Love The Way You LYE

Potassium Hydroxide (Powder)

There are a hundred reasons why you should use soap made at home. First of all, by making your very own soap, you know what composes it. Unlike commercial soaps, homemade soaps do not contain complex chemicals you don't even know! Well of course, in making handmade soaps, there is a main ingredient that is highly caustic and dangerous... LYE. Lye is what you use to remove whatever it is that blocks your drain. It is made powerful to melt the protein of your hair and dissolve it. Hair is what blocks our drains, usually. It is for bathroom stuff but FYI, it is used for soap making! A simple thing about soap making is: NO LYE, NO SOAP.

Caustic Soda (Flakes)

Lye is a corrosive substance that contains alkali. From chemistry you have learned the components of the periodic table and lye contains 2 elements. There are 2 kinds of lye - Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) and Potassium Hydroxide (KOH). Sodium Hydroxide is called Caustic soda. Potassium Hydroxide is called Caustic potash. Potassium Hydroxide is more used for liquid soaps. In my case, I use Sodium Hydroxide and that is what we will use.

SAFETY MEASURES:

When dealing with lye, you should use latex gloves and long sleeves. Or anything that covers your hands and skin. The real case here is to cover your skin from the substance. Once the mixture of lye and water hits your skin, it can seriously burn it. In my case, I have dealt with lye a lot of times. When the mixture of lye and water touches my skin, it will feel like it's itchy but it's painful and it is burning your skin without noticing! But don't be too paranoid when dealing with Lye or caustic soda. You can still use lye without getting damaged skin if you be extra careful.

You must always wear safety goggles to avoid the risk of getting blind!  When you use equipments for soap making, you must use either glass, plastic or stainless steel.