Teach Soap

I have several questions about lye. I want to be clear about them before I try CP.

1) First of all, I am unsure on where the best place to buy lye is. I keep reading that you need to be careful and always get "100% pure lye". However, after shopping around, I can find no soap supply place that offers 100% lye. You can find 95%, 97%, even 99.99% pure. But no 100%. What's up with that? If you can't get 100% pure, why would anyone say you MUST do so? What makes up the rest of that percentage? Actually, I have seen lye sold for a drain cleaner advertised as 100% lye, but I am suspicious as to whether or not this is really true; if it was true, why don't soap supply companies carry it? 100% lye is more important to have when making soap than when cleaning your drain. I also remember reading somewhere that the percentage does not refer to how pure the sodium hydroxide is (sodium hydroxide is just sodium hydroxide, 100% so), just how much 100% sodium hydroxide is in the bottle versus what else is in there. I don't know if this has anything to do with anything or even matters. But what else makes up that other small percentage and why can't you find 100% lye?

2) I also have seen that Bramble Berry has lye in flake form only now, instead of offering the choice between flake or beads. The beads were 99% pure, and the flakes are 97% pure. Why would the form of the lye change how pure it is?

3) What about buying lye from the hardware store? I keep seeing so many different views on this, so I'm wondering if it's just personal opinion. Some people say it's the purest and cheapest you can find, and others are like, "NOOO!! You will DIE if you touch it!!!!" I keep seeing such opposing views over, for example, Red Devil Lye . Perhaps someone could enlighten me on this controversy?

4) Since commercial lye is made in a lab, it is synthetic, not natural. Some soaps have "100% natural" on the label. But no matter if your oils are natural, your fragrance is natural, your colorant is natural, everything else is natural... your lye is not (unless you make it yourself, I suppose, which most people don't do). So how can anyone say their soap is 100% natural? Is it because in the final bar of soap, there is no lye present? Still, that does not seem quite right...

5) Which leads me to my next question: making your own lye. Has anyone tried this or had results with this? I have read how the basic process is done, and you end up with a lye/water solution, but my main question is, how do you know the concentration of your lye? Some people say dip a feather in your lye/water solution and if the feather dissolves, your lye is strong enough. Ummmmm... no. Sorry, I'm just not sold. And I don't really want dissolved feather in my soap, either. Is there an effective way to test the strength of homemade lye? How do the 'lye companies' do it? Is there like a standard lye concentration or something? Or is it just that pure sodium hydroxide simply has one concentration if it is pure? In that case, can you evaporate off the water from your homemade lye/water solution and end up with pure sodium hydroxide, which by simple chemical composition is going to have the same concentration as what is made in a lab? I don't know if anyone here even has any experience with this sort of thing at all, so I'm sorry if I'm asking questions no one has any clue about. I am just curious.

6) Finally, where do ya'll buy your lye from? Why do you prefer it over other lyes?

Whew! Finally got all my lye questions out! I'm sorry this is sooooo long. Lye is one of the things I am most unclear on when it comes to CP soaping. I want to be informed, though, because I know lye is important and to be respected.

Thank you in advance!!!

_________________
Olivia :)

When I started, I bought Rooto brand lye at Ace hardware in the 1 pound containers. It works fine. Making your own lye would be difficult and very expensive. CP soapmaking is only scary until you actually do it.

I have an answer for 4 "natural" is not a regulated term like organic, and it is not really possible to nave 100% natural soap, I call my natural colored/ scented bars nearly natural for 6 I use BB flake since it doesn't get staticly charged like beads (some people just rub dryer sheets in the bowl) and when in a pinch I use 100% lye drain cleaner from ace, cannot remember the brand it isn't red devil but it starts with R (rodel????? i can't remeber : P ). and for 5 making your own lye is just a bit too sketchy for me you can never really know the concentation just thing how drying and bad it is said soap from a long time ago made with pot ash was.

** edit daveW's post popped up while I wrote and it was rooto lye!

_________________
Anna Rose @-}--
blog

I prefer the flakes as they don't dance around like the tiny beads do. Lye will always have a small amount of impurities, unless you get the lab grade. The lab grade is much more pricey. I have been making soap for along time and I tend to buy whichever lye costs less. I buy mine in 50 lb. bags since the company is within a driving distance. Lye is lab made. There is no way you can make a 100% natural soap, unless you make your own potash. The problem with making your own potash is that you won't know the actual strength from batch to batch.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks rosie and Irina for responses to my question on "100% All Natural" soap. That was what I was beginning to think... Thank you also, DaveW. I might check out that Rooto brand!

@Irina - So is the drain cleaner stuff that says 100% lye really 100% pure? As pure as the lab grade? If what you can get at the hardware store is more pure than what you can order from a soap supply company, why would you go with anything other than the hardware store stuff??

Do you know what the small amount of impurities in the less-than-100%-pure lye consist of? Do they affect the final bar of soap?

Does anyone know of some good supply companies for lye, other than Bramble Berry, that would be worth a look?

Thanks all!

_________________
Olivia :)

The lye from the hardware store is not the same as the lab grade. The lab grade is more pure. IMO the reason the lye from the hardware store says 100% lye is because it has no other additives. Some lye cleaners have metal flakes to help flush drains, but these metal flakes would be disastrous in soap. I prefer to buy my lye online because it costs less. My hardware store no longer carries lye due to it being used to manufacture meth. When they did, I only used it as a last option because it was that much more expensive. I'm not sure what the impurities are, but I think it's sodium carbonate as it reacts with air and any possible moisture. Lye looses some of it's potency when it's old. If you are buying pure lye, even with the minor impurities, it should be fine in soap.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I used to buy lye online, but when you factor in the shipping costs, it was quite pricey; therefore, I pay the extra and buy my lye from Ace Hardware. It works fine every time. I've bought the flakes and the beads.

I stopped counting at 6,000 bars of soap and I'll tell you this, the most important thing you can remember regarding the lye is SAFETY -- wear long sleeves, closed toe shoes, and eye protection EVERY time because accidents happen. Splatters happen. Stupid stuff happens. (Hey, who knew the plastic pitcher would crack with lye water in it). Don't use glass with lye. Make sure your lye water cools down to within 10 degrees of your melted fats before you mix it into your fats.

You will get severely burned if you touch the lye. It is a poison and yes, you could die if you ingest it. Just be careful and have fun making soap. Test your batches of soap after a week to make sure they've saponified.

_________________
If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane
~Jimmy Buffett

_________________
Olivia :)

_________________
Olivia :)

_________________
Olivia :)