about lye ?

[dakotaseas]

:? I wanted to know is lye in most soaps . Just learning so I thought I would ask......thankyou :wink:

 

[IanT]

lye is not in soap, its used in making the soap... it gets used up in the saponification process. I think of the process like adding -1 and +1 to give you 0, in the end product, soap the lye has saponified all of the oils (or most of them if you use a superfat, which is adding extra oil that cant be neutralized with the lye, it stays oil and doesnt turn to soap...hence giving its healthy properties to the soap)...

so though soaps are made with lye, there is no lye left over in the bar of soap (if made with a good recipe...some may require rebatch if not enough water or too few oils was used to make it safe for skin.) Its like baking a cake and putting eggs in it, the eggs become part of the cake batter and are assimilated into the cake, but there are no separate ingredients existent in the final cake, just a mixture of all of them unified into the cake !


hope that didnt confuse you! that help at all??

 

[lilly]

lye is not in soap, its used in making the soap... it gets used up in the saponification process. I think of the process like adding -1 and +1 to give you 0, in the end product, soap the lye has saponified all of the oils (or most of them if you use a superfat, which is adding extra oil that cant be neutralized with the lye, it stays oil and doesnt turn to soap...hence giving its healthy properties to the soap)...

so though soaps are made with lye, there is no lye left over in the bar of soap (if made with a good recipe...some may require rebatch if not enough water or too few oils was used to make it safe for skin.) Its like baking a cake and putting eggs in it, the eggs become part of the cake batter and are assimilated into the cake, but there are no separate ingredients existent in the final cake, just a mixture of all of them unified into the cake !


hope that didnt confuse you! that help at all??

great explanation ~*~*ian*~*~!! i found it realy helpful too as i am so new to this aswell...

 

[lilly]

:? I wanted to know is lye in most soaps . Just learning so I thought I would ask......thankyou :wink:

just wanted to say hi! as i am new to this site and soap making aswell.

i haven't made a batch yet....am reading and learning as much as i can. and exploring molds, and recipes etc. i am going away on holidays soon so am saving my money up for that but once i am back i am planning on getting started.

isnt' it exciting! I wish tho i could attend a class on it. just to build my confidence and have a wise person guide me. shame we all didnt' live close and could have soaping days...wouldnt' that be FUN!..

 

[Soapmaker Man]

That was a good expiation Ian. 8) I always use the "cake" explanation. To make a cake, you use oil, flour, eggs, milk, etc. When you mix those separate ingredients together, apply heat, you get a cake. Your cake has eggs in it, but they blend with the other ingredients, helping the cake rise and taste better. The cake is made up from those separate ingredients, but the sum of the ingredients, baking, is a cake. Ergo, soap, is similar.

Paul :wink:

 

[IanT]

That was a good expiation Ian. 8) I always use the "cake" explanation. To make a cake, you use oil, flour, eggs, milk, etc. When you mix those separate ingredients together, apply heat, you get a cake. Your cake has eggs in it, but they blend with the other ingredients, helping the cake rise and taste better. The cake is made up from those separate ingredients, but the sum of the ingredients, baking, is a cake. Ergo, soap, is similar.

Paul :wink:

Yup you were the influence on that example! lol...I like the 1+(-1)=0, but for those not math-minded (which I certainly am not...I don t know why i used that example lol) the cake one works real well!


so thanks to paul for the cake example!

and you are more than welcome lilly!

 

[dakotaseas]

8) thank you so much I think I understand this process better

 

[IanT]