Lye burns

[ampedal]

I am a bit concerned that I may have a lye burn, and I am loooking for some feedback on what to expect.

I am on my third batch, and it came out very nice (5% superfat). After 18 hours the soap was hard enough to take out of the mold - and I cut it. In this stage is the soap still raw, and not good to handle?

What should I expect a lye burn to feel like? How long does it take for the lye to neutralize from the soap, so that I can handle it freely?

I also noticed that my stick blender was getting some bubbles in my soap, and it has a few pockets with liquid in them. In 3x3x2 bars I would say there are 3-5 pockets about 3mm in diameter with a very small amount of clear liquid. Does this definitely call for a rebatch?

After handling the soap to cut it, I sat at my computer maybe 20 minutes later. Touching my hands to my eyes and lips out of habit, my lips tingled a little and my eyes itched for 30 seconds.

Is this just a reaction to the soap? Or did I expose myself to a lye solution left over from the process.

Kind of freaking out over this, please advise =)

Regardless I will not be deterred from making soap, I will just be more careful.

 

[ampedal]

I'm also curious about testing strips. I have cheap pool testing strips that give me a basic Ph readout, but I'm looking for something more precise. It would be especially nice if I had something that could detect and warn me about heavy bases like something that would be caustic. At which Ph is a base dangerous for skin/eyes/mouth/ingestion?

 

[foresthome]

Did you rinse your skin off really well? How is it feeling now? It is probably just irritation from the soap, if it is not really burning. I have had a couple of very small lye burns, and they were tiny blisters immediately. The experience does teach you to be careful.
I think that yes, you probably do need to cut up that soap and rebatch it, in your crock pot is an easy way to do it. Cook it to a gel stage and remold it. It is basically a rebatch, but will be nice and soft and melt easily.
You should always wear gloves when cutting your soap, until you are sure that it is ok. This happened to me once and I rebatched the soap, it ended up a little soft, but lathered well and felt good on your skin.
I found ph strips that range from 7.0 to 14.0 on Amazon. I they seem to work well. I checked every batch when I first started, but over time your soaping skills develop and you can usually tell by the look and feel of your soap if it is ok.

 

[carebear]

A lye burn is like a heat burn. Tingling and itching can be a signal, but if it stopped and you see no evidence of a burn then it was either very minimal and not a problem, or it wasn't the lye. The only lasting effect of lye on your skin is the burn - it's not "toxic".

Fresh soap is often still a bit caustic. I don't handle mine much at that stage ( I push through my cutter, line up on my shelf, and thats it) but if you are cutting by hand you might want to wear gloves.

You can easily check for caustic-ness by zap testing. Your tongue is way more accurate than a pH strip. Besides being inaccurate, it's really not the pH that is the issue but free caustic. The pH of soap can be quit high and still be good. To do the zap test, just dampen your finger, rub on the soap, and put to your tongue ( or just lick your soap, really). If you feel/taste a zap like a 9-volt battery then it's caustic and needs a longer cure or to be rebatched or something. If not then it is safe. Those pH strips are not a curate for soap. Dr Kevin Dunn has a great book on soap making if you want to get more technical.