Teach Soap

Hello everyone,

My name is Stephanie and i'm from IN. I'm "very" new to soaping... I have been researching and watching Soap TV and have learned sooo much. I am a Nurse who is looking for a new interest and hobby. That being said, I cannot commit to anything without loads and loads of research before getting started. I have two types of oil so far locked down from a suppler, Lard and Beef. I'm now looking into storage and organization. That being said I have some questions and thoughts to throw out to the wind... Please advise me oh wise ones...

I have an never ending amout of wood ash and have been researching into this method of creating lye: potassium hydroxide. I understand it is a process to create but at this point i'm ok with making it using "rain" water. My question is, "Is this crazy?" Should I just use the commercial sodium hydroxide?

Next question: If I do use this method for lye production then it would be natural because it was made with wood, correct? I have noticed that question raised in the forum with the sodium hydroxide.

Lastly, the goal of lye water is to allow it to crystalize for longer shelf life while storing... Once it is crystalized it can be stored in the garage in safe plasic containers, correct? It is when it is the lye water that is dangerous to store in the home or garage, right?

Also, love the Soap TV on You Tube...

Stephanie

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Stephanie

Lye from wood ash is VERY innacurate for safe soap making and varies widely from batch to batch. It also makes for a soft soap. Stick with commercial sodium hydroxide. This type of potassium hydroxide would be natural, but could also create a very lye heavy soap, which could burn the skin. Potassium and sodium are not interchangeable in soap. My mother made soap from pot ash, so I speak from experience.

Unless you live in a pristine environment, rain water can contain heavy metals and contaminants, which could cause DOS. DOS happens when the reactive, dissolved metals mix with your soapmaking oils/butters and lye water and make the soap go rancid.

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

I had concerns at how to gage consistancy in the concentration of the wood ash lye. The sodium hydroxide is not that expensive anyway... Ok, so now i'll spend time on the oils... I needed this to get realigned and focused correctly...

Thank you!

Stephanie

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Stephanie

Lard is fine for soap, but you need other oils like olive and castor for a balanced recipe. Lard won't give you much bubbles.

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

I'm the same way--I research things to death even before I start.

Have you see soapcalc.net yet? There is a calculator that gives the qualities of the soap, based on the recipe. It's very approximate, but it can give you an idea of what your final bar will be like.

There are also some recipes on this TeachSoap site, and on SoapQueen that are a good place to start. But leaning to use a lye calculator, whether the one at Brambleberry.com, soapcalc.net, or another, is a good idea. Recipes can have mistakes!

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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