I have a confession to make..

[Candybee]

For the last 2 yrs I have not been wearing protective gloves when I CP. I think because the gloves keep tearing and don't seem to last very long. I am always replacing them and eventually I just gave up trying!

 

My protective gear is now long sleeves, pants, footwear, and my respirator and eye goggles. That's it! Even when I paper towel out my bowls and soap equipment I don't wear gloves. The only time I got lye on me was when I was wearing gloves several years ago. Just that one time. I have found that I am more likely to get it on my arms or chest as I am SB my batter than any other time.

 

It wasn't until today when I was shopping in the dollar store I finally bought a pair of latex gloves. I mean well but I wonder if I will end up not wearing these too.

[TallTayl]

Loose gloves, IME, are more of a hazard than a protection when soaping. They bump things and can trap caustic in the loose folds.

I either use tight fitting disposable latex (or similar) or no gloves at all. A few of the worst burns i have suffered were because of poorly fitting gloves.

Not wearing gloves really dries out hands. Like parchment dry. No matter how much lotion or balm i apply after my hands are a mess when i don't use gloves.

[Candybee]

Wow! I don't have that problem. Maybe you have sensitive skin? But you are right, the gloves I get have been bulky and problematic and frankly have scared me a few times when I knocked something over or lost my grip on something. Now that can be dangerous.

 

I guess I will look into more tight fitting gloves. Are you talking about the kind of disposable gloves I see at the doctor's office that come in a box?

[Jcandleattic]

I have been using the latex or vinyl tight fitting gloves for the past 7-8 years or so, but before that I never wore gloves, because the big gloves that women in the '50's wore to do the dishes? I would always ALWAYS burn my arms with them. So for about 5 years or so I just didn't wear any gloves and never got burned. 

However, now that I'm using the gloves I use, I find I can get more of the soap in the mold, because I can wipe off my utensils with my fingers without worrying about burns. I'll not soap without them, but more for that reason alone than any other. 

 

I don't think no gloves, or clothing is as much of a concern if you are careful, (however I don't advocate that, I just don't harp on people about it) because you can quickly get it off of you if there is an accident. However, no matter how quick you are, you can ruin your eyes without eye protection. I will never ever work with lye or soap batter without my protective eye gear. 

I had a huge scare WITH them on, so there is no way I'll go without them, and it is a big peeve of mine when I see/hear other soapers do not use them, and I WILL harp on them if I do see/hear that.  

 

These are the gloves I use : I have relatively small hands, so they are a pinch big, but not as bad as the big yellow/green dish washing gloves I tried using the first couple of times... 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2015 by Jcandleattic

[topofmurrayhill]

Something like this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/SafeTouch-Nitrile-Gloves-Powder-Medium/dp/B0013U75B8/

 

Latex if fine too if you like. Nitrile may have more chemical resistance for things other than lye, but it may not matter. I've just had good experiences with nitrile protective stuff, so I have confidence in them.

 

They're not terribly re-usable unless you've truly gotten nothing on them, so figure a box is 50 sessions.

 

The ones labeled exam gloves are of guaranteed quality (leak tests and whatnot) compared to the ones labeled industrial or general-purpose.

[8-GRAN-ONES]

I buy mine at costco. .

You can get small. .med. .lg.

they are cheap enough. .i go thru several pair on my soaping day. .if they get stretched out i just put on a new pair..

[Jcandleattic]

LMAO I re-read my post above and toward the bottom, it kind of says I think it's okay to soap naked. Umm, please don't soap naked. What I meant was I don't think heavy, long sleeved, long pants and closed toed shoes are as important as eyewear. I often soap in short or sleevless shirts, with no problems, and since I am by a sink when I soap, if I do happen to get a splash (rare) of soap batter, I can quickly and easily wash it off. 

