# Lye burns



## Dorit

Hard as I try I always manage to get a burn where my gloves end. I douse with vinegar but I find that BETFINE works great. I have some left over when I had radiation for breast cancer. Hope this helps you.


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## Faye Farms

I'm always tempted to whip out the AI gloves. I usually don't wear the regular gloves because I always end up getting lye on me at the wrists anyways.


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## icboers

I use the thick rubber dish washing gloves, they come almost to my elbows so it isn't as easy to get those pesky burns.

Karla


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## MF-Alpines

icboers said:


> I use the thick rubber dish washing gloves, they come almost to my elbows so it isn't as easy to get those pesky burns.
> 
> Karla


 :yeahthat


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## NubianSoaps.com

I also wear taller gloves. 
More importantly is I soap in the sink so running water is right there. It is an old wives tale that vinegar somehow neutralizes lye...use water always...by the time you get the vinegar out you could have a very serious burn.
Are you soaping in to shallow of a container, doing very small batches in to large of a container is going to always give you some splashing...try to move to tall thinner containers to soap in, why I soap in buckets, they fit right in the sink and are tall and narrow. 
Also make sure an use a stick blender and not a cake beater....never lift your stick blender out of your soap with it on. Pour away from you, your soap into the mold, and wear long sleeves.

Your shirt and gloves should be loose enough that you can rip them off of you with ease, why I moved away from dishwashing "living gloves" to mens chemical gloves. AI gloves no way are thick enough to be using soaping with lye. They do not protect you from chemicals. You don't want to use anything that if the lye gets to it, it melts it to your skin. Vicki


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## Jenny M

It really does help to use the right size containers. For my regular batches I use pots & pails that hold about 10 to 12 quarts. For small test batches I mix the lye in a glass coffee maker caraf & always pour the oils to the lye. I ALWAYS, ALWAYS pour away from myself so any splash goes towards the back of the counter. And wear long gloves & a long sleeve shirt to cover the gaps.

But still I get a splash once in a while. I soap at the sink too so running water is right there.


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## Faye Farms

Hey, I was at Dillions/Kroger today and they had nitrile gloves that were extra long. I didn't buy any though. Too expensive. At least I can see they exist so maybe I can find them somewhere else for a much cheaper price.


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## Dorit

POUR OIL INTO THE LYE ?????? I thought it was lye into the soap. Please advise....


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## buckrun

We got some long farm chem gloves from Gemplers I think.
We actually got them to weed poison ivy  but wow they are awesome for so many things.
They are very large tho- so keep that in mind if ordering- not sized for women at all.
I put cloth on under to tighten up the grip.
Lee


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## MF-Alpines

Dorit said:


> POUR OIL INTO THE LYE ?????? I thought it was lye into the soap. Please advise....


Correct. Lye into soap.


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## Jenny M

Well, see, it's how I was taught many years ago but you can do lye to oil if you want. Makes no dif to the finished product. It's what's comfortable to you.

So much silly info out there. It's soapmaking - not heart surgery.

Guess I'm just a natural born trouble maker.


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## tlcnubians

I think the idea behind pouring the lye liquid into the soap is to minimize the chance of splashing the lye mixture onto you. It's more likely the liquid in the pot is what's going to splash up when you pour something down into it. For me, I pour my lye/milk/water mixture through a strainer into the pot of warm oils so I can be sure no unmixed bits end up in my soap. Also less chance of a lye volcano from pouring something into it that causes a massive reaction . . .


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## Jenny M

Well, it's been a long, long time ago but I do think the oil to lye method was a safety issue when I was learning back in the olden days. Pouring a liquid lye mixture was supposed to be riskier. I'm just saying...

Your lye/water/milk/whatever mix should be cool & stable before combining with the oils so a volcano is not any more of an issue than other way round. 

Again I say, just do what's comfortable to you.

I did not know this was such a scary procedure till I saw comments here. And I've taught quite a few friends to make soap over the years & so far (crossing my fingers, knocking on wood!) no disasters.

I see straining your lye mix is popular with some of you & that's cool if you want to but, seriously, if you've taken the time to completly dislove your mixture it's unnecessary &, to me, a much more risky operation.

But, really, the riskiest thing you can do is to work distracted & hurriedly. Have everything together & ready to go. Get a good routine & stick to it. Turn your phone off if you have to. Make sure you have good ventilation in your work space. And do not under any circumstances have small children or pets under foot when you're soaping.


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## tlcnubians

You'd be amazed at what strains out when you do this;-) 

Lye volcanos are usually caused by people unknowingly adding something with alcohol in it to their lye liquid (witch hazel, beer, wine, etc.). I don't think soaping is scary, but you are causing a chemical reaction by using an extremely caustic substance, so like you say, don't work distractedly, have a good routine, good ventilation and keep small children and pets away from the area.

