Soaping Rules

Hi everyone! I recently read an article about the 'rules' of running (I'm a runner). It got me thinking about the 'rules' of soaping. Such as, always add your lye to the water/liquid and not your water/liquid to your lye or floral fragrances are known for accelerating trace. Anyone care to share some others? They could be general soaping rules or your own personal rules. Any rules you've broken? How did it work out for you?

My most recent "rule" is to always wear long sleeves when mixing my lye and liquid. It has been really hot here so I thought I'd push the envelope and thought my long kitchen rubber gloves were enough - those fumes obviously caught my forearms cause they were itching like crazy. Lesson learned. :?

One I just learned(I don't know why yet, but I trust the folks who told me.) Is to add the lye water to the solid oils, not the solid oils to the lye water.

Wear goggles even if you wear glasses is one I almost learned the hard way, but the raw soap missed my eye by about 1 mm.

Rule of thumb that I learned from this site as well as experience is that it is best to let most soaps cure for at least 4 weeks before testing (6 months for olive soaps).

Lay all your equipment and ingredients out on the counter before you start and double check to make sure they're ALL there before you begin. And I tape my recipe to the door of the kitchen cabinet over where I'm working, so that I can't spill something on it, or lay something on top of it and lose it. And cross things off as you add them. (I guess this isn't really a rule, more like good habits.)

The top 4 rules on my list have to do with safety:

1) Never use aluminum pots/utensils when working with lye....unless you want a blackened, acrid, smoky disaster on your hands, or something worse, because Lye + Aluminum = highly flammable Hydrogen Gas.

2) Never breathe in the lye fumes when you are mixing lye solution.....unless you want to have a coughing fit, or at worst, cause damage your lungs.

3) Always wear gloves and goggles when working with lye in case of accidental splashes, especially when it comes to your eyes. Ditto what Susie said about making sure to wear goggles instead of glasses. The same kind of near miss that happened to her also happened to me back when I was wearing glasses instead of goggles. Best to be safe instead of sorry.

4) It's best to mix lye solution in stainless steel or the appropriate plastic instead of glass or Pyrex because of the etching factor of lye upon glass, even tempered glass such as Pyrex. The etching weakens the glass over time until one day- kablooie!- shattered glass and lye solution everywhere, as several soapers that used to use Pyrex in the past for their batches can attest to. Glass, especially tempered glass is pretty strong stuff, but lye is like it's Kryptonite. You may get away with using glass or Pyrex for a time, but since it's hard to know when the glass or Pyrex has had one etching too many, it's best to use plastic or stainless instead. Two excellent plastics are either PP (polypropylene) #5 and Nalgene.


IrishLass

jules92207 said:

My most recent "rule" is to always wear long sleeves when mixing my lye and liquid. It has been really hot here so I thought I'd push the envelope and thought my long kitchen rubber gloves were enough - those fumes obviously caught my forearms cause they were itching like crazy. Lesson learned. :?

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Good rule! I am sooo guilty of breaking this one. And on several occasions have had tiny little lye burns on my forearms! Itchy itchy

Hello! All are excellent rules! Another rule: soap when you have enough time. Don't do it when tired, under stress, kids and pets underfoot, expecting important calls or visitors. Just when you pour the lye solution into your oils and fats - bingo - the phone or doorbell rings, kids cry and the dog throws up (or vice versa). Soap when you feel you will be able to fully concentrate.

Speaking of children - never store lye solution. Bottles or jugs can break and spill. Make the solution when you plan to use it within an hour or less. Store lye crystals, EO's and FO's in a tamper-proof container and (if possible) under lock and key. Children can get into anything. Better safe than tearfully sorry.......

Well first thing that came to mind for me is GOGGLES! I know some on here remember my mishap and urgent care visit when I had salt soap stuck and burning my eye. Ended up with the doctor and 2 others helping me and 3 meds afterwards. It sucked!
I was a mess for a long time and stopped soaping (I used to soap every day) and finally many months later I am back to soaping regularly. Tried 3 times to start up and just didn't want to do it.. hated the idea of soaping. And I LOVE soaping.

so goggles! Even when you are done and your getting bubbles out. Bubbles can make things pop and fly.

A rule regarding curing time:
1 day for each 1% of hard oils (coconut, lard, palm, etc), 2 days for each 1% of soft oils (olive, castor, rice, sunflower, etc).
For example:
- castile (100% olive) = 2x100 = 200 days
- my favorite soap (50% lard, 20% coconut, 25% olive, 5% castor) = 50 + 20 + 2x25 + 2x5 = 130 days

Sorry Sososo, but I think that 130 days for your favourite soap could be more like 28 days - it's a fairly normal recipe and should be lovely enough after 4 weeks cure. You're giving it an 18 week cure, which is a bit of overkill to be classed as a rule!

