Lye Soap

[mrsalvo]

I was wondering if anyone's grandparents or family members ever made lye soap.

My grandparents lived on a large farm, the household did not have running water, but they made do with everything they had. Even when my grandmother would buy different soaps and detergents at the local grocery store, she would still make a big batch of lye soap from time to time. She thought that was the bee's knees. I think she made it from bacon grease, if I remember correctly but that was a long time ago. She rolled that out in no time, and I remember it had to "set" before use. She would cut it into cakes and often gave some to the neighbors down the road, I'm sure they rolled their eyes! LOL. Many, many years later after her death, I received a box in the mail from one of those neighbors with the soap that she made!! Anyway, we used the soap for baths and laundry, but don't remember for washing the dishes. I remembered it made my skin oily, but the smell I'll never forget! That was a long, long time ago when I was growing up in the 60's-70's.

The only place that I know of that sells it is Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri. They make it on site and package it.

Anyone's thoughts?

 

[johnrk]

Lye Soap

Not my grandparents, but a generation before both sides of my family used lye soap. My rich S. Carolina family had the black servants making it, and before that the black slaves. My poor S. Louisiana family side made their own.

It's one of those small things in our lives that we take for granted--soaps and detergents--that make our existence so much more pleasant. Amazing that not all that long ago people used urine for stains and softeners.

 

[ea56]

My paternal Grandma made lye soap with bacon grease. Her lye soap making process was just like Barry’s grandma’s. I think my grandma only used this soap for cleaning. I know I never used it, but I do remember seeing it. There is a family story in which my Father got ahold of the lye when he was a small child. See, Grandma kept her lye in a can that resembled the Bakers Coconut can, and my dad loved coconut. I guess they caught him in the nick of time, just as he was going to eat it.
Eddie

 

[mrsalvo]

John, at the time I just couldn't figure out why she felt the need to make some, we had bath soap (Sweetheart) and laundry detergent (Fab) in the cabinets. The laundry certainly came out smelling....different...yes, that would be a good word. And let me tell you, she made that stuff last forever!! I remember thinking weeks later, can we be normal now and use good smelling store bought stuff?!?!

 

[thomasortega]

My father makes until today!

And don't be surprised if someday i post here my homemade lye soap. I love my cleaning rags washed with it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Octagon soap was lye soap you could buy at the store. I remember we used to buy it and put a chunk in the lowest crotch of dogwood trees to prevent borers because the rain would wash it down and make the surrounding area inhospitable to life. 

 

I remember a bit of a song titled Grandma's Lye Soap on a record by Johnny Standley. The verse went, "Little Herman and brother Thurman had an aversion to washing their ears. Grandma scrubbed them with the lye soap and they haven't heard a word in years."

 

[gyrafoam]

My friend's grandmother made it. They lived over in Cabbagetown. I am guessing she used lard. She would cook it outside on an open fire in a large kettle and then pour it into the old wooden molds. It had a unique odor.

Sometimes she would grate it up, dissolve it in some boiling water and pour it into her Wizard Washer, but mostly, I saw her use it to give the dogs a bath. Both two and four-legged ones.

 

[iheartmaytag]

My Grandmother made her own lye soap

As did her mother before her, the one the kids called "blind grandma" because some lye splashed in her eye once.

After moving to town, and getting her first automatic washer in 1974. Grandma would still say that the detergents you buy weren't as good as her soap.

 

[jeb]

Lye soap

Real Lye soap should be made with animal fat and lye. Many of the lye soaps that people make today (and sell at craft shows as "homemade lye soap") are made with vegetable oil and lye. The early settlers would soak wood ashes in water to get lye and save animal fat from cooking. It was an all day process to make a batch and could not be used until it cured 4 to 6 weeks. If it was used too early it would melt very fast in water. I do historical reenacting and have made pounds of it. All the old timer want some "real lye soap" and everyone of them say to use it on poison ivy to clear it right up. Castile soap is made with coconut oil and lye and was considered a luxury.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Poison Ivy

I forgot that. Grandma would use her soap for poison Ivy then make a potus of pickling lime. The poison ivy would dry right up.

 

[circlew]

According to my mom, my grandmother used to make lye soap. She died before I was 2, and I'd only seen her twice, so have no memory of her. Mom said they made the soap in this large iron pot that I remember seeing in my grandfather's back yard. I always referred to it as the "witch's pot", as it was that shape.