Caroline


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## NubianSoaps.com

I premix my lye, so it's coming into the soap room in gallon bleach jugs (50x50 lye and water). I do strain it because it will have flakes in it (even though I shake it before use) and I do not want them to be in the finished soap. Plus I just got used to doing it 

For myself it's change that causes problems, I do exactly the same thing everynight and I think I soap most of it without thinking. For me problems occur when somebody is talking to me, when I try to watch TV or like when I am milking, the only time I ever have milked soapy water into my milk can full of milk was with me talking to someone visiting. So get a good routine down, understand saponification and how all these wives tales are just that.

Sodium Hydroxide must be dissolved in fluids, it makes no difference what that fluid is, mixed into butters and oils it saponfies them. It is a complete chemical change and no scientist can pull apart a bar of soap and tell you what is in it, not cheapo Lard or expensive Avocado oil....and other than lye causing the liquids to heat up, heat or temperature has nothing at all to do with saponification. The rest is fluff, just get there safely... Vicki


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## Dorit

Vicki, do you premix your lye with water ahead of time, like days or hours or first thing you do when stating to soap. Bleach jugs, you did mean 50% lye to 50%water? when do you add the GM?


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## hsmomof4

She uses bleach jugs because they are thick and the lye solution won't eat through them. I'm sure she meant 50/50 lye/water and the bleach part was a typo.  I have found that if you use less than an equal weight of liquid to lye, the lye doesn't all dissolve. Pretty sure Vicki mixes hers ahead of time. Significantly ahead of time.


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## tlcnubians

Yes, you can mix your lye and water together ahead of time, just keep covered so your water doesn't evaporate out. Lye has to be mixed with an equal amount of liquid in order to completely dissolve. Goat milk can be added into the lye water mixture or, as I've seen Anne Marie of Brambleberry do at a goat milk soapmaking demonstration she gave at the Texas Soapmaker's Association Convention many years ago, goat milk can be added at trace and stick-blended into the lye water and oils that you've already mixed together.

Some pre-mix their lye water and put into heavy plastic jugs (making sure they're well cleaned out first); some pre-mix and put into clean, heavy plastic 5 gallon lidded buckets (I have done this), or some mix as they go. My usual method is to mix my lye/water in individual stainless steel bowls, five at a time, and if I run out of time before making my last batch of soap I just put a tight covering of plastic wrap over the top of the bowl so it will be ready when I return later . . . later might be later that day, the next evening, or even the next weekend. 

Caroline


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## NubianSoaps.com

Thanks for clarifying that Stacy, I fixed it 

Yes I premix the whole 50 pound bag, when I get down to my last gallon of premixed lye/water, I do it over again  10 days to 2 weeks ahead of time.

I don't add my milk until I have my lye/water thoroughly mixed into my butters and oils and it is in emulsion, before trace and before scenting. The whole temp thing is once again not an issue as cold milk that I forgot to warm was thrown in just last night and it did nothing...normally I keep several gallons of the milk from the morning milking out on my soap counter to use in soaping that night, during the spring it was the emptyings of the lambar buckets. Suspect milk from the fridge even  Vicki


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## Dorit

I'm confused, if you don't use 50 lye/50 milk how do you know how much milk to add at trace? Do you add just enough water to dissolve the lye, where its less than 50% water and add milk later to bring it up to a total of 50% liquid? i.e. 6oz lye = 3oz water to dissolve lye, at trace add 3oz milk? thx


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## hsmomof4

Just enough water to dissolve the lye is an equal weight of water to lye, for the most part. So, for example, 6 oz of lye needs 6 oz of some liquid to dissolve it. Then, most commonly, people add an additional equal weight of milk at trace, for 1/3 water, 1/3 lye, 1/3 milk, or a 33% lye solution. Using your example of 6 oz of lye, then, I would dissolve the lye in 6 oz of other liquid and add 6 more oz of milk at trace. You can add less milk than this if you want to, or you can add more. I always make sure that I add at least as much milk as whatever other liquid I'm using so that the milk will come before the other liquid and the lye in my ingredients list. Most recipes, when they specify the amount of total liquid, specify even more than this total would be. A 50% lye solution can be done, but it is going to move REALLY fast, compared to a more diluted lye. How much milk you add, then, is a personal decision. More liquid means longer cure, less liquid means faster cure, but also a faster moving recipe (harder to make swirls, for example).


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## Trysta

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> .... during the spring it was the emptyings of the lambar buckets. Suspect milk from the fridge even  Vicki


 :biggrin 'Waste not, Want not'. I love it!


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## Anita Martin

When I do the lye/water/milk recipe, I want a total of 30 oz of liquid so I will take 15 oz of water and mix my lye with that, and at emulsion, add in the 15 oz of milk. The whole thing behaves a lot better if the lye/water mix is several hours old and completely cooled off. When I've used lye water that was fairly fresh and still pretty hot, that's when I've run into problems. 

I haven't sat down and figured out yet how to mix way ahead and then be able to add the proper amount of lye water to a recipe. Usually I just mix that morning and then soap it that night. And a lot of my recipe's still use 100% milk so I haven't been motivated enough to figure it out!


