the soap in it.
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You could send a email to the company that makes the soap. If nothing else, they should be interested/concerned about what is happening.
Was your ceramic container made in China. [I]Perhaps[/I] there is lead in the ceramics. In California they label many ceramic products as containing a possible carcinogen.
I was googling to see if i could find any info on this and can't find anything. Nothing under fungus or mold or mould or smell or anything else. Guess it's either not a common issue or i'm googling wrong. I feel gaggy just thinking about that smell. I have the container soaking in bleach but i think it's going to be taking a trip to the dump.
Oh no. You remind me of a moment that took place sometime over fall/winter when dh brought a skunky-smelling soap pump to my attention. Not wishing to deal with it at the moment, I put it where the kids wouldn't use it. I forgot about it until now. I have a feeling I'll be emptying it outdoors on the deck! (I'ts a ceramic one also)
Don't you just hate stuff like this? I didn't know what to think when I caught a whiff of the soap in there, but wrote it off as one of those mysteries that never get solved in a home where there are 4 people. Yesterday I asked all 3 of the others who was responsible for draping a damp facecloth over the bathroom cabinet door-no takers of course, so each was drilled on what that does to the paint finish and how it can damage the board. The only 'non-authorized' thing (LOL) that takes place with the soap container is that dh fills it sometimes, often mixing different soaps. I don't buy soaps marked 'antibacterial', so I wouldn't think that's a factor.
A couple of years ago I was on a cleaning kick and thought I should be cleaning the kitchen sink with bleach which I understand is the only way to properly disinfect it. I bought a white ceramic bathroom soap dispenser from Zellers (Alfred Seung) with a matching soap dish as I like to keep a bar of soap at the kitchen sink too. I filled the soap dispenser with bleach....well, the bleach corroded right through the dispenser and literally destroyed the counter where I had been using it (husband not amused as we had just replaced the counter tops), so I very quickly learned that I couldn't store bleach in anything but its original jug. I thought it would be great just to squeeze a bit into the dishwater or on a dishcloth to clean the sink, but as you can see that was a mistake. Is it possible your antibacterial soap should be stored in its original container rather than decanting it into a dispenser? I'm not a chemist, but maybe once the air or ceramic dispenser gets at it, it turns mouldy. As an aside, I decided not to keep a messy bar of soap by the kitchen sink and bought a dispenser of pink liquid hand soap called Method (pink grapefruit scent) at Your Independent Grocery Store. I really like it and contemplated buying larger containers and decanting into the pretty small dispenser, but after hearing your mishap, I don't think I will.
Maybe there was something in that bottle that didn't get cleaned out before being sold to you? Or maybe you used it for something else previously?
All you can hope for is to wash it out and let it dry and try again. Second time - toss it.:)
ick! is the word . . Some moulds and stuff have evolved to tolerate conditions that bacteria and other stuff can't tolerate, like darkness, so maybe the lack of light was the difference in the ceramic -vs- the plastic containers. Same thing for whatever they used for the anti-bacterial agent, maybe that little mould thought it had died anfgone to heaven!