Does This Look Like Mold To You?

[CityGirlLuv]

I was re-doing my twists tonight and wanted to use my Honey & Vanilla Bean smoothie from Little Penguins Online until I looked at this black substance in not just one place but TWO seperate places within my hair product. I hadn't even had it for three months...matter of fact it JUST hit the two month mark.

No water or anything has gotten in it and I've only used it no more than 5 times. I'm kind of upset b/c doesn't it take mold awhile to grow before you can actually see it? Plus it's a 16 oz. bottle too! I for sure know it wasn't like this last week because I remember telling myself how I was gonna use it as a rinse-out next week when I do my twist plus I picked it up to put it on a shelf higher than what it was on.

Here's the pics (I took them with my phone):

On a positive note, I L-O-V-E Camille Rose Natural Products and I believe that's truly going to be my staple line for sure.

 

[MizzBrown]

Eww. Looks like mold to me!

Thats the risk you take when ordering natural, homemade products. You gotta use them quickly or they will expire.

What kind of preservatives does that vendor use? Or does she use any at all?

 

[NappyNelle]

I agree... I think that's mold.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

Eww. Looks like mold to me!

Thats the risk you take when ordering natural, homemade products. You gotta use them quickly or they will expire.

What kind of preservatives does that vendor use? Or does she use any at all?

Here's the description from their page: Our smoothie is a light weight,and extremely moisturizing. cleansing cream. Massage a generous amount into warm hair and scalp. Leave on for several minutes to cleanse,condition & quench (shower caps are a great idea for several minutes with this), and rinse off....(we also know people that leave this on as a softener and we LOVE experiments that work!). This prepares your curls for our leave in "Fresh Cream" conditioner.
The scent is a yummy, warm, mandarin - bourbon vanilla...mmmmm.
Made with distilled water, organic castor oil, organic golden jojoba oil, BTMS (rapeseed oil emulsifier) vegetable source glycerin, organic raw Brazilian honey, panthenol, hydrolized silk protein, radish root fermente (Leuconostoc), essential oils of bourbon vanilla, and mandarin. Use the "fresh cream," or one of the poms after this, to further protect and moisturize.

and I guess the Leuconostoc is the preservative: http://www.littlepenguinsonline.com/ingredients#!__preservatives

 

[Allandra]

Do you keep your natural products in the refrigerator?

 

[NappyNelle]

Contact them and ask about shelf life; tell the owner about the growth in your product and hopefully s/he will offer a replacement for you.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

Do you keep your natural products in the refrigerator?

I keep my oils in the fridge, but I didn't keep this one in there. I have a small fridge

 

[NaturalEnigma]

Yeah that's definitely mold. You might have received a bad batch. You should send them an email of the pictures and your receipt showing the date you purchased the item. Hopefully they'll give you a refund.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

I'm just reading up on the preservative they use. Maybe someone is a lot more familiar with it:


For our water based products, standard toxic preservatives even in small percentages, were never an option. We would have stayed with our oil/butter POM line only, if we had been unable to find something broad spectrum but non toxic to use on our water based Smoothie, Fresh Cream, and Ella Jelly.

We went in search of the most natural preserving agent we could find, and we found it.
Leucidal Liquid (INCI: Leuconostoc/ radish root ferment filtrate) is ECOCERT approved, and challenge tested at 2%.
Leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate raises no health concern because:
It is not on any lists of toxic chemicals which cause suspected or recognized health effects
It has not been detected in human breast tissue or urine
It is not a high production volume chemical that lacks safety data

Challenge testing reveals that 2% Leucidal Liquid in a cream base is able to successfully inhibit microbial growth. Samples were inoculated with S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, C. albicans, A. niger, K. pneumoniae, B. cepacia. Following 28 days of incubation samples were then re-inoculated for an additional 28 days. Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) were determined using a standard agar dilution method. A variety of bacteria and fungus were tested to evaluate the ability of Leucidal® Liquid to protect against microbial contamination. The results indicate that Leucidal® Liquid can provide effective protection for certain cosmetic systems.
If that weren't enough, It may also be useful as a topical antimicrobial when addressing problem skin or scalp conditions...oh YEAH!
So...how does it work? Glad you asked.
In laymens terms, its a derivative of fermented radish root that was produced after researchers noticed that there were fewer outbreaks of avian flu along the Korean peninsula than in other parts of Asia. They theorized that the consumption of kimchee, the pickled vegetable dish commonly eaten in Korea, produced resistance to viruses. The Leuconstoc bacteria used in Leucidal Liquid is a lactic acid bacteria which acidifies its environment to restrict competition from other microorganisms. Just as it inhibits the production of viruses, it also prevents the production of bacteria that start the decomposition of the natural ingredients in our products.

