Because more people are becoming aware of the chemical content that is in everyday products that everyone uses; there is an increasing number of individuals who are turning to organically grown and natural products in order to avoid all of the chemicals such as pesticides. A lot of people are even going as far as organically sourced clothing fabrics and personal hygiene products.
Due to the change in consumer behavior there is an increase in the number of people who are interested in making soap at home and more specifically making soap without lye.
The thing is; it’s not really possible to make soap without the inclusion of lye.
When you buy soap making kits to use at home or follow recipes that are considered to be making soap without lye through the melt and pour method, that merely refers to the fact that the person using the kit or following the recipe is not actually adding the lye to the mixture themselves. You can also use the rebatching method whereas you use soap noodles or soap flakes as a base to create other soaps.
That is NOT because there is no lye in the soap, but only because that step has already been taken care of when the glycerin soap bars or flakes used in the recipe were made in the first place.
It is not a NO LYE soap recipe, simply a you do not need to deal with the lye recipe.
Making soap without lye is not possible because the oils and fats that you put into the soap need the lye to react with in order to make the caustic solution that is needed for making soap. It is fair to say that lye is an important part of making soap so that the chemical process takes place.
There is no such thing as a soap that does not contain lye as the process of making the soap does require it and cannot happen without it. People that are still concerned about using lye and would rather be making soap without lyecan choose a compromise because although it is not possible to make soap without the lye it is possible to reduce the amount of lye that is used.
The process of using less lye is known as super fatting or lye discounting. This process means that you either lessen the percentage of lye and keep the amount of oils the same or keep the volume of lye the same and increase the amount of oils. Some people like this idea as they feel assured that the lye molecules did indeed transform and that there is no risk of rogue lye molecules within the soap.
The recipes available on this website for making soap will state the correct lye calculations – it is always a good idea to double-check the calculations prior to starting. There are some lye calculators that can be used online and these are free to use. These calculators will allow you to make calculations on a range of different mixtures and you just need to be aware of how percentages work.