# Borax or lye



## Frank

can any one tell me what the difference in to used eather borax or lye.Is the cureing time different.have read ones to used borax and then seen where lye is used,
thanks for any help with this one
Frank


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## hsmomof4

Used for what, exactly? They are not even close to the same thing. Chemically, borax is Na2B4O7·10H2O, lye is NaOH (or KOH, if you are making liquid soap). Lye is used to make soap. No lye, no soap. Now, some people put borax in soap (it can be used to neutralize liquid soap, is often used in laundry soap, etc) but borax does not react with oils to make soap.


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## Frank

thanks for this info as there is another person tell me that she just puts borax into her bar soap.I am new to all this and do love this place for info so if you do not know about it it is agood to ask
thanks again
frank


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## MF-Alpines

Frank said:


> thanks for this info as there is another person tell me that she just puts borax into her bar soap.I am new to all this and do love this place for info so if you do not know about it it is agood to ask
> thanks again
> frank


Yes, it is good to ask. Whenever I read something that I haven't heard before, I always come back here and ask about it. There's a great wealth of knowledge here from people that are truly willing to help.


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## Anita Martin

Some people do add borax to their bar soaps but not for the purpose of saponification. I don't know what the purpose might be. Lye is the ingredient you will need to marry the oils and liquid into a form that becomes soap.


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## Guest

Suppose to help the lather some... and make a harder bar


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## MF-Alpines

MRFBarbara said:


> Suppose to help the lather some... and make a harder bar


I hear stuff like this over on the dish (although I haven't been there in a long while). It just seems to me that if you have the right combo of fats & oils you don't need this, or sugar, or foofoo dust, etc.


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## Guest

Foo Foo is a good word for it Cindi, and you are right if you have a good recipe for soap.. why the extra expense in additives.. Not needed...


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## prairie nights

Frank, I think it was a misunderstanding of the info you received. Lye is needed to make soap, so every soap must have lye. Then you can also choose to add borax to your soap recipe. Does that help ? Curing time will depend on the composition of your recipe (oils, butters, etc)


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