How To Work Safely
With Lye
Safely working with lye - the KEY ingredient
in making soap
No lye....no soap. Yes, that's so true. No
matter what anyone tells you - if you don't have
lye as one of the main ingredients....you won't
have soap. No way, no how.
Using lye in your soap is basically a chemical reaction
which converts oils and fats into a product we
all know as soap. Yes, it's true we do use lye
in other ways - such as to clean a drain,
bleach, or even clean a pool, and should be very
carefully handled as it can be very dangerous
substance, if handled correctly, sodium
hydroxide can cause oils and fats to turn into a
solid and clean your skin! So don't let the
precautions scare you off - thousands upon
thousands of people make soap safely and have
been doing so for eons...so don't be scared off.
Just use safety as your rule of thumb.
Just remember a few things when handling lye
and your chances of never having an accident
with it are almost guaranteed.
- NEVER pour your water INTO the lye -
always - always - ALWAYS pour your LYE into
the WATER!! Remember the old saying that
'snow (lye) sprinkles onto the pond
(water)'. Otherwise, if you pour the water
into the lye, you have a volcano.
- Be very careful not to splash or spill
any lye solution or lye. So always wear
gloves and wear goggles. No matter how
experienced you are - don't skip the
protection gear. It only takes ONE time to
know that you will never forget to wear your
gloves again.
- Keep that lye locked up and away from
children!! And never put it in anything
other than the container it comes in.
- And it goes without saying, follow all
safety information regarding lye.
Warning: Keep children and animals away from lye
as it is a very caustic chemical and can cause serious injury
or even death if swallowed, as well as causing blindness
if splashed into the eyes. To be extra sure not
to get any splashed on you, wear long sleeves,
wear safety goggles and don gloves. Keep a large cup of fresh water nearby
and if
you should splash some lye or raw soap into your
eye, IMMEDIATELY pour large amounts of cool water
into your eye continuously for 10 minutes, or longer.
Call 911 or go to your nearest hospital emergency room. If you should splash lye or raw soap onto your
skin, rinse immediately with cool water. For more
serious skin burns, seek medical care immediately.
Do not induce vomiting if accidently swallowed, call a poison control center or 911 for further
instructions, get to emergency fast. Keep lye containers labeled
and most importantly, keep
lye away from children and when working with lye
keep children away from your work area.
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