 

[launderess]

Remember reading directions for making soap as a child

On a can of Red Devil lye father had in his "tool stash" for clogged drains.

Almost got a thrashing because wasn't supposed to be near much less handling that can of lye.

Lye of any sort has become or became difficult to lay hands upon when work got out it was being used on "meth farms".

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=21155

http://qctimes.com/news/local/illin...cle_239ea346-3361-11e1-9a15-0019bb2963f4.html

It has become difficult to find lye or even drain cleaners/clog removers based on the stuff in many areas. Much of the liquid drain cleaners sold today are chlorine bleach based.

 

[circlew]

Johnny Standley

The song Tomturbomatic mentioned is "It's in the Book", released by Capitol in 1952. I've heard the song before somewhere; thinking one of my neighbors had it.

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=poCWRJTgMQU

 

[stan]

Soap making terms

Castile soap use to mean soap that was ONLY made with olive oil.
Lye soap use to mean soap that was made with animal fat, more specifically lard/pig fat.
All real soap is made with Lye.. so No Lye, no soap.
Today..the terms are a bit lazy.. Meaning that someones calling a soap "Castile" that really was made with mainly palm oil just because it's considered "vegetable" fat.
The science behind soap making, begins with a understanding of the fatty acids (many) in each fat.. be it animal or vegetable, and mixing fats in ratios/percentages, and knowing what benefits those fatty acids bring to the purpose of the soap created.
In other words, different fats used with different lye concentrations, used to create soap for different uses.
I still make real "Lye Soap" (made with Lard for its specific fatty acid content) not for bath soap, but for cleaning.
I hot process it. The formula is based on a 100 year old formula that leaves no free fat left over, thereby reducing soap residue.
I'm sometimes fascinated with how something so simple can be so effective.
And yes, it can be use for dishwashing.

 

[mrsalvo]

Thomas, would love to see your recipe. I do hope you will share.

All the replies has jogged my memories. I remember now the ashes from burning wood in the wood stove being carried out to a certain place on the property for disposal. And the lye WAS kept in a large sealed can. I do remember now my Grandmother was very particular about the ratios, she would fuss and talk to herself, she took it very serious. She was proud of her soap.

Don't recall using it to wash dishes, but for everything else it was full throttle. Don't think my mother wanted much to do with the stuff.

The cure for poison ivy, I had totally forgotten about that. Do you think that the soap was made a certain time of year, more so than others??? I'm thinking when work had to be performed in the fields, in the fall. Perhaps someone on here can help me out. I remember the winter time that the house would smell of the soap.

Launderess, "meth farms?" I had no idea. That came as a big surprise. Which leads me to the next question for those that are still making the stuff....where do you buy lye? I have never seen it for sale anywhere.

Thanks for the replies, very interesting thread.

 

[ea56]

You can buy lye on ebay. Here’s the link.
Eddie

http://https//www.ebay.com/itm/RED-CROWN-High-Test-Lye-for-Making-Award-Winning-Handcrafted-Soaps-2-lb-1/381679035483?epid=1901502700&hash=item58ddd7e45b:g:lSIAAOSwiYlZ~AJQ

 

[mieleforever]

Just made my first batch of home made soap yesterday evening - I used the cold method but in time will experiment with the hot method as well. I used coconut oil and olive oil with the lye aka drain cleaner. Was a bit sceptical with regards to the drain cleaner, but it looked like it worked.

Now it will have to cure for a few months.

Will report back

 

[jeb]

Lye soap

I have found that pig fat makes a whiter bar and cow fat a yellowish bar but both smell the same. To see if your lye water is strong enough float a FRESH egg in it. if it float with about a nickel size portion above the water it is strong enough. You can also stir a feather in it and if the hairs of the feather dissolve in a few seconds it is strong enough. I also notice that it doesn't really bubble up. After demonstrating all day the water in the washtubs is milky and slippery but not sudsy.

 

[stan]

Aldo

Check to make sure that the "drain cleaner" you used was 100% lye or 100% sodium hydroxide. If it was not and has other ingredients, throw that batch out and start over.
Barry. I can understand your grandmothers "fussing" I understand what and why. It's somewhat daunting to make soap under her circumstances.
I can return later to provide more info, that may further jog your memory of this childhood event.. Why you remember the fall of the year, and explain the odor you recall.