Caustic Burns

[Relle]

The vinegar sounds a little OUCHIE, can't beat water though with any burn, must remember butter. I don't plan on it happening again.
Still love my aloe plant.

Relle.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Even if you don't wear gloves for the rest of the soaping process, please make sure you wear them while mixing the lye up. The fumes coming up from the jug are no good for your skin either.

 

[c.a.p.]

Even if you don't wear gloves for the rest of the soaping process, please make sure you wear them while mixing the lye up. The fumes coming up from the jug are no good for your skin either.

This is so true. I learned this lesson last week which is why I am switching to a full face shield from safety glasses.

I had mixed the lye with aloe juice (normally I use frozen gm) and the heat caused vapor which built up under my glasses on the bottom rim. After a while, my upper cheek was burning. Not bad, but I have to say, the vinegar did help and it actually felt cool to me.

 

[FloridaSoaper]

I have had good luck with snug-fitting gloves...the ones I bought from thesage.com. You can buy the size that fits your hands well and they are thick enough to last a long time and even put them through the wash. As far as mixing up my lye. I weigh mine inside on a towel into a tupperware container, snap the lid on tight, then take my water and tupperware and spoon outside to mix...then it sits out there until it cools down. I like all the fresh open air to always take the fumes away, especially when I stay upwind...it works great. I always have worried about fumes circulating my ac system since I have small kids. Not sure if this is really a problem but it makes me feel better anyway. I eventually have to walk the lye water back in the house but I'm sooo careful when I do this not to trip or spill it and so far so good. I always think that leaving the window open and mixing in the sink still isn't good enough - have always been able to smell fumes doing that. So I always just take it out on the back porch. Am I being overly cautious?

 

[calico21]

Im all about the safety, and vinegar if you choose, but water is best. BUT...every first aid person will tell you butter and oils are not good after a burn please dont do that! Aloe ok, burn ointments with anti bacterial ingredients, clean and protected is all you really need. ASK me how I know!
(2nd and 3 dgr burn on foot from boiling water) No scars. Nivea and phisoderm are a good soap to wash the affected area. There is also a cream called silver sulfadiazine that must be prescribed by a Dr( in U.S.), but if you tell your family doc what you do he may get you a script to keep on hand.

 

[Relle]

FS, I've been thinking since my burn and changed my mind about the sink and will mix and leave it out to cool on the front verandah, but just as you say be very careful bringing back in. The fumes get to me too.

Relle.

 

[Relle]

Calico thats nasty about the 2nd and 3rd degree burns, glad you didn't get any scars. I do remember now that butter can be a no- no. I used rose hip oil on a scar on my face for a year and its nearly invisible.(mmm - must get that out).

When I was a baby I got sunburnt really badly and had blisters on my shoulders ( had to go to hospital) but do remember being put in a cold bath a lot and splashed with water and then bandaged to stop infection. My memory is not that good ,BUT I do remember that.

Relle.

 

[newbie]

I think the general advice about not putting butter on burns is good, but in the specific case of a lye splash/burn, it does make sense as the lye is wanting to react with fat/oils and better to have it do so with some OO or butter or castor is better than having it do so with your skins fats/oil. A burn from boiling water/sun/hot oil/etc... is a different thing and putting butter on THAT type of burn is indeed a very bad idea.

 

[paillo]

i always wear gloves during the processing, but at times get careless when swirling, adding embeds, etc., then banging the thing on the counter to get the air bubbles out. i find that's when i get the little splashes of raw soap -- ouchie! i immediately rinse with plain old water, then use soap (cured, of course) to cleanse. then i immediately follow with a sprig of fresh aloe, sliced open and rubbed on ouchie. aloe plants in the kitchen are a must in my house!

also, i often use fresh soap to make soap balls for embeds in future batches. fresh soap can be really, really drying. i always cleanse, aloe, then finish with an ocm face potion that i use more for healing than for actual ocm. some variants of (whatever i have on hand, i always have a batch of this in the kitchen and the bathroom):

squalane, jojoba, castor, macadamia, sunflower, wheat germ, pomegranate seed, rosehip seed oils, vitamin E, aloe, and a couple drops of whatever EO i feel like adding... with jojoba being more of anything else.

p.s. my notes say these ingredients are from skinactives.com -- i can't remember or find when i took these notes, but credit given where credit deserved

 

[carebear]

A burn from boiling water/sun/hot oil/etc... is a different thing and putting butter on THAT type of burn is indeed a very bad idea.

correct - a heat burn you want nothing on but water. this is because oils can hold the heat in making the burn worse. that's for the first 24 hours, btw - heat lingers under the skin.


if you get dry irritated hands from washing with unfinished soap (yes I've done it) or from cleaning up without gloves (done that too), there's NOTHING better than rubbing in straight shea. srsly.

 

[FloridaSoaper]

So good to know these facts about putting oil or butter on a lye burn after thoroughly rinsing it first! I always keep vinegar in my kitchen for lye splashes on skin (which I have never had), but never thought to use butter, and never thought that the vinegar could make it worse. Thanks so much for the tips! I absolutely love this forum!

 

[c.a.p.]

if you get dry irritated hands from washing with unfinished soap (yes I've done it) or from cleaning up without gloves (done that too), there's NOTHING better than rubbing in straight shea. srsly.

Absolutely! It's fantastic.