DOS for the first time! Talk me down off the ledge!

[ResolvableOwl]

https://www.beyondphototips.com/recharge-silica-gel-crystals/You probably won't have the luxury of a colour indicator. But you can weigh the sachets, put them in the oven or microwave, and weigh them after drying, to see how much water they've lost. I regularly achieve 20–30% mass loss. They're steaming, and (warning!) will give off all smells that they've been sucked in along air moisture (shoes, soap, general household odours…).

 

[glendam]

Curious if you did anything different with your lye water or its source or the amount

 

[earlene]

Yes, the silica packs are a possibility. I have re-used many of them over the years (not just with soap in boxes) and they do need to be allowed to dry out between uses if in a very humid environment. They also break open now & again (inside my luggage mostly, but also inside my handbag). But my point is by re-using repeatedly, they can get contaminated since who thinks to wear gloves when handling and who sanitizes them after each use?

I've tossed a few that sat inside a box with soap that was sweating a lot (we had some very humid days this summer) and the silica packets looked rather grungy. Buying a bag of clean new silica packs really wasn't that expensive.

 

[Guspuppy]

where does one buy silica packs?! I've been using ones that come in other purchases, which are probably already used up. (I got some in a box that had bras in it. Not sure why bras need a drying agent?! HA!) And storing my soap in plastic shoeboxes, with no air holes. I've had DOS on some super-high-OO soaps but nothing else as yet.

Zing I'm so sorry that happened to your beautiful soaps!

ETA: I found rechargeable silica on Amazon!

 

[Quilter99755]

I hadn't thought of the silica gel packets. I give soap to my daughter in Hawaii and told her to store my soaps in a box with them...never thought that she might use them without drying them out. I'll have to remember to tell her that next time we talk soap. She give me the least feedback, so I can't say for sure, but have never heard that she has had any soap with DOS. But an ounce of prevention so they say....I seem to learn something every day from this site.

 

[Becky1024]

Okay, peeps, help me out again. I have one bar without dos! I poured my excess into a single cavity mold. That bar went from the curing rack into my bathroom cupboard and it looks and smells fine!

The other bars went from the curing rack into a cardboard shoebox -- and I neglected to punch air holes in the box. I also threw in silica gel packets. Could it have been the lack of air holes? It was a box I've stored other soap in -- could it have been invisible residue?

Humidity can cause dos! I learned the hard way my first year of doing farmers markets in hot and humid Ohio. Punch holes in your shoebox and that will help!

 

[Zing]

Curious if you did anything different with your lye water or its source or the amount

Nope. Used my normal 'go to' recipe, normal lye & distilled water, essential oils. The one new element was BB's ultramarine blue pigment .

 

[Tara_H]

Re: silica packs, I've been buying the rechargable ones from Amazon for my 3d printing filament and I can recommend them so far.
What I like is that they're a known weight - when they get above (I think) 650g you just microwave them to get them back down to 500g.
I also have some cheap digital hydrometers for peace of mind; you all have me thinking now that I should make some dryboxes for soap as well as filament storage

 

[ResolvableOwl]

For my “soap archive”, I'm using a metal bucket (with an airtight lid, and lined with a plastic bag), with a cup with calcium chloride flakes in it. (This is not exactly sustainable, but I have it left over from a decommissioned air dehumidifier, and once the CaCl₂ has dissolved in its own sweat, I'll switch to silica gel – you can believe me that.) So far, the calcium chloride has become a bit clumpy on top, but still has a lot of capacity to pull water out of the soaps. They themselves are spread out in layers with sheets of paper in between. Circulation is low, but alas, they have the time…



(I've originally planned to post this in the Show us your airing cupboard thread)

 

[Zing]

I had some time tonight to calculate the fatty acid profile which is

My linoleic and linolenic equals 13 which is below 15, which I understand helps to prevent DOS.
My recipe:

 

[ResolvableOwl]

My linoleic and linolenic equals 13 which is below 15, which I understand helps to prevent DOS.

Yes-ish. It's anecdotal wisdom that around said 15% PUFA, the rate of DOS occurrences increase quicker than well below it. No soap is safe from DOS. Lard and (some but not all qualities of) olive oil can give DOS even if the PUFA content is much lower than 15% (This might, however, at least partially be due to sampling bias, due to the immense popularity of lard and OO).

This 15% “rule” is more a recommendation to remind that around that rate, one should seriously think about rancidity delay steps – or rather the danger zone begins in which these countermeasures aren't fully reliable by themselves any more.

The good news: You're still below that line; and for some reason, RBO (your main PUFA source) is among the oils that appear a bit less DOS prone than others at the same PUFA rate. The bad news: you got DOS anyway. Dang statistics are unreliable.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Oh no, DOS in this lovely soap… The discoloration seems to be associated mostly with the white areas of the soap. Do you MB your TD? I threw away some premixed TD at one point because I didn’t like the smell of it. Even though I was storing it in the frig, I don’t use TD all that much and I was afraid it was going bad.

 

[josianeg]

If you just made these this past Sept I am guessing it is not DOS, but possibly fragrance oil. I find DOS and rancidity seem to be a different animal. I have had orange spots that were not sticky or off-smelling (rancid) than I blamed on the fragrance oil. On the other hand, I have some Patchouli soaps that are just showing some rancid areas that are off-smelling and sticky but they are at least 4 yrs old and the rancid area is on the outside edge of the soap which I cut off and still use the soap. The rancid cut-off part smelled off.

If your shea is natural, not bleached shea that would answer the nutty fragrance which may have overpowered the fragrance you used. I have had shea which I purchased from a destash that I know was several years old with no rancid issues. I normally purchased raw shea in 25 lb blocks 2 at a time and stored it for 2 yrs+ with no issues.

I use chelators, EDTA with Sodium Gluconate at 0.5% each in all soaps, which I will probably try upping a little when I move next year unless we get an RO system up and running on the extremely hard well water we will have.

EDTA and sodium gluconate?

I've been using sodium lactate, is that considered a chelator?

Guess I'll need to read about chelators...

 

[Zing]

Oh no, DOS in this lovely soap… The discoloration seems to be associated mostly with the white areas of the soap. Do you MB your TD? I threw away some premixed TD at one point because I didn’t like the smell of it. Even though I was storing it in the frig, I don’t use TD all that much and I was afraid it was going bad.

I don't masterbatch TD. It's a powder that I mix in a tablespoon of oil. But thanks for weighing in anyway! So far I don't see DOS on any other batch so fingers crossed that it was restricted to that one batch in one particular box with particular silica gel packs.

 

[earlene]

EDTA and sodium gluconate?

I've been using sodium lactate, is that considered a chelator?

Guess I'll need to read about chelators...

No, SL is not a chelator. Do you know why you are using it?
Sodium lactate helps harden soap for earlier removal from silicone (& other) molds. It has also been reported that it helps bars with it to last a little longer than the same formula soap without.

Chelators bind to certain metals to help soften water, which helps reduce soap scum during the use of the soap while washing with water. In combination with Rosemary Oleoresin Extract (ROE) they also helps protect against rancidity and prevent DOS (dreaded orange spots.)

For more on chelators, see this link & make sure to read the related links within that particular page for more detail: What is a chelator | Soapy Stuff