# Lye Compared To Bleach?



## Golden Delta Alpines (Mar 8, 2012)

A friend of mine was telling me all about soap-making and lye. I asked her, just how dangerous is lye? You know, after hearing all these horror stories, I wanted to know what was true and what was not.
She said that lye is like bleach. You try to avoid touching it; but if you do get some lye on you, and you rinse it off right away with water, it won't hurt, and you won't feel a thing.
She also said, just wear gloves and goggles.

Just how dangerous is lye? Do you treat it like bleach? Or with more caution?
How bad can it be if you get some lye on you?

I may want to try making soap in the future.


----------



## Guest (May 5, 2012)

More caution, its true that you can touch it while its dry and it does not hurt. but as soon as it hits liquid it burns you and will blind you for life if it gets in your eyes..Treat it with the upmost respect and you will have no problems.. Its not something to leave lying around with kids.. it looks just like sugar almost..
you should always leave it under lock and key if you have children in the home..


----------



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Ditto to what Barb said
also, If you breath in the fumes from lye mixed with liquid it will damage your lungs.


----------



## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

and if you splash some on your skin while making soap, which I always, always, do, it feels like someone is biting you! I've never had a burn from it though, even though sometimes my gloves leak and I get raw soap in them while cleaning up, etc. Use caution, yes, but under normal circumstances it won't blow up your house, or eat holes in your kitchen floor. I absolutely hate the fumes from lye and unfrozen water, so I usually always use milk cubes, or even ice cubes although they thaw a lot faster than milk....herbal tea cubes, frozen beer cubes, etc. I feel a whole lot safer user frozen liquids to melt my lye and they don't fume, but that's just me.


----------



## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

The sanitizer that my daughter uses at her work "waffle house" is 100% lye. The dont tell the girls that. She accidently got some splashed in her eye at work....now she has a blind spot in one eye and needs to go to a specalist for her eye....

Sheryl


----------



## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

The liquid can burn you quickly - it depends on your lye solution %. 

I got a few lye crystals in my eye once. Damned lucky I'm not blind. I flushed with water for 15 minutes, then onto the emergency room. They had me under a drip for two-bags worth of (saline?) solution. Kept testing the pH of my eye until they were happy with it.

Eye protection, gloves, and long sleeves are a must. No flipflops or sandals.


----------