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## hsmomof4

I only use frozen liquids, so no issues with it being too hot. (Now, when I've been lazy and used room temp or even refrigerator temp liquids, that's a whole different story.)


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## tlcnubians

Anita - if you use 15 ounces of lye in your recipe and 15 ounces of water to dissolve the lye, then the total weight of your lye/water mixture is 30 ounces. If you make, for example, three batches of soap in a day, you could conceivably mix together 45 ounces of lye and 45 ounces of water the night before, keep it in a covered container so you don't get any evaporation, and then measure out 30 ounces of this lye water mix for each batch of soap you're making.

Caroline


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## NubianSoaps.com

This is all sounding a whole lot harder than it is 

If your recipe calls for 16 ounces of lye and 28 ounces of liquid....just use 16 ounces of lye and 16 ounces of water, then at emulsion add the 12 ounces of liquid left in goat milk or what have you. 

Instead of making up 16 ounces of lye and 16 ounces of water that equals 32 ounces for every single batch...I just mix up 50 pounds of lye with 50 pounds of water and store it in bleach jugs....so when I want to make up the above recipe, I simply shake the bleach jug really well, and measure out 32 ounces of lye/water 50/50 and pour it into my butters and oils and go!

On a side note with so many questions right now coming from this lye......AAA chemicals right now has caustic beads, these are the largest beads I have ever seen, it is no longer in the small tiny flecks, these are the size of bb's...make sure you are actually getting all of these beads dissolved, no matter which way you are making soap and strain your milk/lye to make sure you actually have it dissolved.


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## Dorit

Ok, now I think I get it, thanks Vicki. I'm going to try it,


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## Trysta

One more question on the 'liquid'. I am going to use frozen milk as my liquid. Froze it in an ice cube tray. Do I have to add a bit of water to have some initial liquid when I add the first lye, or will the milk-ice-cubes immediately melt as the lye hits them? 

I have everything sitting ready in my kitchen all weighed out (two half batches of the WM recipe, but with GM instead of just water, planning on using two different FO combinations, that's why it's two half batches), but I will make the soap (my VERY first soap!!!)tomorrow: too late now to stay focused....


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## hsmomof4

They'll melt. And the parts that melt first will have a tendency to burn before the other parts get done melting, so stir a LOT and consider putting your lye container in an ice bath in the sink. If this is your very first soap, though, you might consider using water instead of milk, because trying to keep the milk from burning is just one more thing to worry about when you haven't got the process all down yet.


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## Trysta

Thank you Stacey. When I ran the recipe through the lye calculator, it gave me a range of how much liquid to add. I stayed in the middle with the milk, so I guess I can add some water to begin with for that first batch. That way I hopefully have less risk of burning anything. And I am lucky having a big 'industrial' sink in my kitchen, so I am going to follow your suggestion of putting the container in an ice bath.


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## hsmomof4

Make the water be ice cubes and it will work even better.


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## Dorit

So if you measure out 10 oz of lye and measure out 10oz of water then mix, store for later use. A recipe calls for 30 oz water and 6oz lye. You take out your premixed lye solution and measure out 6oz of the mixture; subtract 6 from 30 to get 24, so you then add 24oz of milk to this, stir till well blended, add to oil mixture and stir till trace. Is this correct? I did try this and and it took longer to get to trace, and stays softer in the mold. The first batch I had to re-batch, don't know if it was bc I used the premixed solution or something else. I did this again yesterday and will just leave in the mold longer to see what happens.


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## hsmomof4

Your calculations are *not* correct above. If you measure out 6 oz of your mixture above, which was made of 10 oz of water and 10 oz of lye, you will only have 3 oz of lye. If you need *6 oz* of lye for your recipe, you will need to measure out *12 oz* of your 50/50 lye/water solution. Half of it will be lye, half of it will be water. If you wanted 30 oz total of liquid, then you would add 24 oz of liquid to this. If this is what you did with the recipe where you had oil sitting on the top, this is almost certainly what went wrong, because you only had 1/2 of the lye that was called for by the oils you used, so not enough to saponify all of it.


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## Dorit

Thank you for that explanation. Today I redid my solution and realized that even though 50%lye/50%water looks like the lye got absorbed by the water, however I didnt notice till now that it was much heavier. That's when I realized my 'total amount' of lye was wrong. I had to actually do it to understand. I think the 50/50 threw me. Can I re-batch and add the missing lye if I were to dissolve it first or should I just dump it all?


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## hsmomof4

If you are referring to the first batch with the liquid on the top that you dumped, you really need to toss it, since there is no way to know what it was that you tossed (probably it was oils, but how much? you really can't know). If you are referring to the 2nd batch you made, in theory, you should be able to know exactly how much you left out and add it during a rebatch, but be very careful with that soap. I would not use it for anyone but family, and only if you are sure that you know what you are doing with it and not potentially compounding mistakes.


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## Dorit

ok, i'll toss both, I'll chalk it up to R&D LOL


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