DOS, and humidity

[rbecca74]

I have read that these 2 things are VERY related...

As some of you might know we have had a LOT of rain here in Texas this year... A LOT...
We live in a mobile home, that does not have central AC, and only window units.. our humidity levels are crazy high this year.
I've made a few batches so far, but several have started turning...

I will be sooo sad if they all do so.

The first picture is a carrot goat's milk soap... Smells great, used to look great...

The second is an chocolate almond milk soap...

 

[fuzz-juzz]

What's the recipe? How old are they?
It's really hard to tell from these photos.

 

[rbecca74]

The first one is about a month old. Just started noticing the discoloration on the lower portion here in the last few days... The other is about the same age, but I actually thought maybe the orange color was a shade from the brown, but it's pretty noticeable now, and getting darker. It started almost right away.

We have a lot of humidity in my house. So I'm worries my other batches might start turning also. I'll look up the recipe for both and add them here tomorrow... Posting from my phone right now. Not close to my notebook where I write my recipes for each batch.

 

[rbecca74]

Here's a picture of the carrot right after I made it.... Looked so much prettier then...

 

[fuzz-juzz]

If it started straight away it may not be DOS.
They are much lighter colour in the second photo, it might just be FO. Which one did you use?
Do they smell rancid?

 

[not_ally]

I was thinking it was FO, too, they are not that orangey/yellow, just darker. What is the FO, does it have vanilla in it? Some of the ones w/lots of vanilla start to darken v. quickly.

 

[rbecca74]

It took about a month to start to darken like this. we are just over a month with this batch. I used a carrot cake FO. it smells wonderful... just looks crappy...

 

[Susie]

I have high humidity, and no problems with DOS. I keep the soap in open baskets, though, while curing and until I use it or send it off to someone.

 

[rbecca74]

I bought a large shelving system to store my supplies, as well as my soaps to cure. they are sitting on parchment paper, but I was thinking of removing them. These are nearly ready to zap test to see if they are ready to use, but I was going to give them just a bit longer.. they are still losing weight. I wiegh them every few days to see if there is any loss... they still lose about 0.01-0.02 oz each time.

 

[not_ally]

I bet it is the FO. For example, here's the description of the vanilla content in NG's carrot cake: "Vanillin Content of Fragrance 5.90%(In the event that a fragrance contains vanillin, it may tend to discolor bath and body products and soap." The chocolate almond milk one sounds really vanilla-y as well, those foody/bakery type FO's tend to have a lot of vanilla.

I tend to avoid high vanilla soaps for that reason, but there is one that I love and it turns the soap dark/almost chocolate brown (the vanilla content is @6.3), so when I use it I just leave it uncolored and dust it with a nice mica or do a mica oil swirl on top for contrast.

The good news if that is the case is that the soap is fine, it just might end up a different color than you intended.

Here's a beautiful example of a discoloring soap with a gorgeous mica oil swirl (not mine, they are not nearly so nice The picture of the dark one is all the way at the bottom of the post.

https://sironasprings.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/easy-does-it/

 

[shunt2011]

I agree that it sounds more like the FO. Bakery scents have a lot of vanilla in it and can mess with your colors sometimes. I would just watch them.

 

[galaxyMLP]

Also, if it still smells good its probably not DOS. Believe me, you know rancid soap when you smell it. Its so gross! Probably the FO as everyone is saying.

 

[rbecca74]

Oh! That's pretty!

 

[rbecca74]

I bet it is the FO. For example, here's the description of the vanilla content in NG's carrot cake: "Vanillin Content of Fragrance 5.90%(In the event that a fragrance contains vanillin, it may tend to discolor bath and body products and soap." The chocolate almond milk one sounds really vanilla-y as well, those foody/bakery type FO's tend to have a lot of vanilla.

I tend to avoid high vanilla soaps for that reason, but there is one that I love and it turns the soap dark/almost chocolate brown (the vanilla content is @6.3), so when I use it I just leave it uncolored and dust it with a nice mica or do a mica oil swirl on top for contrast.

The good news if that is the case is that the soap is fine, it just might end up a different color than you intended.

Here's a beautiful example of a discoloring soap with a gorgeous mica oil swirl (not mine, they are not nearly so nice The picture of the dark one is all the way at the bottom of the post.

https://sironasprings.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/easy-does-it/

I think you may be right. There is a lot of vanilla in the batches I've made. I used a hit chocolate FO for the chocolate almond milk soap...
I'be got to make a smaller mold in order to test these FO's, as well as recipes. I've made about 18 bars/batch.

I plan on using them, and my kids are dying to use a bar... Lol
My husband just asks why anyone would want to use soap that looks/smells like dessert...

 

[galaxyMLP]

You dont need to get a new mold, just use little condiment cups to test FO's. And believe me, lost of people like yummy smelling soap!

Put about 1-2 oz of unscented, uncolored batter, and then put about 0.05 oz of fragrance per oz (or whatever the recomented % is) and mix it in with a mini whisk (you can get them at walmart or target). You can test acceleration and discoloration this way without wasting ingredients.