Re: Lye in soaps

goldensrbest · ‎03-10-2010

@brandiwine wrote:
This has made me laugh. My best friend as to make soap for her baby 46years ago because he had such sensitive skin and of course, she had to use lye. Once the soap cures it's safe and natural.

LAUGH AWAY.

When you lose some one you L~O~V~E, that Memory of them, becomes a TREASURE.

software · ‎06-08-2016

Lye is cheap and used in many applications.

You would be surprised to know it's used in processed food.

As Oktoberfest starts in Munich every September, my mom starts making pretzels in Michigan. She says the soft pretzels in the U.S. aren't like what she was used to in Germany, and if she's going to be hosting a backyard Oktoberfest, her food should be authentic.

As a kid I watched the flour, yeast and salt whirl together in a food processor until suddenly congealing into a sticky ball. I liked to put my hand on the risen dough and pat it like a warm, soft belly. I helped dip the pretzels into something bubbling in the pot on the stove, careful not to touch the rolls after they were out of the bath.

That's because that bath was actually a caustic alkaline solution. Traditional Bavarian pretzels are dipped in a lye solution before they are baked. Lye, also known as sodium hydroxide, is essentially the same stuff that's used to make soap and clean drains. It can even dissolve glass.

The above was taken from NPR in 2014. It's also done commercially.

depglass · ‎03-10-2010

I once bought a whole box of homemade lye soap at an auction for a couple dollars, just out of curiosity. I have sensitive skin and accidentally used it in private areas without thinking. No bad reaction whatsoever, it was like using my usual hypoallergenic bar soap.

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

@depglass wrote:
I once bought a whole box of homemade lye soap at an auction for a couple dollars, just out of curiosity. I have sensitive skin and accidentally used it in private areas without thinking. No bad reaction whatsoever, it was like using my usual hypoallergenic bar soap.

@depglass, I doubt that "hypoallergenic" means that no lye is used in the making of the soap that you usually use.

In fact, I'm not sure that "hypoallergenic" means much at all.

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland