Help me explain something

[Wendy]

I had a gal that told me she swore to never use soap that contained lye. How can I explain to her that real soap will always contain lye? What is used in commercial soaps? I just want to be able to explain it well enough.
Thanks!

[Maura]

Some people just can't get their head around soap that begins with lye, then turns into soap. It is like mixing red and yellow. You no longer have red or yellow, you have orange.

[barefootfarmer]

I enjoyed reading the info in this link
www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/idascorner/soap/is-there-lye-in-your-soap-wont-it-harm-my-skin

And this link was really good, too
www.diynatural.com/sodium-hydroxide-lye/

It goes into how glycerin is stripped out of commercial soaps and how companies disguise lye as an ingredient

[Deleted]

Explain that lye and oil combine and chemically react to create a 'new' product which is soap. It is no longer lye and no longer oil. You can not separate the two. You can not create real soap without lye. (Most store bought soap are detergent bars - hence why they usually are called beuty or bathing bars and not soap) If she needs further explanation show her what the saponified oils are called. Palm would be Sodium Palmitate. Coconut oil would be Sodium Cocoate. And olive would be Sodium Olivate. Chances are pretty good she is using soap made with lye, without knowing it.

Just like the famous volcano science fair project mix baking soda and vinegar to create carbon dioxide. You can't separate them back out and get baking soda or vinegar again. You have created carbon dioxide. The same thing happens when you create soap. The two combine and are no longer either ingredient.

If she gives you the anti-chemical argument explain that air and water are chemicals. The food we eat, ground we walk on, and our bodies are all made up of various chemicals. It simply isn't possible to avoid chemicals. It is possible to educate yourself on which ones are good chemicals and which ones are harmful.

[barefootfarmer]

@nostalgicgranny, love the volcano example. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with something common that would demonstrate that idea.

[Cabin Fever]

Perhaps your friend has a thing about using products that contain/use "chemicals." I wonder if she would use soap made with the leachate from wood ashes? She might consider the leachate an organic chemical and therefore it's okay to use (even though much of it is the same as lye - sodium hydroxide).

I bet your friend only eats organically-raised foods.

[jamiecatheryn]

SLS and ALS detergent beauty bars are way harsher and more "chemical". But badly measured or too newly made lye soap has a reputation for being harsh too. If you have a little extra oil or perfect saponification amounts there's no limiting reagent to cause lye left in it. The only up side I have seen in detergents over soaps is in hard water soap leaves more residue.

[feather]

cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-is-chemical-composition-of-ivory.html

Based on the analysis given in U.S. Patent No. 3,933,780 , the composition of Ivory Soap was determined to be 12.8% Lauric Acid, 7.5% Myristic Acid, 0.6% Myristoleic Acid, 21.8% Palmitic Acid, 3.7% Palmitoleic Acid, 13.6 % Stearic Acid, 31.6% Oleic Acid, 3.1% Linoleic Acid, and 5.2% Other (includes C6-C10).

Each Acid found in soap, as listed above, is a combination of lye and a type of oil.
For instance, a Lauric type oil mixed with lye will produce Lauric Acid. (those might be coconut oil, Laurel oil, or Palm kernel oil)
It is not just combined, or mixed, a chemical reaction happens called saponification resulting in the Lauric acid.

Each type of oil used in making soaps have different chemical formulas, hence the labels differ, lauric, myristic, myristoleic, palmitic, palmitoleic, steric, oleic, linoleic, etc.

It is soap folk lore that when people cooked meat in a pan over a fire, the pan had oil in it and in order to clean it, they found that putting ashes and water in it, resulted in sudsy water, which cleaned the pan to some extent. The ashes saponified some of the oils creating a solution with a type of soapy character. The ashes have a lye like substance in them helping to create the soapy solution.

All soaps have these resulting 'acids' from the saponification of the oils, with a lye of some type. (there is more than one type of lye) The lye itself should be all used up in the process leaving only the soapy acids in soaps, both the ones we make and the ones we buy.

[Maura]

Feather, my first husband was a boy scout, and that is how they cleaned their pans.

[feather]

Boy Scouts are full of good will. Eagle Scouts are the best of them all. We can learn something from them.

My first husband was one to require the dog to lick the dishes for cleanliness and the dog was very happy and our dishes very clean. (this story is not true, we didn't have a dog but it makes a very good ugly ex story doesn't it?)