why did my soap go brown like the picture?

earlene said:

I just recently soaked some of my plastic mixing bowls in bleach because I noticed the smell of rancid oil in 2 of them after they'd been sitting nestled inside each other. I was so concerned I might introduce DOS to soap if I used those two bowls for making soap, that I was determined to get them really clean and toss them if I couldn't get the odor out. A good long soaking did get the odor out, so I'm happy about that. Time will tell if it was enough. I think it was.

Maybe you could spray those two inside ends and corners of that mold with a bleach solution and let it air dry and see if that helps, lenarenee. Or put a bleach soaked paper towel up against the sides and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes before removing and then let it air dry. Depends on what it's made of, I guess.

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lenarenee said:

They're silicone, so bleach should be fine. Isn't bleach a base - like lye? So maybe that will saponify the residual oil?

I can't use Dawn due to allergy. Hot soapy water works doesn't seem to be enough, plus we're in drought stricken California and I feel guilty over the amount of water it takes to clean soap stuff. I need to find some other kind of degreaser.

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lenarenee said:

... I need to find some other kind of degreaser.

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lenarenee said:

No it doesn't affect my breathing. But it messes up my hands for many months - to the point that any soap/lotion/etc I use causes a remission. I've tried gloves - rubber ones in fact and some how they get contaminated and don't offer much protection. I can't even get one spot of Dawn on my skin, rinse immediately for several minutes - without having a reaction. My mother was even worse than me - her hands never were healthy

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penelopejane said:

I am really sorry to hear that lenarenee. I was trying to be funny in the post above. I am really pleased you have found out how to keep your hands healthy. Stick to it.

DH has to use nitrile gloves to do anything with detergent and he still gets a bout of eczema if he isn't super vigilant. It's just not worth risking it.

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GeezLouise said:

While I don't know the accuracy, some websites claim that clothing was some centuries back laundered with lye water along with or instead of soap. Maybe that would help with the molds.

I experimented on a sheet with a lye water soak... DH has oily skin. The sheet smelled rancid because it, and the oils that didn't come out during laundering, were in a closet for at least a year. Lye solution soak before washing seemed to remove the oils. (After lye water soaking, no more odor.)

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BrewerGeorge said:

I'm interested in this process. How strong was the lye? How long did you soak it? Did it lighten color like bleach?

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