Is this DOS?

[Ruthie]

Thankfully I have never had to deal with DOS- well until now, maybe. I'm in the process of labeling soaps that were made some time ago, back before my ulnar nerve problem. This one is from 12-2014. Are these spots DOS? They were on the shelf under a rather messy rebatch, a mixture of scraps and whatever else was left over, including a lot of vanilla scented which turned the whole batch brown. Of all the soaps around this rebatch, this is the worst. a few more on the same shelf as the rebatch had small spots. All were the same recipe, except for a couple of salt bars which were also affected. I've looked at soaps made with the same recipe that were on other racks and none are affected. I'm at a loss. I've been watching more closely for about 2 months and none seem to be getting any worse.. Thanks for any help.

 

[houseofwool]

It sure looks like it. How do the discolored spots smell?

 

[lsg]

It looks like DOS to me. It doesn't hurt anything but the looks.

 

[penelopejane]

It looks like DOS to me. It doesn't hurt anything but the looks.

I think others have said it can spread though, to your other soaps. So I'd separate it out at least. Actually, I'd probably throw them all out.

 

[DeeAnna]

I'd say it's DOS too -- probably from flecks of some contaminant. If the overall soap smells and feels okay, I'd just pare out the discolored parts and use the soap. I haven't seen DOS "freckles" like these "infect" other soap, nor do these freckles spread to cover the entire soap. In my experience, the discoloration can gradually fade, although it won't entirely disappear.

All-over DOS is another story. This is a gradual color change of the entire bar and this indicates that some ingredient (rancid fat, oxidized EO, etc.) in the batch has gone bad. All of the bars with the bad ingredient will eventually go "off", so this kind of DOS doesn't spread either although it might become obvious on just a few bars at first rather than all of them at once.

 

[galaxyMLP]

To me, it doesn't sound like DOS, even though I think it may look like it. Vanilla FO discoloring will migrate to other soaps and mine that are touching have looked just like that.

I tried to just find a good example that I found recently but I couldn't find it. I have a lavender soap that I made about 6 weeks ago that was sitting under a Nag Champa soap for about a week and the lavender soap got a discoloring spot on it at the top of the soap. It looked just like the picture you posted. When I've had DOS spots show up on my soap, they're usually a little lighter orange and less brownish looking than what I saw in my own soap and what yours looks like from the picture.

If the soap doesn't smell off or stale at all, I would bet it's just some discoloration from the vanilla soap. Especially if the vanilla soap was very dark and had a high vanillin content. If it is smelling a bit off though, it's probably DOS.

 

[Ruthie]

Thanks for your input. The spots do not smell. And I have separated out these bars. My concern is whether the other bars are good to sell. Worried about having an unhappy customer. I guess that is my main concern. Like galaxyMLP, I am not convinced that it is DOS. But IF it is, will the so-far uncontaminated soap be good?

 

[lsg]

I have never had DOS spread to my other soaps, but then I haven't had DOS for a long time. I sure am not going to throw out soap bars with a few spots on them as long as they smell OK. Ingredients are too expensive for that. I would just use them up before using any of my other soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

Whether DOS or fragrance, if spots are going to show up, they usually appear around the same time. So I'd say the rest of your bars are pretty much safe, Ruthie.