Lye Free Beer Soap

I was looking for beer soap recipe, and came across this tutorial. In the tutorial, it mentioned the use of lye and to wear protective gloves while pouring it into the beer. What is lye and is it toxic? If one has to wear gloves to make soap, why am I rubbing it all over my skin? The mini Sherlock Holmes in me kicks in.

Lye is a corrosive alkaline substance, commonly know as sodium hydroxide. It is used to cure many types of foods and lower grades of lye are commonly used as drain openers and oven cleaners. So basically what soap is doing is lightly corrode away the dirty or oily film layer on the skin, 'leaving your skin clean and smooth' but over time causes dryness. It's also what the average shampoo does to your hair but that's for another post.

There are many makers selling beer soaps but I have found only one that is lye free on etsy - Cardamom & Beer.

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