The Dissolving Door Handle Mystery
Lise
Pictured above: the door handle inside the bathroom of my previous home (with inserted close-up). It was a modern home with modern door handles made of a very sturdy plastic material. The handle is not very old here, yet it looks weathered and 'lumpy'. That's because the plastic has started to dissolve.
This lumpiness didn't happen over night. It took a bit of time.
I remember that we had picked these specific handles when we remodelled our home because – despite being plastic – they were all the rage and supposed to be able take just about anything you could throw at them.
Except apparently, they couldn't.
At least, this one couldn't. Not on the inside of the bathroom. The handle on the other side of the door was fine. So were the handles on ALL the other doors in the house, which made this even more confusing.
It took me ages to figure what caused this. Looking closely, you'd think someone had applied some kind of chemical to it.
That's exactly what happened.
Someone did.
It was me.
Plastic Doesn't Like Essential Oils
One would think – after so many years of working with essential oils – I would have savvied up sooner.
But no.
I would regularly examine the door handle and wonder what the heck was going on. I even tried to blame my husband for it (although I couldn't figure out what he could possibly be doing to the door handle).
Then one morning, it dawned on me.
It was right after I had applied my face oil and grabbed the handle to open the door.
Ding.
“Essential oils react with plastic”
Even when they are highly diluted in a face or body oil, they will – over time – still react with plastic.
As you can see.
After realising what had happened, I was too embarrassed to tell my husband. To protect the handle from further damage, I placed a tissue between my hand and the handle every time I used the door.
It wasn't until we had moved into our next home (that just happened to have the exact same type of door handles!) that I finally told him.
He just looked at me, smiled, then casually replied "Yeah, I figured as much."
PS: Want to make your own bath products with essential oils? The e-book below might be just the thing!