I soap relaxed, to enjoy it. Not careless, but relaxed.
Learn the "why" behind soaping - why does this recipe work and why is this oil x% and not y% - yes, I class that as a rule. It's the difference between painting-by-numbers and making art.

I only have a few rules that I don't break, and some have already been mentioned by others:
1) Always lye to water/liquid.
2) Lye water in #5 plastic pitchers - and I prefer deep pitchers to reduce splashing problems.
3) Pets (I don't have children) locked out of the kitchen until I've finished soaping and have put everything away and wiped down the counters and mopped the floors with a vinegar solution. My husband is welcome, but I'll run him out too if he distracts me
4) Goggles and nitrile gloves anytime I'm dealing with lye solution or raw soap - and I change gloves before I handle my goggles. I learned this one the hard way...measured out my lye and made my lye solution and took my goggles off with my gloves still on. When I put the goggles back on to mix the lye-water into my oils, the outside of my eyebrow on one eye started burning and stinging. I ended up with a crescent shaped lye burn on my rt eyebrow/cheek from where I apparently transferred lye to my goggles via my gloves!! No biggie, but I'm more careful now.
Other than these, I don't really have any rules. I usually soap in a T-shirt and shorts wearing flip-flops or barefoot...and I will be the first to say that I knew better if I ever get a serious injury. But it's HOT down here, and the occasional lye-burn isn't enough to make me suit up like a bee-keeper - yet while I'm willing to take the chance, I certainly don't recommend anyone else to do so. This is just my personal choice.
And if I'm trying a new recipe, I use the soap after a week's cure. I know it won't be at its best, but I'll have an idea if it's what I was attempting to achieve.
I'm also avid about 'mise en place' ...a culinary term for what another poster mentioned about having everything in place before you start. While my first couple of lye solutions are cooling down, I heat up my pre-measured hard oils and mix my fragrance in with the soft oils along with my additives.

cerelife said:

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4) Goggles and nitrile gloves anytime I'm dealing with lye solution or raw soap - and I change gloves before I handle my goggles. ...................

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I forgot one of my rules - rinse my gloved hands with water after measuring/making/handling lye and lye solutions, before touching anything else.

My first time soaping. . I put this on facebook saying I was going for the "mad scientist" look.

navigator9 said:

Lay all your equipment and ingredients out on the counter before you start and double check to make sure they're ALL there before you begin. And I tape my recipe to the door of the kitchen cabinet over where I'm working, so that I can't spill something on it, or lay something on top of it and lose it. And cross things off as you add them. (I guess this isn't really a rule, more like good habits.)

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LOL, my soap recipes are hung from a cabinet handle by a pants hanger.(The free kind with a clip on each end that you get when you buy pants.) I use those to hang cook books open to the recipe I am using also. Saves my cookbooks from my messiness.

Lots of good rules so far. I can think of one more: Put up a baby gate to keep children (two or four legged) out of the area while you are making the soap.

My main rules involve protective clothing. My first soaping experience ever I was wearing a t shirt and long gloves, with only about two inches of exposed skin on my arms. Totally managed to get lye water on my skin, lol. Now it's long sleeves tucked into my long gloves, every time.
I also wear safety glasses the whole time, because no hobby is worth losing my eyesight!
Oh yeah, and I have a 16 month old.. I won't do any soaping unless he's in bed and the hubby has the baby monitor.

Don't Drink and Soap

The Seven Deadly Sins of Safety
1. Feelings of Invincibility
2. Bad Habits
3. Fatigue
4. The Thrill
5. Apathy
6. Alcohol & Drug Abuse
7. Depression
Think Twice before doing Anything in Everything

all good ones on safety. I'm all about wearing eye protection for the entire time lye is out (yes...from the time i weigh out lye to the time the soap is put down for its nap....).

if the bf comes into my soaping space, he needs to either keep at least 6 ft radius away from me, or put on protective goggles. that maybe overkill, but you never know where soap batter will bounce....

the other one i want to add is make sure you have enough music on your playlist for your entire soaping endeavour. the worst is when you have to stop and pick another song or playlist....

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

Sorry Sososo, but I think that 130 days for your favourite soap could be more like 28 days - it's a fairly normal recipe and should be lovely enough after 4 weeks cure. You're giving it an 18 week cure, which is a bit of overkill to be classed as a rule!

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For me, it is a rule.