Cured soap all greasy?

[KiwiMoose]

I was in a craft shop the other day and I picked up some unwrapped handmade soap to look at. It was a bin full of odd-bods they were selling out at 3 for $10. However, as soon as I touched it I could feel it was all greasy ( oily). What would make a fully cured soap go like that? It had very little fragrance left and the oil left on my fingers was not rancid, but maybe almost? It smelled 'not fresh'.
I would hate to think that someone had any of my soap sitting in a soap dish 6 months down the track and for them to have the same issues.
Anyone have any ideas as to what had happened to the soap?

 

[BattleGnome]

My first guess is that the soap was in too many temperature changes. Going from warm house to winter weather to warm storage to car to store.... (or reverse it since I see you’re from the other hemisphere). If it’s extreme enough to cause the soap to sweat at all then there could be residue.

It could also be a “bad recipe” but age + temp might be more accurate if they’re $3ish each

 

[Obsidian]

If it smelled a bit off, it could also be starting to go rancid. I've noticed some soaps with dos get a bit of a greasy feel.
Could also be too much SF or like BG said, bad recipe.

Scenarios like this is why we tell new soapers to wait a year or two before selling. You need time to know how your soap reacts to aging.

 

[penelopejane]

I agree that it sounds like the beginning of DOS.
A high SF can accelerate the process as can poor hygiene when touching the shop while it is curing or while it is waiting, in the shop, to be sold or not using distilled or filtered water or not using fresh oils.

It is one of the reasons I don't buy unwrapped soap. Not that wrapped soap can't also go off. There have been lots of pictures of people unwrapping soap they have bought and had it posted to them and it is a mushy mess of DOS.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I reckon it was pretty old soap - and for sure it would have gone though some pretty extreme weather changes where to was located. We've had a very hot and humid summer and the little craft shop was not air conditioned. I wonder of the maker ever goes down to check on her/his product? Surely if they did, they would remove it straight away from the shelves.

 

[penelopejane]

We have a big name natural soap maker in Oz and in their store they were selling soap with DOS. I pointed it out to the girl but she wasn’t interested/didn’t know what it was/didn’t know the consequences.

Even some soap makers don’t know the difference between a good product and a bad one- even allowing for personal preferences.

But it is difficult to control what happens once it leaves you. What’s the first thing most people do if they see soap in a shop? Pick it up and smell it? Imagine how many sticky, sweaty hands have picked up that soap? Who can control or allow for that.

 

[DeeAnna]

Storage conditions and how soap is handled can really make a difference in the shelf life of soap I learned that the hard way when a friend showed me a bar of my soap I'd given her months previously. It had DOS. Pretty bad rancidity in fact. Horrified and embarassed, I confiscated the bar, hurried home, and compared it to a bar from the same batch that I'd saved. My bar was fine. Hers definitely was not. Only difference was storage and handling. That led me to research ways to control the problem -- cleanliness when handling and storing soap, reduce metal contamination, packaging to cover the soap surface, store cool, dry, and dark as much as possible, and use an antioxidant and a chelator.

 

[Susie]

Storage conditions and how soap is handled can really make a difference in the shelf life of soap I learned that the hard way when a friend showed me a bar of my soap I'd given her months previously. It had DOS. Pretty bad rancidity in fact. Horrified and embarassed, I confiscated the bar, hurried home, and compared it to a bar from the same batch that I'd saved. My bar was fine. Hers definitely was not. Only difference was storage and handling. That led me to research ways to control the problem -- cleanliness when handling and storing soap, reduce metal contamination, packaging to cover the soap surface, store cool, dry, and dark as much as possible, and use an antioxidant and a chelator.

What antioxidant are you using, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[earlene]

I am not DeeAnna, but ROE is an antioxident, and I think she uses it in combination with EDTA.

 

[DeeAnna]

Yes, Earlene is correct about what I do. Thanks, E!