How to create DOS

[Mobjack Bay]

I’ve been able to trigger DOS by inadvertently leaving soap exposed to strong sunlight and also when I was a newbie, I tried to stamp soap with a silver belt buckle.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/dos-from-sunlight-exposure.79141/post-825352https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...keep-bars-from-going-rancid.82807/post-873181

 

[Blufuz]

Update result:
The photo I shared from before was midway through the first month. Now, I checked again, a month to the day, and the results are more striking:

The differences are starting to be more pronounced:

• Salt was by far the worst; yellow-brown everywhere.
• The “nothing” control was second worst; the penny spot was not too bad, but the outside was almost completely yellow
• Beeswax and jojoba were splotchy, but much better than nothing (maybe 50% less DOS)
• Citric acid was a stark white, but even less splotches, same as sugar (but sugar was weird otherwise)
• Baking soda soap was overall a more off-white color than CA, but smaller DOS splotches, so I guess it’s the winner so far!

Although basically anything was better than nothing, so just don’t rely on salt

Also, none of the soaps left in the dark developed DOS, so a good cure location is the best way to prevent the soaps going bad

I’ll check back in another month

 

[basti]

I think your devilled eggs are going a little moldy.

Thanks for sharing an update~

 

[Blufuz]

I think your devilled eggs are going a little moldy.

Thanks for sharing an update~

I call it my rotten eggs experiment

 

[Blufuz]

Final update on the 100% sunflower DOS experiment. I won't show more pictures of the eggs, because they're honestly gross...

Results
Soaps without any pennies:
1. Adding salt was unambiguously the best anti-DOS. The body of the soap stayed white, and the DOS that formed was very light
2. The next best was citric acid; the body stayed stark white, and the DOS that formed was localized.
3. Baking soda turned the soap a light cream color, the DOS was fairly limited, although not drammatically better than the control
4. Jojoba oil was maybe marginally better than the control, but not meaningfully different
5. control
6. Beeswax also had a creamy body, and the DOS was darker than on the control
- Sugar was weird. Top stayed stark white, bottom formed colored DOS spots

Soap with pennies:
- All additives did marginally better than the control, except salt, which did noticeably worse
- when removing the penny, citric acid was almost pristine underneath, baking soda, sugar and salt were dark brown, the others were old-penny-colored.

Soap test:
- All soaps produced medium delicate bubbles at first pass, and with more rubbing, turned creamy/milky
- The salt soap was the only one a little different, with the final cream made of more tight bubbles

Shaving soap test:
- Control soap easily produced foam, but it collapsed 50% after 5 minutes
- Salt soap made a worthy shaving-cream foam, nice tight bubbles and slippery, took some more effort to build up though. Lasted intact the 5 minutes
- salt sunflower performed almost as well as commercial proraso wet shave soap.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Final recommendations:
- use salt as an anti-DOS if you don't have fancy chemicals like ROE, but be wary if there's other additives; it might be worse. In which case, use citric acid (adjusting the lye!)
- consider sunflower and salt in shaving soap

Possible tips:
- if you can dehydrate your soaps quickly, and then wrap in cellophane/plastic, you may not get DOS at all

 

[Savage Daughter]

Final update on the 100% sunflower DOS experiment. I won't show more pictures of the eggs, because they're honestly gross...

Results
Soaps without any pennies:
1. Adding salt was unambiguously the best anti-DOS. The body of the soap stayed white, and the DOS that formed was very light
2. The next best was citric acid; the body stayed stark white, and the DOS that formed was localized.
3. Baking soda turned the soap a light cream color, the DOS was fairly limited, although not drammatically better than the control
4. Jojoba oil was maybe marginally better than the control, but not meaningfully different
5. control
6. Beeswax also had a creamy body, and the DOS was darker than on the control
- Sugar was weird. Top stayed stark white, bottom formed colored DOS spots

Soap with pennies:
- All additives did marginally better than the control, except salt, which did noticeably worse
- when removing the penny, citric acid was almost pristine underneath, baking soda, sugar and salt were dark brown, the others were old-penny-colored.

Soap test:
- All soaps produced medium delicate bubbles at first pass, and with more rubbing, turned creamy/milky
- The salt soap was the only one a little different, with the final cream made of more tight bubbles

Shaving soap test:
- Control soap easily produced foam, but it collapsed 50% after 5 minutes
- Salt soap made a worthy shaving-cream foam, nice tight bubbles and slippery, took some more effort to build up though. Lasted intact the 5 minutes
- salt sunflower performed almost as well as commercial proraso wet shave soap.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Final recommendations:
- use salt as an anti-DOS if you don't have fancy chemicals like ROE, but be wary if there's other additives; it might be worse. In which case, use citric acid (adjusting the lye!)
- consider sunflower and salt in shaving soap

Possible tips:
- if you can dehydrate your soaps quickly, and then wrap in cellophane/plastic, you may not get DOS at all

Awesome experiment, thank you for sharing your results as time went by

I would be interested in seeing experiments done with stainless steel shelving, chromed shelving, resin covered metal shelving....I know this is asking a lot of one person it's just kinda my dream ask in this realm of questioning & experimenting, and receiving solid proof as well as what exactly caused the issue, with no doubt whatsoever.

So much talk of dreaded orange spots but I have not yet experienced them. I used to cure my soaps on wooden slat shelves years ago & never had any issue then either, although I believe @AliOopmentioned something about this to @Jorah in another thread.

I now cure on what are described by the manufacturer as 'stainless steel' shelving, but that could be a complete lie for all I know. What I do know for certain is that I have never seen spots like this on any of my soaps, much older ones included - like 3-5 years old

 

[Blufuz]

I would be interested in seeing experiments done with stainless steel shelving, chromed shelving, resin covered metal shelving....I know this is asking a lot of one person it's just kinda my dream ask in this realm of questioning & experimenting, and receiving solid proof as well as what exactly caused the issue, with no doubt whatsoever.

I don’t have enough different kinds of shelves to make that exact test
I also just lay everything on kitchen wax paper no matter the base and have never had a problem. These soaps with 100% sunflower are the only ones that I did which actually developed DOS, which is why I chose the oil in the first place.

If you do have all these shelves, then I highly recommend you make a simple batch of 100% sunflower oil soap, then let each one cure on a different shelf and check in again 4-6 months later. Experimenting with soap is slow, but once you have the answer you have it for life