# What does lye heavy soap feel like



## Guest (May 27, 2009)

What does lye heavy soap feel like on your skin?


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## IrishLass (May 27, 2009)

I don't know.... if one of my soaps fails the zap test, it doesn't step foot into my shower or sink.  :wink:  My educated guess is that it would feel very drying.

IrishLass


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## carebear (May 27, 2009)

from mis adventures in cleaning soaping pots, I can tell you that it's a weird itchy-burning feel and leaves your hands very tight and red.  yanno - burned.

but I've never experienced it from my soap itself.  why?  because I zap test my soaps. it's something I learned to do early on in my soaping.


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## Guest (May 27, 2009)

well, my choice to be my own lab rat has finally wore me down.

It started on my go-without-lotion day which felt really good

then I went into my mad scientist phase
messing up a batch
rebatching
using different oils
and using an fo purchased from a local soaper

all my oils were correct so I don't suspect lye heavyness and no zap
what I do suspect is a reaction to the fo or new oil used

my hands feel like they have been "waxed"...my body feels fine
my skin looks fine, but the feeling is reminesant of something I experienced before either from a street oil or going swimming in a highly chlorinated pool

any thoughts?


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## Guest (May 27, 2009)

carebear said:
			
		

> from mis adventures in cleaning soaping pots, I can tell you that it's a weird itchy-burning feel and leaves your hands very tight and red.  yanno - burned.
> 
> but I've never experienced it from my soap itself.  why?  because I zap test my soaps. it's something I learned to do early on in my soaping.



well since my hands are brown on one side it's hard to see the color red,   

they feel waxed, I got this feeling before on my face after using a super fatted soap I made, where I mixed grapefruit eo, geranium eo and almond fo (playing mad scientist again), once I put avon lotion on I felt like I'd been waxed, like a surf board


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## Guest (May 27, 2009)

oh yeah, one last question (trying to rule out lye heavyness) if a lye heavy soap would make your hands burny and itchy, then of course it would do worse to the "female areas"? right?

answer will help me rule out lye heavyness since "female parts" are fine   :shock:


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## Deda (May 27, 2009)

phillysoaps said:
			
		

> oh yeah, one last question (trying to rule out lye heavyness) if a lye heavy soap would make your hands burny and itchy, then of course it would do worse to the "female areas"? right?
> 
> answer will help me rule out lye heavyness since "female parts" are fine   :shock:



Never having used lye heavy soaps this would only be a guess, but I would say NO.  The Bits generally have a little more, umm, natural lubricant than hands, legs and other body parts. They may handle the heavier alkali better.

Not quiet the same as FO or EO irritation.


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## Guest (May 27, 2009)

Deda said:
			
		

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interesting...hmmmm


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## Guest (May 27, 2009)

I ordered ph test strips, I hate an unsolved mystery!

and I hate licking soap :x


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## krissy (May 27, 2009)

touching the tip of your tongue to a small corner of soap to see if it zaps may seem yucky or gross, but does seem like it might save you a lot of questions ect.  sometimes you may just have to bite the bubble so to speak and stick out your  tongue a bit.  
 in my opinion, it doesn't even have much of a taste and i zap test all of mine...i even forgot that i was making a CP batch and zap tested before i put it in the mold and it was like nasty pop rocks on my tongue!! it was gross. i ended up throwing that batch away.


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## carebear (May 27, 2009)

pH strips aren't going to solve your mystery.  you should get a pH reading between 9 & 11 whether it's caustic or not.


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## donniej (May 27, 2009)

I have some "slightly caustic" degreaser (I didn't make it).  I looked up the MSDS and it's made with lye.  It always zaps (it's supposed to).  I'll be happy to leave you a few ounces if you like.


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## donniej (May 27, 2009)

carebear said:
			
		

> pH strips aren't going to solve your mystery.  you should get a pH reading between 9 & 11 whether it's caustic or not.



A titration would give a better measurement of unused lye.  This can be done with an acid, water and a PH indicating solution such as turmeric.


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## carebear (May 27, 2009)

donniej said:
			
		

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yep.


