sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Jul 26 2010 : 9:46:39 PM
i have never seen a recipe for a true home made soap with out lye. you need the caustic alkaline product. it reacts with the fat and changes the molecules to soap. yes you must be careful doing it. we have learned to do it safely here. lots of the girls on here make soap. if there is a way to do it otherwise i dont know it.happy days sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm farm girl #1014
I have a couple of books on soap making that I added to my garage sale stuff recently. Maybe I could mail them to you. I can only find one at the moment, it's called "Milk-based Soaps" and the recipes do include lye but I thought the other one had an alternative to lye. If I find it maybe I can put the info on here :)
All hard soaps are made with lye. The soft soaps use potassium hydroxide, and some cream soaps use both potassium and sodium hydroxide.
I suggest you visit www.soapnuts.com to educate yourself on making soap and all the safety precautions before attempting to make it.
I was taught to make soap via a telephone call from a dear friend but there was so much more I wanted to learn and now I have been a soaper for over 25 years with my own recipe I have developed which I love and will soon be selling in farmers markets.
Thanks for the website and the info! I was given the books and have never made soap so it's nice to hear from someone with experience! I buy all of my homemade soap and lotion from someone locally, to me it's worth it to pay her for an awesome product rather than try to make it. When I first got the book and read through it I remember there was a whole chapter on safety and making sure you have the time and everything set up to make soap as it's probably not something you can just do on a whim while still doing it safely.
Homemade Bar Soap
Posted - Jul 23 2010 : 1:16:52 PM
