Does anyone know how to make soap without lye? We are in a mad rush at the moment to harvest and make jams and preserves to sell at the local Christmas sale, this is how we make money to buy the kids gifts for Yule. So anyway we were watching "Fight Club" the other night and my husband decides we just HAVE to make natural soap to sell. Since I will not let him make it with human fat (watch the movie, you will get this last horrific statement if you have) we decided to make it from olive oil. The thing is I do not want to add lye to the soap. Does anyone know of a good recipe for making natural soap? I know of one womyn out on the coast who makes soap from ONLY olive oil and essential oils, but she is NOT parting with her secret!

THE RESPONSES:

• You can't make soap without lye. You can make instant soap with glycerin bases though. I'm trying to think of some way you could make soap without lye/wood ash and the *necessary* chemical reaction would be missing.
• She might be using KOH (potassium hydroxide) I have never heard of not using something to saponify the oils.

• I make soap, I've done the research. You can't cause "soaponification" without lye. I wanted to add though that lye is natural, so to make "natural soap" you use lye.

  You can make your own lye. The simplest way, is to drill holes in the bottom of a non-reactive container (wood is best, like a barrel). Place a 4 to 5 inch layer of straw, hay, or dry grass in the bottom, and fill the rest of the container with ashes (preferably hardwood). Pour a large bucket of cold water into the ashes. Add another bucket of water every 3 or 4 hours throughout the day. Don't do anything to it on day 2. On day three, add water every 3 or 4 hours. Skip day 4, and add water every 3 or 4 hours on day five. The liquid that drips from the bottom of the container is lye. Can't get more natural than that.

• The problem is that it is a ery strong alkaline substance and I really worry about having it around my kids.
• Treat it like medicines. Keep it under lock and key. Soapification requires that alkaline reaction. Like I said, you can get instant glycerine base that just needs to be melted with oils and scents and allowed to harden. Unlike from scratch lye soap it doesn't need to cure a month either. Or you can make soft soap and bottle it - make it with soapwort (which is actually a poisonous plant) or glycerine or castille, etc.
• I haven't made soap since I got pregnant with my daughter. For several reasons, the main one being it takes both my husband's and my full attention for the entire process. Soap is very exact, especially temperature wise. I ALWAYS wear a mask when adding the water to the lye and I always do it outside. That is when it puts off fumes. Now that my daughter is old enough to spend time with Grandma while we make soap, I am pregnant. Looks like I won't be soap making for another couple years. I was assuming you would have someone to watch the children while you made it, so I don't really see the danger aspect.