Lye Safety (was: Re: HERB - Jasmine's one bar soap recipes)

[Mary Temple]

Since we're talking about making soap, here's a link to the Canadian 
equivalent of OSHA's guidelines on sodium hydroxide (lye).

http://www.msds.org/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/sodium_hydroxide/working_sod.html#_1_4

Now that I've scared you, it's really not too difficult. Just be sensible. 
Eye wear and gloves are a VERY GOOD idea - even if they're just the $3 
Playtex gloves some people wear when washing dishes. Avoid working with lye 
in a humid environment like a bathroom - lye will pull the water out of the 
air, and it's far more dangerous when wet than as a dry crystal. Carefully 
clean up ANY spilled crystals.  Be sure to carefully wipe up any "water" 
spills near where you're
working with the lye as it may not be straight water, and leaning on the 
counter may cause you to get it on your skin and get a nasty burn. If you 
get lye crystals or solution on your skin, rinse it with cool water 
IMMEDIATELY, don't wait until you feel it, as it may be a while before you 
do. And once you've used something for soap, it should probably never be 
used for food.

We were very lucky on our first batch of soap - no lye burns. But then I 
left the lye handling to the Chemistry major. :)

Lady Katerine Rowley
Bryn Gwlad, Ansteorra
mka
Mary K. Temple
Austin, Texas

>Here are some test soap recipes I promised that people can use when
>experimenting with herbal and herbal essence additions to
>assist them in their recreational endeavors (i.e. SCA research
>at its finest!). Be careful with this stuff. Don't blindly make
>soap because you think you can. Be sure you can. This weekend
>I made an 11 pound batch using every possible safety procedure I
>know and I *still* got three lye burns, one on my face and one
>on each forearm, even though I was wearing long sleeves, heavy
>rubber gloves, and safety glasses.

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