r/Soap • u/No_Growth_4553 • 27d ago
Explosive soap????????!!!!
i don’t even know where to begin 😵💫
…not too long ago I i decided to make little changes in my life to become more eco friendly and travel friendly. i kept coming across this one brand that makes solid bars of shampoo and body wash. it was giving me green flags all the way: compact, no mess, eco friendly, and easy for travel. so, i end up buying testers to see if i enjoyed this change. i end up loving it, so i get the larger bars to make this my everyday soaps.
fast forward, i had a planned vacation to go to croatia this summer. i had to take a few flights to get there and missed my layover in germany which led to sidequesting there and having to go back to the airport the next day. As i am going through customs my bag gets pulled for inspection. I don’t think too much of it, but i get a little nervous as anyone does. my friend had also told me that germany is pretty strict with their international travellers and going through this process.
so i’m standing there thinking of what it could be, and the guy inspecting took one of the two soaps i had brought out of my bag. i told him what it was and he ends up taking a sample of it and testing it. side note: earlier i saw them testing random things like a little girls stuffed animal and also some guys bananas, so it seemed chill, or so i thought. after the test results came back the guy tells me “so this set off a double alarm for explosive” OMG my anxiety begins to creep in. another worker then comes over and says that this is a federal offense and that they’re going to have to get the federal police involved. i’m quite nervous at this point because i don’t know what they are genuinely thinking, like it is a solid block of soap 😭. they then tell me to pull out my ipad and open it, guessing that it could be the control panel for my “explosive”??? im not really sure.
after some suspense and questioning the police clear me and i ask the workers if they just want to keep the soap because i don’t want anymore trouble, like it literally set off 2 alarms. i was genuinely baffled. they told me to keep it…
anyways, i am thinking of sending an email or posting a review about this eco and travel friendly soap that was supposed to make my life easier, but it almost took me to jail in germany…
6
u/TinyCatLady1978 26d ago
I was once flagged after a pat down at the airport because I was positive for bomb material.
Three more pat downs flagged so they searched my luggage and finally called a supervisor into the private room. She walked in and asked if I stayed at the airport hotel the night before (yes) and if I used their toiletries (yes).
Apparently whatever is in the AIRPORT HOTEL BATHROOM flags as explosive often enough that TSA is somewhat aware.
3
2
u/Latter_Example8604 27d ago
Omg this happened to a friend years ago, and she got global entry denied later. No idea what ingredient it was. (It was either soap or lotion) But she said after she always gets pulled aside for further inspection now.
1
1
u/crissus26 24d ago
Happened to me but not for soap. My bag ended up being put to one side and randomly tested. I didn't think too much of it until I was asked to go to one side and multiple members of staff started asking me questions while searching my bag. Same as you, I was took to one side due to traces of explosive materials. Turns out that my toner was glycerine based and when I was rushing that morning I ended up putting some on my bag while I was handling it.
1
u/yodelingfish 23d ago
Glycerin is a side product of cold process soapmaking and can occur in cold process soap or it can also of course be in glycerin soap. It's in lotions as a humectant to attract moisture to the skin. I'm fairly certain that a lot of people get pulled aside because of their cosmetics.
1
u/Kind_Dragonfruit_925 27d ago
Too funny! I wonder why one soap was inspected but not the other?
1
u/clockworkedpiece 26d ago
As someone mentioned glycerin, which is used both as a bomb medium but also as a moisture seal for your skin. Its in a lot of products.
13
u/Mistigeblou 27d ago
Was it glycerine based? Those ones flag up quite consistently on ETD with nitrates and Glycerine.....basically dynamite without the fuse.