 

Also, depending on how messy I soap, I can get up to about 3 uses out of each pair. I'm just frugal that way. The 100 pair box of the nitrile gloves I think were $6 and the vinyl 50 pair box was $4 I think. So it's not going to break the bank, even if I only use a pair per batch, but really unless they are ripped, I can just wash my hands with them on, take them off and let them dry and they are good to go for another batch. 

Edited April 12, 2015 by Jcandleattic

[topofmurrayhill]

During candlemaking I tend to get more carried away, so I prefer something more like this.

 

[TallTayl]

Candybee, my current nitrile box is from farm and fleet. Blue ones. Makes me feel better even chandling with gloves since sensitivities to fragrance do build up with exposure.

Eye protection is an absolute must. I have had spatter with goggles on and would not want to wish an eye splash on anyone ever.

Clothing, it has to be easy to get off. A lye spill that soaks through clothing can be pretty serious. A facebook soaper accidentally spilled a jug of lye solution on herself a couple months ago. The solution pitcher hit her faucet and splashed all down her front and side. It glued the clothing to her causing severe burns. I would rather soap in shorts and a t-shirt with a waterproof apron than all top to bottom in tight clothing.

Actually GMP calls for clean coverings like coveralls and booties to cover shoes plus hair nets.

[Candybee]

Thanks for the tips on the gloves.  I think I'm going to order a box and if I don't like it can take them to a yard sale. My clothes and protective gear is working great. No way do I want to burn my eyes or not be able to get clothing off in a jiffy. I just find I really don't like wearing gloves and wondered if I was the only one.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Candybee

[chuck_35550]

I use nitrile gloves too. Other gloves were about the same and more expensive, but my shame is wearing flip flops while soaping. Yes, I admit it. Flip flops are a really bad idea. I really have to have my gloves when unmolding soap but always wear gloves and flip flops. Please don't kick me off the board!

Steve

[Candybee]

Confession is good for the soul! Feels good doesn't it?

[Jcandleattic]

Steve, if I wouldn't get so cold so easily I would probably soap in flip-flops too. I do soap in "tank" type tops sometimes, which are sleeveless, but I usually have an apron on. Protects my front, but my arms are still bare down to where my gloves are. Never had an accident or a splash on my arms, and the sink is right there if I do. 

 

I agree with TallTayl - clothing should be easily removable in case of a big spill. 

[moonshine]

These confessions have definetly convinced me to stay away from soap! Lol

Scary stuff....lye, burns, goggles, resporators, clothing head to toe....I will stick with wax forever

[Candybee]

Moonshine if you clean your toilets out with any toilet cleaning products they either contain lye or something at least as caustic. If so, then you have already dealt with a caustic cleaner and its safety use. If you can wrap your head around that you'll realize its very similar to working with lye to make soap.

 

Besides, you should be wearing safety gear when making candles. I wear shirts and pants that cover my arms and legs, shoes to protect my feet, and a respirator to protect my lungs from the toxic vapors given off from FOs.

 

The clothing protection is the same for making soap. You just want to add gloves and eyegear for protection.

[moonshine]

Very good point...but toilet bowl cleaner scares me as well! I jump back when I use it and hold my breath

Wax I guess I never looked at it as hazardous - I do wear long sleeves pants and slippers but mainly because it's always freezing in the basement where I make them - I did but a respirator but have to admit I am horrible about using it - when I started this years ago and did research I never came across anything that remotely insinuated that wax or FO could be harmful.....when I did read posts on here about respirators I did freak out and looked up many of my FO DATA sheets and they all claimed none necessary- use adequate ventilation- well a closed up house is probably not adequate ventilation so I invested in the furnace light that zaps gases and chemicals and dust and pollens along with a exhaust fan to pull it out of the room and in warm weather I open the doorwall and put a fan blowing out (I have no window in the room I make them) and I know this is still probably not enough but I can't get into the habit of wearing the respirator - I feel like I am suffocating

Then I started thinking if this is so bad then why I am I burning the candles with the FO and is this stuff just sticking to my walls-furniture-curtains and everyehere else and making my household sick??

