What Is Lye Soap?

Lye soap has been used and created for hundreds of years, and is comprised of a few basic ingredients that form a hard, lathering bar when combined. While soap making is an art and requires years of practice to perfect, anyone can create bars of natural, lye soap right in their own kitchen.

Lye

Lye is a highly caustic compound that can be found at any hardware store. When combined with oils, it causes the oils to harden.

Oils and Fats

Oils and fats are necessary for the production of lye soap. Traditionally, fats were used, such as lard and tallow. Modern soap makers choose to use olive oil or coconut oil for their high lathering abilities.

Water

Water is combined with lye to create a chemical reaction in the lye. When mixed together, the lye water heats up, allowing it to combine properly with the oils.

Butters

Butters, such as Shea butter and cocoa butter, are added to the heating oils to make the soap richer and creamier.

Essential Oils

Essential oils are added to the lye soap mixture after the lye and oils are combined. Adding essential oils makes the soap smell nice when used.

Resources

• Essential Oils
• Oils and Butters
• Soap Lye