| Wouldn't you like to make soap without using lye? | | | | the formulation of the material so it melts. Soap |
| So would a lot of other people. Really that's one | | | | you make does not readily melt. The melting part |
| of the impossible dreams. | | | | takes some serious chemistry. Therein lies the |
| Not truthfully there are several substances that | | | | drawback to this soap: you really don't know |
| possess soap-like character. For example the plant | | | | what's in it. |
| soapwort has soapy characteristics. It has been | | | | With that aside though, get ready for some |
| and can be used for cleaning, but that probably is | | | | serious fun without having to deal with lye. |
| not what you had in mind. | | | | You can mold it in any shape. You can color it any |
| Conventional bar soap or even liquid soaps are | | | | way. Scent it to your likes. Do all kinds of things |
| really a combination of fats and lye. That really is | | | | without the lye problem. |
| just what soap is, a combination of an alkali and | | | | What's more it allows freedom to do several |
| fats or oils. That's just how you get soap. | | | | things better than the regular cold process soap |
| In the distant past, lye was made by leaching | | | | made with lye. For example, it is much easier to |
| wood ashes to get our a form of lye, but lye it | | | | make layers of soap with different colors with |
| still was. Just like the chemical lye we use now, it | | | | melt and pour soap. That happens since you can |
| was vicious, burning, caustic and dangerous. | | | | make tiny batches, plus the process is much |
| Funny thing is though, when lye mixes with the | | | | more flexible from a time standpoint. There isn't |
| fats it disappears. The fats and the lye turn into a | | | | nearly as much of a hurry as with lye soap. |
| different substance, soap. Now the proportions of | | | | Scent options are greater too. Temperature of |
| everything must be right, but that really is no big | | | | reaction and the caustic challenge are far less. |
| problem. | | | | That means scents that fade right away with lye |
| With all that background, there is a way to make | | | | soap making stay right there with low |
| soap while skipping the lye. The answer is melt | | | | temperature melting soap. |
| and pour soap or ready-made soap base. | | | | No, you really can't make soap without lye. But, |
| What you get is a solid material that readily melts | | | | you can skip the lye and do most of the soap |
| and then can be molded by you. The trick is in | | | | making tricks by going for melt and pour soap. |