natural soap.

[shabana]

does any one know how to make soap using natural thing rathr thn lye .has any one tried making with saponaria leaves.is caustic soda good for teh skin

[abomgardner417]

Great Question! Subbing.

[abomgardner417]

:bump

[APmomSoCal]

I believe lye is a natural thing. It is made by adding water to ashes .That's how the pioneers did it. You can google for more info. Obviously it is very strong stuff, and you must take safety precautions when handling it. But as far as I know, it is necessary to use lye of some sort to make soap. But once the soap cures, there is no free lye left in it.

[thixle]

Yep, lye is natural (as natural as baking soda or epsoms salt)...
I can't remember what they make liquid soaps out of, but it's not lye, it's another chemical compound, that I believe is equally natural.

You can make your own lye if you have a wood stove and save lots and lots of ashes- but you don't have as much control over how strong the lye is-- my great aunt used to make it (her hubby was a blacksmith, so they had plenty of hardwood ashes).

[almadianna]

lye, if treated properly is not bad for you or anything like that.

[llamalluv]

Well...I have a friend that accidentally made soap once.

She was making up a batch of chicken for Sweet and Sour Chicken, and somehow managed to put baking soda instead of corn starch in the batter. When she fried it, it apparently reacted with the oil to make soap.

They had to throw away the meal, but at least she gets to tell a funny story about the time she made Sweet and Soapy Chicken.

[turtle81]

I had never heard of saponaria leaves before - I just read a bit about them, and soapwort leaves and roots are used on their own (rather than in soap). They make a cleansing lather. So it doesn't seem that they can be used in soap, only as a sort of soap. (Incidentally, I'll see if I can find some to add to my garden!)

You need lye and oils to make soap (I've been making soap for several years) - the previous poster is correct that when the saponification process takes place (when the lye and oils combine) the result is glycerin and soap, and there is no lye remaining in the soap. Back when wood ashes were used to make lye soap, the soap was often really harsh because the lye was very difficult to regulate. With commercial lye and precise measurements, it makes it much easier to make lovely soap.

[3bees~1flower]

no lye --- no soap

soap is a chemical reaction between lye and oils...when the process is complete there are no oils left and no lye...but rather a whole new substance....SOAP....which is actually a form of salt. when you wash with a bar of soap, you are not washing with lye and oils...as neither are no longer present in a properly made bar.

liquid soap IS made with lye, just a different type. potassium hydeoxide rather than sodium hydroxide...the type of lye you would get if you ran water thru wood ash would potassium hydorxide.

[abomgardner417]

I'm just wondering why a lot of the natural or organic soaps in the store do not list lye or sodium whatever as an ingredient. Are they not required to list every ingredient or are they not using lye. I think I'm going to write to one and find out!

[APmomSoCal]

Probably because once the lye reacts with the oil/fat, it becomes an entirely new substance, soap. Soap, properly made, does not "contain" any lye at all. Sodium tallowate is soap made with tallow. Sodium cocoate is made with coconut oil.

[3bees~1flower]

Originally Posted by abomgardner417

I'm just wondering why a lot of the natural or organic soaps in the store do not list lye or sodium whatever as an ingredient. Are they not required to list every ingredient or are they not using lye. I think I'm going to write to one and find out!

soap is the only body care product that is not required, by law, to have ingredients listed. BUT...if a company does list their soap ing, they may being doing so in this way... "contains: sodium cocoate, sodium palmate, sodium, olivate, ect...." when it has sodium and -ate at the back of the second word, it means that the oil used has been combined with sodium hydroxide to form a new substance called "sodium whatever-ate" so, sodium cocoate would be sodium hydroxide + coconut oil = sodium cocoate. if ing are listed this way, then sodium hydroxide would only be repetitive. even if a company lists "sodium hydroxide" please remember that there is NONE left in the soap, that is merely used in the process. HTH!

[abomgardner417]

AAAHHHHHH! That make's sense! Thanks!