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Lye is a very-alkaline product that is used to make soap, but it is also used in the food and cleaning industries. There are several types of lye, the most known and most commonly used being NaOH, sodium hydroxide, and KOH, potassium hydroxide.
Is lye necessary for soap?
Why Is Lye Used in Making Soap? The short answer is that you simply can’t make soap without lye. If a product doesn’t begin with lye, it’s a detergent, not a soap or a shampoo.
Is lye soap good for your skin?
Lye is a caustic substance that can certainly damage your skin if you’re exposed to it. It can cause a number of problems, such as burns, blindness, and even death when consumed. But, and this is a big but, soap that is created with lye (which is all real soap) will do absolutely no harm to your skin.
What can replace lye in soap?
Here are some good choices: Goat’s Milk Soap Base. Shea Butter Soap Base. Glycerin Soap Base. Cocoa Butter Soap Base.
Why does soap use lye?
By definition, soap is what you end up with when fats and oils are combined with a caustic solution (lye). When lye comes in contact with oils, a chemical reaction occurs that changes both substances. Once that reaction is complete, you no longer have fat or lye—you have created soap.
Is all soap made with lye?
All REAL soap is made with lye (sodium hydroxide mixed with liquid). Any skin or hair cleansing product made without sodium hydroxide is not soap, it is detergent.
Does Dove soap have lye in it?
Dove. It is true that the words “lye” or “sodium hydroxide” do not appear on the Dove ingredient label. But, the first ingredients listed were sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate, and sodium palm kernelate. Yes, Dove is made with lye!Feb 18, 2014.
Can you use baking soda instead of lye to make soap?
It is certainly possible to make an acceptable cold process soap using baking soda or washing soda, but lather performance suffers compared to the same soap formula without them. This supports the conventional wisdom that they are better used in a hot process soap (after the cook) or in a rebatched soap.
Is glycerin soap made with lye?
Glycerin soap is made without lye. Commercial soaps/detergents are safer than handmade soaps because they don’t have any lye in them.
Why is lye soap harsh?
So why does “lye soap” have a reputation of being harsh? In days past, homemakers made soap using lye made from wood ash. Sophisticated scales for measuring were not available, and often too much lye was used. When saponification occurred, some lye was left in the soap, making it harsh on the skin.
Does Dawn have lye?
No. By the very definition, soap is not soap unless lye was used to make it (liquid or bar). Unfortunately surfactants are found in everything from laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, dishwasher detergent, hand soap, body wash, etc.
What is a natural substitute for lye?
The bulk oils I keep on hand for soap making (and general cooking and use) are: Coconut Oil. Olive Oil. Shea Butter. Cocoa Butter. Castor Oil. Avocado Oil. Mango Butter.
Where does lye come from naturally?
Whatever meat scraps and drippings you have on hand will supply the fat and the lye comes from wood ashes and water. To make lye in the kitchen, boil the ashes from a hardwood fire (soft woods are too resinous to mix with fat) in a little soft water, rain water is best, for about half an hour.
How do you make moisturizing soap without lye?
The main way that you can make soap without handling lye is by using melt-and-pour soap. It’s already been through saponification (oils reacting with lye) and is safe to use and handle straight out of the package. All you do with it is melt it, add your scent, color, and other additives, then pour it into molds.
Is lye a natural ingredient?
Lye isn’t organic, but it is one of the allowable non-organic ingredients included in USDA organic standards since their inception. Lye, after all, is also known as caustic soda, and soap made from lye is what frontier women made in cauldrons that was great on clothes but murder on skin.
Is lye natural or synthetic?
Lye has been on the USDA approved list for organic products from day one, The FDA specifically exempts soap from it’s labeling requirements, and The Natural Ingredient Resource Center exempts soap and allows it to be listed as 100% natural if all the ingredients (which they require to be listed) are all natural.
Is lye soap antibacterial?
Lye is both a disinfectant and a cleanser. Lye is particularly suitable to kill germs and bacteria as well as cleaning the surface of food containers, room vessels, the surface of wash bowls, etc.
Does Dr Bronner’s soap have lye?
Dr. Bronners soap, which is considered “pure” natural, uses lye. It is hidden under the term “saponified oils”, which is actually the process of mixing lye with oil. Household uses: Lye is also valued for its cleaning effects.
Does Irish Spring soap have lye in it?
We’re gonna give it you, and we’re gonna give it to you straight: all soap contains lye. Yep, that’s right. Everything from Irish Spring to a good old Frankincense & Myrrh Zum Bar contains lye – if it didn’t, it would be considered a detergent, not SOAP! Soap is a product of this reaction, also called saponification.
How do you make soap base without lye?
Ingredients needed: ¼ tsp aloe vera powder. ¼ tsp spirulina or chlorella powder, for color. 1 tsp water. 12 oz (340 g) aloe soap base, cut into 1″ (2.5-cm) cubes. 4 oz (113 g) shea butter or goat’s milk soap base, cut into 1″ (2.5-cm) cubes. ½ tsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch. 2 tsp (10 ml) aloe vera gel.