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## xraygrl (May 27, 2009)

how much coconut oil was in the batch. I will get really itchy if too much coconut oil....and unfortunately for me my max of coconut/pk is around 11%......unless it's a salt bar with a 50% coconut and a 20% lye disount.


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## ChrissyB (May 28, 2009)

Sounds to me like you could be having a reaction to the essential or fragrant oils that you have used.
why don't you make an unscented uncoloured batch and test that?


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## LJA (May 28, 2009)

Philly, if you want, you can post your recipe and we can re-run it through a lye calc and see what ya got too.  Sometimes we just have brain farts too...I know *I* do.   

The feeling like you just got waxed makes me nervous.  That sounds bad to me.


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## Guest (May 28, 2009)

I know from washing soap pots , my hands feel very slippery and are shrinkled after the chore is done. I let them sit now until the next day.

Kitn


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## Guest (May 28, 2009)

xraygrl said:
			
		

> how much coconut oil was in the batch. I will get really itchy if too much coconut oil....and unfortunately for me my max of coconut/pk is around 11%......unless it's a salt bar with a 50% coconut and a 20% lye disount.



it is high coconut oil, which I thought about too


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## Guest (May 28, 2009)

donniej said:
			
		

> carebear said:
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I'm going to look this up or if you have further info, PM me.  I would like to know with more certainty, if I continue to experiment, when a bar might be lye heavy.

In my short soaping career I can see I get a super thrill out of trying new things, not looking for the perfect recipe...

and for the record I do the tongue test, but I get so fustrated sometime I lick the bar  to make sure no zap, but you should see me over some hp straight out the pot, I can't tongue test it till its a bar, and cp, no way...
not at least for a month


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## ChrissyB (May 28, 2009)

I test my soap as soon as it has gelled, set up and cooled down.


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## Deda (May 28, 2009)

ChrissyB said:
			
		

> I test my soap as soon as it has gelled, set up and cooled down.



Yep, me too, inside the first cut.


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## LJA (May 28, 2009)

Deda said:
			
		

> ChrissyB said:
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Me too.  Haven't had it yet (knock wood)


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## Guest (May 28, 2009)

Me too , I haven't been zapped yet , I am sure it will happen someday.:wink:

Kitn


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## xraygrl (May 28, 2009)

> it is high coconut oil, which I thought about too



well then that is most likely your problem. The lauric acid in coconut is what makes it clean so well. too much coconut and it's probably stripping your skin too much and leaving you dry and itchy. Either lower the coconut or raise your superfat.


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## tincanac (May 28, 2009)

So  how long should you wait after soap has been demoulded and cut to do the zap test!


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## LJA (May 28, 2009)

tincanac said:
			
		

> So  how long should you wait after soap has been demoulded and cut to do the zap test!



Tin, you can do it right away.


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## madpiano (May 28, 2009)

if you want to know what lye heavy soap feels like, put oven cleaner on your skin....don't ask me how I know, but it's not a nice feeling. 

The oven cleaner I have is basically Lye-gel. It works, but I am thinking about ways to make it myself. Does anyone know, what I could use to get the gel-like consistency ?


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## tincanac (May 28, 2009)

LJA said:
			
		

> tincanac said:
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Oh dear I cant really tell - I think there might be a bit of a zap - my tongue didnt feel it on the first go but it did on the second and right now it does feel like I just  stuck the tip of my tongue is scalding liquid.  OH NOOOOO!!!!!  ANd they were so pretty too - Does it get better over time?  Like if I let it cure longer?  If I stuck  a pH wand (like the kind you use to test soil) in a cut chunk will it give me a better indication?  Is there any way to rescue this gorgeous soap - it was such a lovely swirled batch and it smells so great...   

I used Holsum as part of the oils cos I read that it was 100% Palm Oil - it says vegetable shortening on the stick.  Is that the problem maybe - that I just assumed that it was palm oil and over lyed?  Will anyone be able to help me with the lye calculations?  The bar is nice and hard and lathers up real well!

Sorry about hijacking your thread Philly!


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## Guest (May 28, 2009)

hi-jack okay, I feel ya!


