Hello lovely soapers,
It's been a while since I've posted and I hope everyone is well. I posted a thread in the beginner's forum about DOS back in May and after a lot of research and encouraging and supportive feedback from the community, I thought I had kicked the problem to the curb. Alas, while adjusting some of my bars on the curing rack today, I noticed a single spot of DOS on some bars that I made on 5/22, after I had made some substantial adjustments to my process to avoid DOS. My heart sank. I am truly at a loss.
My hope with this post is to spell out my recipe and process in detail so that the hive mind might be able to spot something I have missed. My overall soaping skills have increased significantly in recent months and I still have aspirations of selling at local craft fairs one day, but I need to figure out why this continues to be a problem. Apologies ahead of time for the length.
INGREDIENTS:
I order my oils in bulk (OO from Sam's with use-by date at least 1 year out; 92 degree CO, Shea butter, avocado, and castor oil from Bulk Apothecary) and additives (sodium lactate, colorants [primarily micas, TD, activated charcoal] and fragrances [both FOs and EOs]) from Brambleberry. Lye and sodium gluconate are purchased in bulk from WSP. Oils are stored in my basement in the coolest/darkest room in the house. I did purchase ROE to add to my bulk liquid oils but have not done so yet... perhaps this is an area for improvement. I only use distilled water.
SUPPLIES:
I use a large glass mixing beaker from BB to melt oils and #5 plastic containers for mixing the lye solution and pouring smaller batches of batter. After first experiencing DOS, I switched to using silicone spatulas and/or stainless steel utensils only (as I had been using some spatulas and whisks that were of unknown composition and had previously been mixing lye solution in a glass beaker before I realized that was a no no). I only have a handful of silicone molds from BB and love them for ease of release and clean up.
*Side note - I do not have a dishwasher and wash all my equipment by hand. We do have hard water. I purchased a set of dedicated white cotton towels to use during soaping so they don't get accidentally mixed up with kitchen towels and get gunky... prior to mixing anything, I wipe the insides of all my containers thoroughly with clean towels in the hope that it might help decrease any mineral residues from the hard water. Whether that works, who knows.
RECIPE & PROCESS:
After struggling with DOS initially, I decided to switch to a base recipe that was tried and tested so I could hone my skills and eliminate as much variation as possible between batches. I settled on using the "eco-friendly cold process soap recipe" from Lovely Greens (
https://lovelygreens.com/eco-friendly-cold-process-soap-recipe-instructions/#recipe) since I prefer plant-based oils and will eventually market the bars as palm-free (I've been having trouble finding responsibly sourced palm at a cost effective price point and have so far chosen to avoid it altogether) and vegan-friendly. I did tweak the recipe a bit and for the last 3 months have been using the following base recipe for a 2# batch:
50% olive oil - 454g
25% coconut oil (92 degree) - 227g
20% Shea butter - 181g
5% castor oil - 45g
Lye - 128g
Distilled water - 192g
This equates to 40% lye solution. I live in a humid climate and was hoping to decrease the amount of water that would need to evaporate during cure.
Superfat - 3% (decreased from 5% with the hope of decreasing risk of DOS)
Total batch weight - 1227g
Sodium gluconate - added at 0.5% total batch weight, or 6g to the above recipe. I add this to the distilled water and microwave x 10s to help dissolve it completely before adding lye.
Sodium lactate - added at 1 tsp PPO to cooled lye solution.
I chose to go with SG instead of other chelators like EDTA after reading Deanna's posts on Classic Belles. There are a variety of reasons I prefer SG that I won't get into here. I suppose I could always try switching to EDTA if this continues to be a problem.
The above recipe is what I've been using as a base for nearly all of my bars over the last 3 months while I've been practicing. I occasionally tweak things to add avocado oil or decrease the lye concentration to facilitate more intricate swirls, but overall the base recipe consistently behaves well and I feel like I know exactly what to expect with it. The finished bars are firm (which I like), feel great on my skin, and last longer than some of the other recipes I'd used in the past.
For the batch I made on 5/22 that I just noticed spots on today, I used the recipe as detailed above. I used sage green mica from Brambleberry for color (added 1.5 tsp directly to melted oils and blended as this was a solid-colored bar) and 1 oz of rejuvenating eucalyptus FO (also from Brambleberry) for a light scent based on the fragrance calculator. I soaped at about 120-125 degrees, added batter to a silicone log mold, then CPOP'd (preheated to 170 degrees, turned oven off but kept light on) for 3 hours and left the mold in the oven overnight. I unmolded and cut the bars the next day. I measure with a plastic tape measure and use a clean kitchen knife to cut the bars by hand.
STORAGE:
Curing bars are kept on a curing rack in my basement. I use #5 plastic cafeteria trays so the bars do not come in contact with any metal. We do live in a humid climate, so I have a dehumidifier running next to the rack at all times and also hang a bag of DampRid on the rack as back up. I rotate the bars about once a week for the first 1-2 weeks (or whenever I can). I wear gloves when handling the bars. We do keep the house fairly warm but I would guess that ambient temperature downstairs is probably no more than 75 degrees, even in the hottest parts of the summer.
I do not currently have a cover over my curing rack. I do have a dog and 3 cats in the home, so there is the potential for animal hair and dust to land on the bars while they are curing.
The bars I noticed spots on today are nearly 3 months old (made 5/22). Out of 10 bars, I only see one small spot on two of the bars and they are on one of the cut surfaces, not the edges.
QUESTION:
1. Are there any glaringly obvious mistakes or areas for improvement based on what I described above? Aside from adding the ROE to liquid oils and/or switching to EDTA, does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions to improve my process?
I realize that there are LOTS of experienced soapers who have never experienced DOS (even many who don't use a chelator or ROE) and this truly blows my mind. I do my best to be meticulously clean, use fresh ingredients and equipment made of appropriate materials, added the chelator, and store and handle the bars with care. I have tried to examine each step of my process to hunt for things that could be causing DOS, but I simply don't know what I am doing wrong.
I have attached photos of the two eucalyptus bars that developed DOS in addition to my notes for that batch. There are also two plain, unscented bars I made from the same recipe that also developed DOS.
Because I want to end on a positive note after writing this discouraging post, I have also included pictures of some of the bars I've made over the last few months. My skills are definitely getting better, just have to figure this dang DOS out once and for all!
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