Is this DOS?

[Cellador]

I made this soap 2 weeks ago. I noticed a couple of days ago that a couple of slices have started to develop small orange spots (eek!). Are these THE DOS? They are on a couple of my soap slices, but not all. All of the spots are about the same size and color. No funky smell and they haven't changed since I noticed them.

I did color my soap with OO infused with annatto seeds, so I'm wondering if these are bits of annatto seed that made it through the cheesecloth.

Anyway, you're the experts. Let me know what you think.

 

[toxikon]

Looks like it could be DOS! Take a marker and circle the dots on one bar then check the bar in a week or two. If the circles have multiplied or grown bigger you'll know it's DOS.

What's your recipe? Any less than fresh oils? Did any metal things (aside from stainless steel) touch the soap during making or curing?

 

[Cellador]

I just started soaping, so all of my oils are pretty new. But, I did use quite a few of them- avocado, castor, coconut, palm, cocoa butter, olive oil, & sunflower oil (yup, I'm suffering from the newbie "let's throw everything in" syndrome). 5% SF. 2.25:1 lye to water ratio. I don't believe they touched any non-SS metals.

Good idea about circling them...would have never thought of that. Thanks for looking!

 

[DeeAnna]

I've seen the same thing in a soap I colored with annatto. In this case, I'd say the spots are very likely to be small bits of annatto. I bet if you look really close, you may even be able to see the red-brown bit of seed in the center of the spot. I agree it does look a lot like DOS, but it's not.

Spots of real DOS don't necessarily grow in size. They usually take some weeks or months to form, as well, since it takes time for oxidation to occur.

 

[Cellador]

I've seen the same thing in a soap I colored with annatto. In this case, I'd say the spots are very likely to be small bits of annatto. I bet if you look really close, you may even be able to see the red-brown bit of seed in the center of the spot. I agree it does look a lot like DOS, but it's not.

Spots of real DOS don't necessarily grow in size. They usually take some weeks or months to form, as well, since it takes time for oxidation to occur.

I hope this is the case! I have circled some of the spots on an affected bar, and I'll wait and see. But, I used most the oils in other recipes and haven't seen the same spots. I was thinking maybe it was the EO...is it possible for an EO to cause DOS?

 

[IrishLass]

I'm with DeeAnna. It seems much more reasonable to me that they would be due to the annatto rather than DOS, especially at this early stage in the game, and especially since they do not have any funky smell. DOS usually takes longer than 2 weeks to develop.

I was thinking maybe it was the EO...is it possible for an EO to cause DOS?

Many soapers report that lavender EO contributes to DOS in their soaps.

The spots can also be FO/EO related in that the scent may not have been mixed in as well as was thought. I've had that happen to me before.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

Yes, EOs can cause rancidity, but if an EO triggers oxidation, you're more likely to see the whole soap turn all-over yellowish and smell icky. DOS -- isolated yellow spots of oxidation -- are, IMO, caused by invisible specks of something naughty, like metal. The specks trigger oxidation in just that spot. There can be just a few spots or many, but they're spots.

In my case with the annatto, I got in a hurry and used an annatto infusion without taking the time to strain it through a fine strainer. I saw a few annatto seeds floating on the oil and fished them out, but I didn't realize until later that small flecks of the seed had escaped into my soap batter. My mistake. It really does look like DOS, but it's not. The marks in my soap were there from day 1, and I could trace it back to the infused oil.

 

[Seawolfe]

Im with IrishLass and DeeAnna If the spots don't smell bad, I would blame the annatto. DOS is stinky. And FWIW I use lavender EO in many of my blends or by itself and never had a problem.

 

[zolveria]

Annato Seeds = Bijol Powder
annato or Achiote the way we call it. has a tendency to do this if it is not mixed well.
this is why we latinos heat it in oil. for color.when adding this to rice etc. we also have Bijol which is powdered and this in itself is better than the pods for us. since it readily dissolves in water . we use this in replacement of saffron which is expensive in the states,

Bijol Can be mixed in the water itself then added to the soap

Happy Soaping...I use Bijol when i want orange