Teach Soap

I have noticed recently that I have gotten a build up of some kind of white substance in my shower. Could this possibly be TD? I noticed it after I started using beeswax & TD and I'm not sure which one is the culprit. It's mainly in my grout, not on the tiles themselves.

Has anyone else experienced this in their showers?

Sounds more like soap scum. Handmade soaps can do that. You could add a chelating agent to your soaps to help with that; like Tetrasodium EDTA.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

No, I really don't think it's soap scum. I have taken a bristle brush to it. My next step it to get a wire brush. It's not coming off. It's like it's stained.

Do you have hard water? It could be calcium deposits.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I don't think it would be the TD . Can you scrape it off ?

Spotted Cat: I knew someone going through cosmetology school who recommended Suave Professional clarifying shampoo. It turned my hair into a haystack, however, it cleaned the hard-water deposits from the tub like crazy. I never used regular soap when I bathed, because my skin was always so itchy. Now, using homemade soap, I think the soap actually protects my skin from the water's hardness. It does, however, leave a scum-like ring; and that cleans pretty easily with Barkeeper's Friend. Could be you're working that shower harder during soap swaps?

Hi Karen,
I haven't had that problem.
I bought handmade soap for years before making it. I've had wa-a-y less shower scum with handmade than I ever did with commercial soap. About a year ago DH was using Ivory and I was using hand made and the difference in his shower walls and mine was super noticeable. You might try cleaning the grout with some white vinegar to see if that takes it off. It could be a mineral deposit ( in which case it could be TD or mineral build up from your water) or as Soapbuddy said a calcium deposit, or a number of things. I don't use beeswax in soap and have never bought any with beeswax or TD and I don't soap with TD very often so I dunno about that.

Hi all, thanks for the comments. It's still a mystery to me. I have a whole house water filter, so I know it's not hard water. Nothing's in my water, lol. I just assumed it might be from the soap I've been using. Not sure if it's worth the $$ having it tested. It could be from the shampoo I'm using.

Is your whole house water filter a sediment filter? Ours is. A sediment filter is very helpful but it's a pretty basic system that doesn't keep everything out.

I'm going to call the company that installed the filtering system tomorrow to find out. It was supposed to filter everything out.