Hello soapers! I have made several batches of soap in an aluminium cooking pot, before realising. From what I understand, lye and aluminium aren't friends and a reaction can occur. My soaps look alright (no DOS or change of colour) but I'd like to know if they're safe. I was going to give lots away for xmas but I'd rather not if there is a risk of causing issues. Do I have to discard them?
Aluminium pot
- Thread starter maude.h
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I'm not an expert on this other than lye water discolored my aluminum pot when I put it in the same water as my soapy dishes were soaking.
Yes, a reaction does occur. Aluminum and sodium hydroxide react to make sodium aluminate and hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable and potentially explosive. Sodium aluminate can be a skin irritant. The risk from the hydrogen gas is long gone, but the sodium aluminate is a concern.
There's no way to know for certain if the amount of sodium aluminate in your soap is enough to possibly cause irritation or if it's not a problem. It might be perfectly fine ... but I don't KNOW that to be true with the facts I have on hand. Perhaps others have better information to offer that would enlighten us all.
It's one thing for you to take a risk with your own body. It's another matter entirely for you to knowingly expose others to that same risk. And it creates a thorny ethical problem if you do not disclose the risk to those people.
In my opinion, I'd err on the safe side.
There's no way to know for certain if the amount of sodium aluminate in your soap is enough to possibly cause irritation or if it's not a problem. It might be perfectly fine ... but I don't KNOW that to be true with the facts I have on hand. Perhaps others have better information to offer that would enlighten us all.
It's one thing for you to take a risk with your own body. It's another matter entirely for you to knowingly expose others to that same risk. And it creates a thorny ethical problem if you do not disclose the risk to those people.
In my opinion, I'd err on the safe side.
