Why is there sodium hydroxide (lye) in the soap?
You can’t make real soap without it. But there is no sodium hydroxide in the finished product. It only takes three ingredients to make soap – fatty acids (which come from the oils such as coconut, olive, or palm oil), water, and a strong base (in this case sodium hydroxide). When these ingredients are mixed, a chemical reaction takes place which produces soap. Every good soap recipe includes more oil than will react with the lye – for two reasons. First, because it provides extra moisturizers for your skin, and second, to make sure there is no lye left in the final bars.
