How To Make Lye Soap

Soapmaking /homecraft experts please help me?

I am trying to make a NATURAL shampoo for afro and curly hair. I WAS going to make a gentle cleansing, moisturising shampoo bar, but realised that I would have to handle lye - and i have no clue how to make sure that all the lye gets transformed into soap.

If i make a liquid shampoo, do I need to make soap using lye? In the same way I would if I were making soap?

Hi there,
Firstly, make sure you do lots of reading on the subject to ensure you know what the whole soap making process entails, and how to work out when the mix is ready to pour into your mould/s. Handling lye is dangerous so you need to be very careful when handling it, and do not have any distractions around (children, pets etc.) to take you away from your soap making. Also make sure you are suitably covered (gloves, eye glasses/goggles). Google "soap calculator" and you will find many online calculators to use to help you determine how much lye to use. 5% superfat is usually a good amount to follow when making soap for use on your skin.
Yes, you also need to use lye when making liquid soap. With solid soap, you use sodium hydroxide, with liquid soap you use potassium hydroxide. It is impossible to make soap from scratch without the use of lye.
Of course there is loads more i could say regarding the soap making process, but i'll be here all night typing if i do LOL !
Do your research well and be well prepared, and you will do fine.
Good luck!

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