How dangerous is lye?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

In the wrong hands, very!

But I don't want to scare you, if you take some sensible precautions, it's not dangerous at all.

It is a concentrated alkali (a chemical which is the opposite to an acid, but just as corrosive) and stores usually sell it as a drain cleaner because it will cut it's way through built up grease very effectively.

Here are some useful precautions which may give you a better understanding of how it should be handled:

Cover the immediate area with a few layers of newspaper, buy some cheap latex gloves or washing up gloves and if you are worried about splashes, a pair of safety glasses.

I frequently use a heatproof plastic measuring jug containing the water, the water should be cooled in the fridge to limit the amount of heat buildup when mixing.

Put the lye flakes or pearls into another small jug with a spout to help with pouring and while stirring the water with a stainless spoon slowly add the lye. Ensure the room has adequate ventilation. Stop when you want to and if the mixture heats up too much it will start to give off steam, if this happens, stop for a few minutes before continuing.

The key is slow and deliberate, it is also sensible to keep children and pets away while you are mixing.

The lye flakes draw moisture from the air, so if you do spill any on the newspaper, after 20 minutes or so you will be able to see where they are because they will appear as little damp spots on the paper, which should be carefully folded in on itself and put in the trash when you are finished.

I believe that the very fact you are concerned makes you less liable to have an accident than other people who are more complacent and remember, once you have done it a couple of times, the process will be demystified for you and hopefully it will no longer be a problem.

There are more safety tips in my free online course All About Soap Making, click here to learn more.

More soon.

Do you recommend superfatting? If so can you use plain butter?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

I do recommend superfatting, if you don't superfat your soaps they can be a bit astringent (drying) to the skin, in fact if you want a luxury soap? superfatting is the only way to go.

...only don't use plain butter!

I'm assuming you will be making the soap yourself and using the cold process (the combination of oils and lye), in which case you calculate the quantity of fats required, decide which of the fats will be used to superfat, an example...

Say you plan to make a soap with the following:

40% Olive oil
25% Coconut oil
20% Palm oil
15% Shea butter

You decide to superfat 5% and use Shea butter for its unique skin care properties. Simply measure out an additional 5% (making a total of 20%) of Shea butter, but keep it separate from the rest.

Do your mixing of the oils and lye and when you reach trace, then stir in the additional 5% Shea butter, incidentally this is when you add fragrances too, so you may wish to warm and mix the shea butter with the fragrances before adding to the traced mixture.

I have gone into a fair amount of detail here, but I appreciate that I have also skipped over a few important areas. I am offering a completely free online course called All About Soap Making that can fill in the blanks, depending on your skill level with soap making you may find it of interest.

Ok, I confess, the course is free, but along the way I do offer some products that aren't, but you are under no obligation to buy anything.

If you are interested, click here.

More soon.