To me, having lye in the house is no more dangerous than having bleach, or Draino, or a can of Raid in the house. Seriously, as long as you follow the recommended precautions, and handle it and store it with the same care and respect as you would any potentially dangerous chemical, you'll be good to go.
I know that lye can sound so scary and troublesome to use, but it's not as ominous as it sounds once you actually get into the swing of soaping with it. As long as you remember to always protect your surface, wear gloves, eye protection, and something to hold over your nose and mouth when mixing it into your water so that you don't breathe in any fumes, you should be fine.
Once upon a time I used to be terrified of lye, but I quickly got over my fear after my second batch. Then I got bitten by the soaping bug and I wondered why on earth I had held myself back for so long from the many joys that soapmaking from scratch can give.
After soaping for a bit, I got a little frustrated (like Lane in the above post) with always having to cut freezer paper out to line my molds with, but then, I got a TOG mold for Christmas from my sis, who bought it from our own Paul, the 'SoapmakerMan'. It's a wooden, collapsable mold that comes with fitted, reusable foam liners, eliminating my need to cut new liners out every time I soap, and it makes unmolding a piece of cake because it's designed to be taken apart for easy removal of one's soap. I don't mean to sound like an advertisement, but Pauls TOG molds (I have 2 now) have made soaping even that much easier and pleasurable for me, and I simply love them.
As for lye, besides the Roebic's from Lowes, you can also find lye at Ace Hardware (Rooto brand). I've used both with excellent results. I buy mine online in bulk now from AAA Chemicals, but I just found out that our Paul, the 'SoapakerMan' has just started selling it on his Etsy site for a really good price.
IrishLass
At least it makes y partner laugh....
