lye soap

i heard that using this harms the environment, is that true?

 

all soap is made with lye. detergent is made with other ingredients, and tends to be much more harmful to the environment, but rinses away better in our typical alkaline tap water. Nothing, in my experience, cleans better than old-fashioned homemade lye soap. You can clean anything with it, from floors to dishes to people!

 

i know it works well and i want to use it to do some washing on a washboard, do you think i can just dump the water out back?

 

the only thing it would hurt are any bugs that get splashed with it. don't worry! farmers and gardeners have been using soap as a safe alternative to insecticide for a very long time.

 

I second what mamaboogie sais

 

That would probably be ok providing you are not tipping it straight on food plants.

 

any ideas on how to make lye soap, as long as we're on the subject?

 

http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/intro.html
you can find a lot more if you google lye soap.

 

cool! thanx acorn!

 

i've never even heard of lye soap but if you want to make some, i'm sure there's plenty of recipes online for it.

dannayelli

 

You'll hear all kinds of horror stories about how harsh lye soap is, but if it's made right it's as gentle as a baby's bottom. If I had an affordable source for it it's all I'd use for bathing and shampooing. It's just soap, no detergents or funky additives.

Look around you to see if there are any serious reenactment groups or living history sites, many of them make soap as a "show and tell" activity and often hold workshops on such things. They're also a good resource on how to make your life more simple, affordably.