What is Lye?
Lye is commonly thought to be a bad, harmful, or misunderstood ingredient. Lye is a necessary ingredient for the soap-making process, once Lye goes through a chemical reaction during the soap-making process it is completely safe for use. The chemical solution for lye is Sodium hydroxide, NaOH, or potassium hydroxide, KOH.
Why is Lye needed to produce soap?
Without lye you would not have soaps, you would have detergents. Lye is what makes soap. The Lye is used during the saponification process. Essentially it is the process of solidifying the soap, the fats, and the oils together. If lye was not used in soaps, there would only be fat and oil puddles and not a solid soap leaf. We use a cold process saponification for our soaps. This process does not destroy the natural ingredients within our soaps, allowing the oils, fats, and essential oils to cure properly.
What is the saponification process for our soaps?
The cold process of saponification combines our organic oils, essential oils, and lye to produce solidified soap. The process takes about 24-48 hours for the oils, essential oils, and lye to combine then the soap is poured into a soap leaf mold. The soap is then left in the mold for anywhere from 4-6 weeks depending on the environment, how the soap batch came out in order for all moisture to evaporate, and the soap to cure properly.
Is Lye safe on skin?
Lye commonly known as sodium hydroxide is dangerous by itself, our natural soaps with lye are safe, the chemical reaction breaks down the lye and leaves all of the soap cleansing properties without any of the chemicals.
