Rosemary Oleoresin Overdose

[Joani]

Hi everyone, I accidentally added Rosemary Oleoresin to a batch of soap instead of Rosemary essential oil which wouldn't be a worry except I put in probably 8% as I thought I was putting in essential oil & the dosage rate for Oleoresin is 0.5 %. Is the soap still ok to use as I have searched everywhere online & there is just information.
Thanks in advance Joan

 

[SoapySocial]

8% seems really high for an essential oil, especially rosemary. Did you list the amount wrong?

Personally, I would wait a day or two for the oil to fully saponify and then test the soap. If it burns then you would probably want to integrate it into another batch so it's not as strong. If it doesn't burn, cure the bars but test them every couple of weeks to make sure they are still okay. If they start to cause skin irritation, you'll want to rebatch them.

 

[DeeAnna]

...the dosage rate for Oleoresin is 0.5 %...

Actually the usual dosage for ROE as an antioxidant is more like 0.05% based on the weight of fats. Antioxidant dosages higher than recommended can lead to pro-oxidation, meaning the fats go rancid FASTER than if you hadn't used an antioxidant at all. Here are the results from one study I found --

"...One study looked at the antioxidant and pro-oxidant effects of ROE in soybean oil. The researchers found ROE was ineffective at 0.01% and it was pro-oxidant at 0.5%. They found ROE worked best as an antioxidant in the 0.02% to 0.05% range...." *

An 8% dosage is so high, I question whether I'd want to deal with that much ROE in my soap even if it was non-toxic and skin safe at that dosage. (I don't know the answer). At the very least ROE has an odd fragrance that I would think would be noticeable at 8%.

I think I'd err on the side of discarding this batch just to be on the safe side. It isn't realistic to rebatch this soap enough to cut that 8% dosage down to 0.05% -- every gram of this soap would have to be diluted in 159 grams of other soap to achieve this goal. I might keep an unused bar or two around for long-term evaluation to see if this soap does go rancid faster than expected, but purely as for info only, not for actual use.

* Hall, C., Cuppett, S. The effects of bleached and unbleached rosemary oleoresins on light-sensitized oxidation of soybean oil. J Am Oil Chem Soc 70, 477–482 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02542579

 

[Mobjack Bay]

If you haven’t already tossed the batch, wouldn’t it be fun/interesting to save a couple of bars for observation? I would love to see how the bars change over coming days, weeks and months, assuming they last that long.

 

[Joani]

8% seems really high for an essential oil, especially rosemary. Did you list the amount wrong?

Personally, I would wait a day or two for the oil to fully saponify and then test the soap. If it burns then you would probably want to integrate it into another batch so it's not as strong. If it doesn't burn, cure the bars but test them every couple of weeks to make sure they are still okay. If they start to cause skin irritation, you'll want to rebatch them.

Sorry my bad it was meant to say 1%

This is what it has actually done to my soap. I put in a pink clay however the oil has turned it green on the outside.

Actually the usual dosage for ROE as an antioxidant is more like 0.05% based on the weight of fats. Antioxidant dosages higher than recommended can lead to pro-oxidation, meaning the fats go rancid FASTER than if you hadn't used an antioxidant at all. Here are the results from one study I found --

"...One study looked at the antioxidant and pro-oxidant effects of ROE in soybean oil. The researchers found ROE was ineffective at 0.01% and it was pro-oxidant at 0.5%. They found ROE worked best as an antioxidant in the 0.02% to 0.05% range...." *

An 8% dosage is so high, I question whether I'd want to deal with that much ROE in my soap even if it was non-toxic and skin safe at that dosage. (I don't know the answer). At the very least ROE has an odd fragrance that I would think would be noticeable at 8%.

I think I'd err on the side of discarding this batch just to be on the safe side. It isn't realistic to rebatch this soap enough to cut that 8% dosage down to 0.05% -- every gram of this soap would have to be diluted in 159 grams of other soap to achieve this goal. I might keep an unused bar or two around for long-term evaluation to see if this soap does go rancid faster than expected, but purely as for info only, not for actual use.

* Hall, C., Cuppett, S. The effects of bleached and unbleached rosemary oleoresins on light-sensitized oxidation of soybean oil. J Am Oil Chem Soc 70, 477–482 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02542579

Thank you

8% seems really high for an essential oil, especially rosemary. Did you list the amount wrong?

Personally, I would wait a day or two for the oil to fully saponify and then test the soap. If it burns then you would probably want to integrate it into another batch so it's not as strong. If it doesn't burn, cure the bars but test them every couple of weeks to make sure they are still okay. If they start to cause skin irritation, you'll want to rebatch them.

Thank you

If you haven’t already tossed the batch, wouldn’t it be fun/interesting to save a couple of bars for observation? I would love to see how the bars change over coming days, weeks and months, assuming they last that long.

That's a good idea actually

 

[Mobjack Bay]

This is what it has actually done to my soap. I put in a pink clay however the oil has turned it green on the outside.

Wow, that’s different. I hope you will update as time goes on.

 

[bwtapestry]

This is what it has actually done to my soap. I put in a pink clay however the oil has turned it green on the outside.

Interesting. I would hang onto the soap and wait a few months to see what it does in terms of curing. Please keep us posted.

 

[SoapySocial]

That's really interesting! My suggestion to rebatch was based on the assumption that you had the 8% figure wrong. I was thinking maybe you had meant 0.08% or something like that. With it being so much higher than the recommendation, and obviously having a strange reaction, it might be best to discard. But I do think you should hang on to some at least and see what happens--for science's sake!

 

[Marsi]

Love that colour!
(looks like the whole bar might go green - rind discolouration often does this, starting out the outside of the loaf as the soap is exposed to air)