lye into water

[renaissancemom]

i have been making soap for a while now and i know you should always pour your weighed lye into water and not the other way around but why? i always have a little lye left at the bottom of my jar and i usually have to pour a little lye solution into the jar in order to loosen up the lye and then repour that back into my water. it would be so much easier to just pour the water straight into the lye. why is this such a no no?

 

[dagmar88]

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/coldp ... elye_4.htm

 

[ycartf]

Well for one reason, the water being poured into the lye can cause such heat/reaction that it encrusts the top layer of lye, confining the rest of the lye underneath temporarily, then when water seeps into the lye underneath and reacts, that reaction is much more violent because it is confined. In other words, it could easily blow up in your face.

 

[renaissancemom]

point taken: water into lye can be explosive!