Reminder - some things are mandatory

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

These are my safety glasses.

Those dots are batter.

They would have been in my eye.

Wear goggles.

As it is, around my ear still got splashed and being the hero/idiot that I am, I carried on and then washed my face when I was done. Bad idea, as it was getting unbearable at the end.

Do not be paralyzed by the fear, but respect the lye. It's a temperamental mistress.

 

[Soapmaker145]

I'll second that. I've been making soaps for over a decade. The only time I had an accident was last week while stirring the traced batter with a spoon. I ended with two drops of batter on my goggles and one drop on my hair. It was a reminder for me that no amount of experience can totally prevent an accident.

 

[nsmar4211]

Very glad you were doing it right!!!

One advantage to "having" to wear glasses in a normal day is my eyeballs always have safety shields!

I have to say, one reason I ran away from the "new" fluid HP method after trying it is the massive steam pockets that splattered batter everywhere. Nope. Uh uh. That just screams danger!

 

[dibbles]

Glad you are okay, and thanks for the visual!

 

[shunt2011]

Great reminder! Glad it was on your glasses and not in your eye!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

The more I look at it, the more it hits home just how close a call it was. The 'e' in ppe stands for 'essentials' in my book

 

[snappyllama]

Thanks for the reminder! I started to get in the habit of pushing my glasses on top of head when I was away from the lye (mixing oils or colorants) then caught myself forgetting to shove them back down on my face where they would actually do some good when I went to stir my lye solution. Now I just leave them on the whole time... Absent minded professors need all the help we can get.

 

[newbie]

It's worth wearing them through clean up as well. I usually clean up equipment after I put the mold to bed and have putzed around. One time I cleaned up a while afterward and didn't even think about having eyewear on because of the gap in time. Sure enough, my finger hit the button on my Badger mini-mixer and sprayed batter right across my face at eye level and I got a full spray to both eyes. Thankfully I was right at the sink so I spent the next 5-10 minutes rinsing my eyes out. It didn't even have time to hurt really and no damage done but it's worth remembering to wear glasses whenever you're around any sort of active batter.

Sorry about your ear, EG, but I'm sure glad your eyes are okay.

 

[annalee2003]

So glad you're ok! And so glad that you were wearing all the right "essentials", as you put it.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Blimey, newbie! That is really bad. Glad you're okay though.

 

[Susie]

Very glad you were doing it right!!!

One advantage to "having" to wear glasses in a normal day is my eyeballs always have safety shields!

I have to say, one reason I ran away from the "new" fluid HP method after trying it is the massive steam pockets that splattered batter everywhere. Nope. Uh uh. That just screams danger!

Those are not sufficient to protect your eyes. You need goggles that shield all sides-top, bottom, sides.

 

[notapantsday]

I don't really understand what the issue is with wearing goggles anyway. I have a pair of cheap 3M virtua goggles and they're absolutely fine. I once almost left the house still wearing them, because I don't really notice them after a while.

People can be so irresponsible when working at home, no wonder there are so many accidents. Once me and my roommates were sanding old paint (probably still lead-based) from a wooden door and the amount of dust was just insane. I actually had to force them to wear respirators and they wouldn't stop complaining about it. Many people also don't know that hardwood dust causes cancer and even if you're just sanding untreated natural wood, you have to wear a respirator.

PPE is really not expensive. If you only need it every once in a while, there's nothing wrong with buying the cheap stuff. The more expensive ones are usually a lot more comfortable though, so if you use them more often it can be worth the extra money.

 

[luebella]

Ty for posting. I have a question. I'd love to wear the full on safety goggles but I wear glasses and when i put these over and breathe they completely Fog up lol. Any way around this or a pair anyone can recommend?

 

[mandy318]

I think I've shared this before, but my husband scored me the coolest goggle/face guard combo from the factory where he works. I love it. Wouldn't soap without it.

 

[Susie]

You can get something like this. Makes dealing with glasses and safety much easier!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042TO6F0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[luebella]

Wow that is so cool! Ty

 

[CaraBou]

Good form, TEG! It is so important, and can't be stressed enough.

 

[jules92207]

You can get something like this. Makes dealing with glasses and safety much easier!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042TO6F0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I totally have this exact one, I love it. Won't soap without it.

Glad you are OK TEG, and thank you for driving the safety message too, it's a very important one.

 

[Rowan]

You can get something like this. Makes dealing with glasses and safety much easier!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042TO6F0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Wow TEG that would have been a close call for your eyes! It's really great to get the reminder, it's so easy to become lax.

Susie, I love the idea of the face shield. My glasses definetely don't fit under any goggles I've bought so far!

 

[lsg]

That is a good reminder to all of us not to get careless.:Kitten Love: