Antioxidant question

[Jessrof]

Hello All. I have been a lurker for quite some time as I obsessed about making soap until tax money came in. Now I am up and running (kinda) and have so many questions. Thanks for all the help you have given me thus far (as I lurked)

Now on to my question:
I know some people use rosemary oleoresin or vitamin E to prolong the life of their bars. Can someone tell me how much of each of these needs to be used in order to reap their benefits?

 

[lsg]

I use a few drops of Vit. E in each batch of soap.

 

[Ruthie]

Lsg, do you find that this significantly extends the life of your soap? When do you add it? I'm surprised that it withstands the curing process. But I am still learning.....

 

[Genny]

If you are using oils with short shelf lives or if you do not use your oils up very quickly then I'd use it.
I also just have to say that on another forum someone shared pictures of their great, great grandmothers soap that was made 75 yrs ago and she just used it and it had no dos. So the shelf life of soap is much longer than most people think.

 

[three_little_fishes]

Vitamin E oil? I have a ton of capsules that I bought for a batch of lotion bars and then forgot to use. Maybe I'll try popping a few drops into my next batch of soap.

If you are using oils with short shelf lives or if you do not use your oils up very quickly then I'd use it.
I also just have to say that on another forum someone shared pictures of their great, great grandmothers soap that was made 75 yrs ago and she just used it and it had no dos. So the shelf life of soap is much longer than most people think.

THAT is amazing!

 

[Jessrof]

Wow! That is some awesome shelf life. I would assume that soap was made with an animal fat? So I just ordered some vitamin E. What oils are more likely yo produce orange spots? Should I be putting vit E in all my oils? Would this mess up my lye calculations? Thanks for the insight! There is sooo much to be learned

 

[Genny]

Oils with short shelf lives are more likely to produce dos. Also, not storing the oils correctly can decrease their shelf life. If you have an extra fridge, that would be helpful.

Here's a lnk on using vitamin e to extend your oils and storing:
http://fromnaturewithlove.com/library/storagevegetableoils.asp

Here's a link to the average shelf life of different oils:
http://fromnaturewithlove.com/resources/shelflife.asp

Now keep in mind that if you use an oil that has only 1 yr shelf life in your soap, that doesn't mean that after a year the soap is going to go bad. I've got several bars of soap from my first batch of soap 7 yrs ago. The oils I used in that only had 1-2 yr shelf lives. The soap still smells good & does not have any signs of dos.

Also, there are other things that can affect your chances of dos. The only time I ever got dos was when our air conditioner broke in the middle of the summer. The air was very humid & I didn't take that into consideration when flipping my soaps. I should have increased flipping so moisture didn't get trapped, but I didn't

 

[lsg]

Lsg, do you find that this significantly extends the life of your soap? When do you add it? I'm surprised that it withstands the curing process. But I am still learning.....

I have never had a problem with DOS since I started adding Vit. E to my soap base. I add The Vit. E to my oils and mix well before stirring in the lye water. You can also add a little Vit. E to any liquid oils that you buy to help extend the shelf life of the oil.