Lye soap ?

[nebetmiw]

What is lye soap? Yes, I am serious here since all soap has lye in it. We have a store that sells some. I am wondering if it is over lyed and that is why it is called that. I remember years ago some saying that grandmom made lye soap and it would take the hide off a cow. Guess that would be good for using as a pot cleaner but not bathing with at all. I know I would not use it to wash my clothes.

 

[sistrum]

A lot of soapers say "lye soap" when they make soap with just lard. It's a selling thing, like you're buying old fashioned soap.

At least that's what I'm seeing around my area. I do hope they still have a safe superfat.

My dad never would try my handmade soap because of the soap his mom use to make for laundry, it was really strong!

 

[DWinMadison]

The Beverly Hillbillies and Granny's soap kettle out by the "cement pond" gave "lye soap" a really bad name.

Granny: "I've been using lye soap for ne'r on 80 years. Feel my skin.

Miss Jane: "It's like leather"

Granny: "Yeah, nice, ain't it?"

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I remember watching Grandma make soap. She didn't own a scale, I think she just put in whatever lye/water and lard she had, at least I don't remember measuring cups and anything. And yes, it was very similar to Granny Clampett's set-up.

 

[Ruthie]

Watched my grandmother as a child, too. She did have a scale of sorts, but not an accurate one, plus she saved her fat drippings all year to make this, so it was an unknown mix of oils. (The amounts of each was unknown, that is.) So she said she had to be sure she used enough lye so it would not go rancid. Soapmaking has come a long way since then, with accurate scales and SAP values for all the different oils. I'm thinking the "lye soap" mentioned is probably a selling gimick, since a store would not want to sell lye heavy soap that might do someone harm.

 

[debsoap]

I make ""Lye Soap" quite often and have a very nice customer base for it. It is simply Lard Lye and water. My Granny used to make it too but she just threw in the ingredients and it was rough, strong, drying soap. I measure my ingredients and have a very nice mild beautifully white bar of soap. While it doesn't lather very nice, it makes for a hard long lasting bar of soap. I have a lot of customers who purchase it to keep their poison ivy at bay. It really works to stop the reaction from the oil on the skin from poison ivy and helps clear up the rash if you already have blisters. I have been making it for 13 years! It's not that bad of a soap just not luxury like my Olive Oil soaps

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

I think companies use the term "Lye Soap" to differentiate it from Glycerin (MP) soap or a commercial detergent bar (the average consumer doesn't know the term "Cold Process"). They also are going for the "nostalgic", "natural", and "homemade" gimmick. It probably is produced without a lye discount (I'm sure it's not lye heavy if its a big commercial company) to give that "squeaky clean" feeling (also known as stripping the natural oils from your skin...)

GRANDMA'S LYE SOAP by REMWOOD PRODUCTS (a brand you can find in Cracker Barrel restaurants) : Lard, Sodium Hydroxide, Mountain Spring Water

 

[Second Impression]

Yep, "lye soap" is the old time homemade stuff. Funny story, I gave out soaps for Christmas and my MIL looked like she'd been given poison until I explained modern soap making to her. Apparently, I brought up bad memories of her mother's lye heavy lard soap from backwoods West Virginia Interestingly, my grandfather grew up in the same area of West Virginia around the same time and was quite proud of me for learning how to make soap, I guess his mother's soap wasn't as lye heavy!

My MIL will second what debsoap said about the poison ivy. I keep meaning to make a tiny batch of lye heavy lard soap to test the next time I get into some poison ivy. I'm so allergic that it takes a week of prednisone to stop the reaction so harsh soap doesn't sound like a bad alternative ;-)