Making soap with lye

Katelynn Abrams

Village News intern

Soap is something used everyday, but not many people know how to make it or what it is in it. In the beginning, soap was made from cooking and mixing oils, water and ashes. Over heat, the ashes would be soaked in water, then mixed with the oils, which would cool and harden to become soap.

The simplest soap can be made with these ingredients: water, lye and oils. Lye is the common name for sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, which are interchangeable and strong alkalines. Different types of oils, such as coconut, olive, avocado, castor, jojoba and almond...