 

[OhmyKimB]

That's mold...throw it out

 

[Allandra]

It does look like mold. I would contact the seller and ask about the shelf life. How long have you had this product?

 

[TrueSugar]

that is mold.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

It does look like mold. I would contact the seller and ask about the shelf life. How long have you had this product?

Just hit two months.

 

[MissErikaM]

Looks like mold to me. This is why I don't believe the hype of "natural preservatives". I would much rather have a product with a proven broad spectrum preservative.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

Looks like mold to me. This is why I don't believe the hype of "natural preservatives". I would much rather have a product with a proven broad spectrum preservative.

Girl, trust me...lesson learned!

 

[MizzBrown]

Looks like mold to me. This is why I don't believe the hype of "natural preservatives". I would much rather have a product with a proven broad spectrum preservative.

Lot of people are scared of parabens so they dont want it in their products to preserve it...the less chemicals the better...but they still stockpile natural products thinking the natural preservatives are just as good.

It's either parabens or microbes.

Reminds me to start using up a couple bottles of some stuff before it goes bad. You cant be a product junkie using natural hair products. Cant use the stuff fast enough.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

I received an email from her actually around 1 o'clock this morning, but I was sleep (had to get up early to work). Anyways, this is what it says and I'm happppyyyyy!:

"Oh Tonessa,
No, throw it away, we'll send you a new one. We had one issue with this before on another product, early last year,and we think we know what it is. It's an ingredient from a supplier. (actually liquid silk protein) that is not preserved well enough before it goes into our products. We actually caught this yesterday and realized that it could have been the reason originally. When it first happened it was random, on a group of 10 Fresh Cream. It had never happened before, and all of them had been challenge tested, so we sent out a letter (actually Kelly did as the CEO) to let people know. At that time we could not figure out why it had happened. We thought about adding a second preservative, but that worried us with babies. We then thought that maybe the PH was unstable and fixed that. This is the only other time we've heard about it, and again, it's using this particular ingredient from one supplier. We are contacting them tomorrow with our pictures to see what they have to say, but we think this is the reason. We will ship you out from the new batch. Your other product is on it's way with a sample of Mocha Bean Pom.
Thank you for letting us know, we are so sorry for the bad experience!"

I'm so happy they're sending that sample of the pomade. I forgot I told them I wanted to try that also when I got the funds, but it's just too kind on their part. Even with this experience, they are a great company and really do care about their customers.

 

[Zaz]

Since it contains vanilla bean it's hard to tell. If you've only had it for 2 months it shouldn't have molded so quickly, does it smell funky? Usually when something has molded it doesn't smell right.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

I didn't even smell it. See at first I thought it was the Vanilla bean which is why I sent them an email and pictures along with it to make sure, but she in fact said it was mold as it happened with other products they carry sometime last year.

 

[toinette]

CityGirl Luv, glad you got it resolved. Great customer service too

 

[Sheriberi]

I've seen the same thing in Lustrasilk Cholesterol.

 

[southerncitygirl]

CityGirlLuv

i have multiple products ( hair and skin) with this preservative and other paraben free ones and have never gotten spoilage/mold....i think its a fluke and maybe she didn't add enough preservative to the batch you received. i'm glad she replaced it and responded so quickly. also keep in mind when you dip into products with wet or dirty hands that no matter what preservative you use you could potentially introduce mold. scoop out what you need if you use it on wet hair. that's great customer service!

 

[Tiye]

Looks like mold to me. This is why I don't believe the hype of "natural preservatives". I would much rather have a product with a proven broad spectrum preservative.

I agree unless the product is sold in a spa setting with instructions to keep it refrigerated. I personally wouldn't sell a mail order product with a limited short life without stronger preservatives. Also honey seems to be a chancy item.

 

[CityGirlLuv]

CityGirlLuv

i have multiple products ( hair and skin) with this preservative and other paraben free ones and have never gotten spoilage/mold....i think its a fluke and maybe she didn't add enough preservative to the batch you received. i'm glad she replaced it and responded so quickly. also keep in mind when you dip into products with wet or dirty hands that no matter what preservative you use you could potentially introduce mold. scoop out what you need if you use it on wet hair. that's great customer service!

This one had a cap and you squeeze the tube so the product will come out on your hand but I'm going to possibly buy a pump for it.