Making Soap from Sodium Hydroxide and Oil

You cannot make handcrafted soap without making soap from sodium hydroxide and oil. Sodium hydroxide is commonly referred to as lye. When I first began making soap several years ago, it was easy to find. The most important thing to note was that you had to use real lye that was 100% sodium hydroxide and not a drain cleaner. However, today you stand a much less chance of even finding lye on a store shelf. This is due to the illegal drug industry using lye to manufacture illegal drugs. I have recently found more links for purchasing sodium hydroxide on-line. You can check out these resources if you cannot find lye locally.

GTF Labs This is where I purchased my 50 pound box of lye from

Bitter Creek Candle Supply

Texas Natural Supply

Lehmans

The Soap Dish

Boyer Corporation

Snowdrift Farm

AAA Chemicals

These links are at least a place to start. Remember you need to use Sodium Hydroxide NOT the Potassium Hydroxide for most soap recipes -- they ARE different.
If you are afraid of working with lye because you have never done so before you can check out my new soap making DVD for soap making. I show you how easy soap making can be and I will really take the fear out of working with this unknown chemical. You can go directly to my web page Making Soap from Sodium Hydroxide and Oil and you will soon be making soap yourself!

How to Make Soap

You want to learn how to make soap. But where do you find the ingredients? It seems that it can be tricky to find lye for soapmaking. You cannot use ordinary drain cleaner products as they contain other chemicals that you do NOT want in your soap. You need to use a product that is 100% lye (sodium hydroxide). I have always used Red Devil Lye. It was carried in many grocery stores in my area. Evidently many stores no longer carry lye because some individuals use it in creating illegal drugs. However, it is still possible to get.
You can also order lye on-line.

Here are a few resources to check:

http://www.gtflabs.com/ This is where I purchased my 50 pound box of lye from
http://www.candlesupply.com/
http://www.texasnaturalsupply.com/
http://www.lehmans.com/
http://www.thesoapdish.com/
http://www.boyercorporation.com/
http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/
http://www.aaa-chemicals.com/
http://www.greenbulldog.com/

These links are at least a place to start in learning how to make soap. Remember you need to use Sodium Hydroxide NOT the Potassium Hydroxide for most soap recipes -- they ARE different.
If you are afraid of working with lye because you have never done so before you can check out my new soap making DVD for learning how to make soap. I show you how easy soap making can be and I will really take the fear out of working with this unknown chemical. You can locate the video at How to Make Soap