# Lye Questions



## nonna oakie (Aug 6, 2018)

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY "SOAP" SINCE I USED THE WRONG LYE (POTASSIUM).
WILL IT BE USEABLE?  WHAT DO I DO WITH THE UNUSED LYE FLAKES?


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## msunnerstood (Aug 6, 2018)

it will likely be liquid. Potassium hydroxide is used in liquid soap although I believe some here have used a combination of it and regular Lye.

Could you finish it as liquid soap?


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## amd (Aug 6, 2018)

Using potassium hydroxide means that you have made soap paste. Search the forum and read the liquid soap threads, you'll be able to dilute your paste and use it as liquid soap. Depending on the oils and SF you used, you may have some results (cloudiness, oily residue) in your soap that the liquid soap afficiandos wouldn't desire, but it should work just fine for personal use. There's several really nice recipes here for liquid soap, give them a try with the rest of your potassium hydroxide.

If you make a soap recipe with a combination of potassium and sodium hydroxides, it yields the half brother of liquid soap: cream soap. You can also search the forum for how to make that.


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## BattleGnome (Aug 6, 2018)

Can you post your full recipe and method?

Potassium hydroxide makes liquid soap. If we know your full recipe we can help you figure out what you need to adjust to have some awesome soap.

Edit: should have refreshed before commenting. Just saw the other replies


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## DeeAnna (Aug 6, 2018)

Is your recipe based on using NaOH? And then you grabbed the KOH container and weighed out KOH instead? If so, your superfat is super high -- to the point it's really not going to be usable as soap.

You have to use 140 grams of KOH to get the same saponification "power" that 100 grams of NaOH provides.

If this is the case, then you either need to discard the batch OR you need to add enough extra KOH to saponify the excess fat. As BattleGnome suggested, you can post your recipe and we can help with the math, if you'd like.

As far as what to do with the KOH ... The correct way to safely discard a _small _amount of alkali (KOH or NaOH) is to rinse it down the drain with plenty of cold water. Discarding a _large _amount of alkali down the sewer can be hard on your plumbing and (if you have one) your septic system. 

Do NOT discard KOH or NaOH in your household trash -- it could cause a horrific accident. 

It makes more sense to use KOH for soap making. You could make more liquid soap or start making shave soap. Or find a soaper who wants to make liquid soap or shave soap and give your KOH to them.


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## earlene (Aug 7, 2018)

*nonna oakie*, You need to turn off your caps.  It is considered poor form to post in all caps, in fact in internet parlay, all caps is equivalent to yelling.


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## nonna oakie (Aug 7, 2018)

earlene said:


> *nonna oakie*, You need to turn off your caps.  It is considered poor form to post in all caps, in fact in internet parlay, all caps is equivalent to yelling.


SO SORRY, BUT I AM SENIOR CITIZEN AND HAVE HARD TIME TYPING USING LOWER CASE.  DOING GOOD RIGHT NOW.


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## nonna oakie (Oct 9, 2021)

10-2021 - need help bad again...made a batch of soap that looks terrible! I think it has turned into 
lye-soap.  I am thinking I should throw it out.  Never happened before.


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## AliOop (Oct 9, 2021)

Hi Nonna! The good news is, your soap is probably fine. What you are seeing is a very bad case of harmless soda ash that can be washed and scrubbed off the soap. 

The bad news is, that terrible ashing is probably from those specific molds. I get very similar thick, thick ash from a specific set of molds myself. They worked fine for awhile, and now, they produce ash every single time.

Of course, you want to make sure you are doing all you can to reduce ashing, including high lye concentration (or low water, if you prefer that terminology), soaping warmer, spraying the molds with 91% rubbing alcohol before pouring, spraying the tops after pouring, covering the exposed side of the soap for a few days before unmolding, and gelling the soap. 

However, I have tried all of those things, and still ended up with soap like this (see my picture, below). I believe there is something in these molds that is causing this extreme reaction, because different portions of the same batch poured into different molds had zero ash. 

Again, it is harmless, but so disappointing to have the soaps disfigured like that. Sorry!


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