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## IrishLass (May 28, 2009)

> Does it get better over time? Like if I let it cure longer?



I wait for a week to check mine for zap because sometimes I've had the rare, odd, occasional batch that didn't gel all the way or was a little slow to fully saponify, and it would still be zapping 3 days out of the mold. Happily, though, by day 5 or so, such batches have all checked out fine with no more zap. I guess they just needed more time to do their thing. As a result, I decided to never call the curtains on a soap or get the rebatch pot out until a week has passed.

IrishLass


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## carebear (May 28, 2009)

they should be fine fresh from the mold, but I too give it a couple of days just in case.  the tongue is a VERY sensitive tool for this purpose, so even if it picks up that tiny bit of zap when it's absolutely fresh it STILL shouldn't burn your hands.  

there are some soaps that give a kinda "delayed zap."  I don't believe that's excess alkali, but rather that the tongue doesn't like that particular soap.  true zap is... well zappy.


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## tincanac (May 29, 2009)

Thanks guys

Well, it seems to be fine when I wash my hands with it - I am not sure about the zap factor though - I eat pure chillies raw, so I am kind of desensitised to zapability - I think I am going to try and stick the pH meter in the bar to see what happens - maybe it will give me a reading!


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## Jeanette Garcia (Apr 17, 2018)

Okay here it is my rebatch rebatch lye heavy soap look at how smooth it came out so yes it is possible to rebatch lye heavy cold process soap using vinegar to counteract the alkalinity in the soap and then on the Rebach  make sure that you add alcohol to smooth out your mixture use your stick blender and blend like it nobody's business till it comes out creamy like if you're getting right back to trace again only difference it will stay more fluid for you then  use your spatula to mix it just a few times pour it right into your mold make sure that there are no lumps and it is completely smooth spritzer with alcohol just to bring down the bubbles and there you go Wallah a smooth finish and yes I did add food coloring to my rebatch cold process soap and it took very well as you can see in the pictures










I forgot to add that in order for me to be able to demold a lot faster I went ahead and a lot like melt and pour I stuck my molds in the freezer cuz I wanted to quickly demold them so I didn't have to wait a full 24 hours to do so and as you can see on the impressions on my soaps it worked very well but you have to be patient because I did have those moments where I jumped thinking that it was completely set and sadly it was still soft I will provide photos to show see you so there is good with the bad you must be patient


 ?


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## cmzaha (Apr 17, 2018)

First off you are posting in a thread 9 yrs old many are not longer here and many will not answer such old posts. 

You already posted this in another thread, why did you not add your pics there. What you have done is not a proper HP soap, it is borderline of being a transparent soap, not quite a remelt-able soap. In my opinion it is not nice to post a method, that newbies may try, which is not a proper way to hp or rebatch. Most, if not all experienced soapers here would never consider your method. If you like it and think it is good soap go for it, just do not recommend such a method to newbies. Please learn how to make proper soap with proper calculations or purchase m&p base if you want soap to look like above. At least you are using a proven product. Essentials by Catalina have nice bases.

 A quote from my favorite Aunt growing up. If you want to do something do it right or do not do it, this was when she was teaching me to sew in a zipper...


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## SoapOfTheNorth (Apr 18, 2018)

Guest said:


> What does lye heavy soap feel like on your skin?


I make lye heavy soap sometimes - it's IrishLass says, it's drying and it also feels "bitey" on your skin.
I don't use it lots but sometimes I like it.


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## shunt2011 (Apr 18, 2018)

SoapOfTheNorth said:


> I make lye heavy soap sometimes - it's IrishLass says, it's drying and it also feels "bitey" on your skin.
> I don't use it lots but sometimes I like it.


Again, this post is 9 years old.   The OP hasn't been here in a long time.


