lye soap

Who's using lye soap? I love it. But can't find any locally. I see a brand called Grandma's Lye Soap. Seems to be a good brand.

If anyone know of any brands available on the web.. Please suggest a few.

I think most true soap is made with lye., especially the tallow based stuff. One of the soap making gurus around here will likely jump in soon and set the record straight

Yep.. I bought some lye soap at a county fair and loved it. Ran out and looking for more.

What do you mean by lye soap? They're all made with lye.

I think every shaving soap artisan I've come across has a standard bath soap offering as well. Give them a try, you'll probably like 'em too.

If you're trying locally I'd suspect farmers market or fair vendor stands are your best bet.

Good luck finding what you're after.

Maybe so... I just thought lye soap was made from animal fat and lye.. Nothing else. Most other soaps seem to have lots of ingredients and a few I can't pronounce.

Sounds like artisan soap should suit what you're looking for until you can find the locals again anyway.

dsonyay said:

Maybe so... I just thought lye soap was made from animal fat and lye.. Nothing else. Most other soaps seem to have lots of ingredients and a few I can't pronounce.

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Most good artisans will be similar to what you describe but they tend to add oils for skin feel and fragrance. Check out Mystic Waters - I know from experience her soap rocks and is as very natural

Just because lye isn't on the package, it does not mean lye isn't in the soap making process for the finished product. It's the "soaponification" agent. If there isn't lye, there isn't soap. If you see "sodium hydroxide" in the soap ingredients, you are seeing lye.

I think Stirling has a bath soap that doesn't have any extra oils and so on.

dsonyay said:

Maybe so... I just thought lye soap was made from animal fat and lye.. Nothing else. Most other soaps seem to have lots of ingredients and a few I can't pronounce.

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As mentioned, all soaps use an alkaline agent (i.e., lye) to react with fats as part of the saponification (not "soaponification") process. Soap would be impossible without it. Grandma's Lye Soap is a brand name, not a specific category of soap. I've not used it, but the ingredients profile is pretty straight up: lard, lye and water. Personally, I'd be bored with it, and possibly dried out, since pure soap without added emollients can be drying. But hey, give it a try and let us know what you think.

Basically every soap is made with lye. Not really sure what is meant by "lye soap."

dsonyay said:

Maybe so... I just thought lye soap was made from animal fat and lye.. Nothing else. Most other soaps seem to have lots of ingredients and a few I can't pronounce.

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For me personally, I have found the best soaps to be made with predominantly coconut oil (and of course lye). Excellent lathering qualities, and the coconut oil is great for your skin.

(not "soaponification")

I stand corrected. Oops!

I have tried Grandma's Lye Soap, found to be mild but not moisturizing at all. Cracker Barrel restaurants sell it in the front room.

People mean different things by "lye soap"...and few realize that all true soap is made with lye. The prejudice against lye is so strong among the general public that many soapmakers list their ingredients as "saponified oils of ...." instead of listing lye among their ingredients...or even claim that they make soap without it! What is important to know is that all real soap is made with lye...even "glycerin" soaps (melt and pour), but the lye gets used up in the soapmaking process, turned into soap along with the oils it combines with. Old-fashioned "lye soap" made by trial and error using approximate measures was probably often harsh, but home soapmaking has come a long way since the early 1900's.

My experience selling at farmers markets tells me that when a customer asks for "lye soap", what they usually want is a plain simple bar of unscented white soap, if not a bar of laundry soap. "Grandma's Lye Soap" is made of lard and lye only. What you can't tell from that ingredient list is how much of a superfat there is and if it will be gentle or drying. A more balanced soap would have some coconut oil for bubbles and some olive oil for conditioning, at least.

OK.. Thanks for clarifying. Learned a lot about soap this week.

A friend loves "castile" soaps. I think it means a soap with added olive oils. I see that stuff in a local store under different brands and scents.

Castile soap

Edit: It's worth noting that even though Wikipedia claims Castile soap is olive oil based, there are plenty of soaps on the market labeled as Castile that don't contain olive oil. One is the bar of Kirk's shown on the Wikipedia page, the base of which is made entirely out of coconut oil. Go figure.

Lots of olive trees in Spain, coconut oil production, no. It's probably because the term "castile" soap was synonymous with a quality product that manufacturers of vegetable oil soap like Kirk's and Dr. Bronner's started calling their soap "castile" even though it originally referred to a soap that used only olive oil.

My grandmother used to make what we called 'lye soap' and I think she mostly used it for laundry. When I would get poison ivy they would tell me to use the 'lye soap' and it would help dry it up faster. Then I grew up and realized that all soap is made with lye. Now I don't know if her 'lye soap' was any different than normal soap, but it sure seemed to be.

Cracker Barrel Restaurants carry and sell Grandma's Lye Soap.