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## Jeanette Garcia (Apr 18, 2018)

cmzaha said:


> First off you are posting in a thread 9 yrs old many are not longer here and many will not answer such old posts.
> 
> You already posted this in another thread, why did you not add your pics there. What you have done is not a proper HP soap, it is borderline of being a transparent soap, not quite a remelt-able soap. In my opinion it is not nice to post a method, that newbies may try, which is not a proper way to hp or rebatch. Most, if not all experienced soapers here would never consider your method. If you like it and think it is good soap go for it, just do not recommend such a method to newbies. Please learn how to make proper soap with proper calculations or purchase m&p base if you want soap to look like above. At least you are using a proven product. Essentials by Catalina have nice bases.
> 
> A quote from my favorite Aunt growing up. If you want to do something do it right or do not do it, this was when she was teaching me to sew in a zipper...


Hello that was not melt and pour it was CP soap Rebach on lye heavey soap did you read anything I actual wrote if you had you would see that that was not a hot process soap it was a rebatch on cold process I think you have some post mixed up have a good day and it doesn't matter if those people are still on the form or not because this is an Old Post there are still plenty of people always looking up the same thing and looking up advice wherever they can so if I know something that they don't there you go just like everybody else puts their ideas out there into the world Let It Be and stop being so judgy and my grandmother also had a saying #if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all! God bless and have a good day. Oh and by the way I'm going to post a pic of my melt and pour


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## Lin19687 (Apr 18, 2018)

*Necroposting*
This is what you did and that is what the issue is.


Maybe this could be locked  and she can continue with the 1st post you had with these soaps


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## Jeanette Garcia (Apr 18, 2018)

Lin19687 said:


> *Necroposting*
> This is what you did and that is what the issue is.
> 
> 
> Maybe this could be locked  and she can continue with the 1st post you had with these soaps


I'm not sure I know what you mean?


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## DeeAnna (Apr 18, 2018)

I'll summarize -- Necroposting is frowned on at SMF. Basically -- don't do it. You need to start a new thread.

_"...did you read anything I actual wrote..."_

Actually your writing is almost unreadable. Your post above and one of your other posts are 150-word run-on sentences that are impossible to follow.  Use punctuation and paragraphs, and then people will be able to understand what you have to say.

_"...Let It Be and stop being so judgy and my grandmother also had a saying #if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all!..."_

You might follow your own advice. You've waltzed into this party and, rather than trying to fit in, you've decided you want to change the rules to suit yourself. People are going to react to that.


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## Jeanette Garcia (Apr 18, 2018)

Necroposting that's a new one. Understand, seems like everybody have there own click here. Just like high School, all over again.Well rather than sit around and be bullied on the internet I'm going to be the bigger person just remove myself all together don't bother posting any more of your comments I won't see them. Was that properly punctuated for you....


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## cmzaha (Apr 18, 2018)

Jeanette Garcia said:


> Hello that was not melt and pour it was CP soap Rebach on lye heavey soap did you read anything I actual wrote if you had you would see that that was not a hot process soap it was a rebatch on cold process I think you have some post mixed up have a good day and it doesn't matter if those people are still on the form or not because this is an Old Post there are still plenty of people always looking up the same thing and looking up advice wherever they can so if I know something that they don't there you go just like everybody else puts their ideas out there into the world Let It Be and stop being so judgy and my grandmother also had a saying #if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all! God bless and have a good day. Oh and by the way I'm going to post a pic of my melt and pour


Yes I read it and no I did not mix it up. The results and the alcohol are a partial ingredient when making m&p from scratch which is made from lye soap with additives such as alcohol, propylene glycol, sorbitol, sugar water, castor oil etc. I make m&p from scratch. As I said posting potentially wrong information is dangerous to other newbies that may think your method is proper. 

Your grammies saying is fine, but here we tend to say when something is a bad idea so new soaper's will know not to try it. You want to make soap make it correctly. Your soap is not cp, hp or m&p it is a high fat mystery. I stand by what I said before


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Apr 19, 2018)

Jeanette Garcia said:


> Necroposting that's a new one. Understand, seems like everybody have there own click here. Just like high School, all over again.Well rather than sit around and be bullied on the internet I'm going to be the bigger person just remove myself all together don't bother posting any more of your comments I won't see them. Was that properly punctuated for you....


Flouncy posts announcing you're leaving are also not allowed. Did you actually read any of the forum rules and guidelines?


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## shunt2011 (Apr 19, 2018)

She’s left per her own request.


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