I have poured here and there this year but I think I am just going to be done- I don't want to get lung cancer or make my family sick over making candles and even if I did faithfully wear my respirator I still am not sure what it's doing to my house- even with the light and exhaust fan going in and out it goes thru the vents and the scent lingers - especially in the winter when you can't open windows and 7 years now of doing this scares me that I didn't know better- no supplier has warnings- I didn't think it any different than spraying the crap out of my house with Lysol or air fresheners....they wouldn't sell it if it wasn't safe - right- and like making candy....those flavored oils burn your whole face -nose-and throat when you add them to corn syrup...doesn't say on the bottle wear a mask or ventilate

I want to slap myself right about now!

[topofmurrayhill]

I have poured here and there this year but I think I am just going to be done- I don't want to get lung cancer or make my family sick over making candles and even if I did faithfully wear my respirator I still am not sure what it's doing to my house- even with the light and exhaust fan going in and out it goes thru the vents and the scent lingers - especially in the winter when you can't open windows and 7 years now of doing this scares me that I didn't know better- no supplier has warnings-

 

You don't need to be too scared. I don't think FO residues in the house or burning candles is doing you and your family any harm. As long are you don't drink the FO or pour it all over yourself, you should also be fine making candles. The common-sense issue is simply the possibility or respiratory irritation if you breathe in a lot of it. Wearing a respirator protects you against that and conveniently helps prevent candle nose because you can't smell the FO at all while wearing it. Just to make sure, we aren't talking about a mask. A respirator is easy to breathe in.While it's a bit ungainly, I never felt like I was suffocating. You would want a 3M half-face respirator. They take different cartridges and normally come with the organic vapor cartridge, which is what you need.

 

http://www.uline.com/BL_1091/3M-5000-Respirators

.

[Candybee]

Moonshine I started wearing a respirator when I had been making candles for about 4-5 yrs. I started to notice that on candlemaking days and the next day or two after I had developed a cough. I recognized it because I had been a smoker for years and quit when I started getting that persistent cough.

 

Also, it was around the time I got that cough that someone posted on this very forum that they had developed a lung disease and their doctor had tied it to her working with FOs in her candle making. This news along with my new cough concerned me enough I went and bought a respirator at Lowe's right then and there. As soon as I started wearing the respirator my cough subsided. BTW the girl with the lung disease had to stop making candles. All I remember was that she ended up being very sick and hospitalized and soon after never posted anymore so I don't know what happened to her.

 

I know that toxic vapors you can't see hover around the immediate vicinity you are pouring your FO into your wax. You know how you stand over the pour pot stirring your FO into your wax? That is your most vulnerable time in the presence of those vapors. You should not be bending directly over your pot the entire time. Just do it periodically to make sure your wax and FO and color, etc. are blended.

 

Anyway, ventilation is key to airing out your candlemaking area. But working directly with your candles you really need something to keep from breathing in the toxic vapors and fumes given off and a respirator is perfect for that.

 

Same thing with working with lye. Fumes come off the lye as you put it into your water to mix. With lye you can actually see a little bit of a vapor lingering in the immediate area of the lye container. You need good ventilation working with lye but you also need protection from the vapor that comes off the lye.

 

Anyway, my point being that when you are working directly with FOs or lye you are in the immediate "zone" where the most toxic fumes are, within a few feet. Outside that "zone" you are not likely to be breathing in the worst or strongest toxic fumes as they dissapate after a few feet. But the whole area still needs to be aired out or ventilated.

 

BTW I have to lock my two cats up in their bedroom and put a towel down at the bottom of their door so the smells given off by the FOs on candlemaking and soapmaking days don't reach them. Before I started doing that they would both be vomiting for several days after. I just wanted to say this to demonstrate that the fumes from the FOs can be toxic to small animals. Before I let them out I open up the house to air it out for at least half an hour or more.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Candybee

[chuck_35550]

I don't know that "toxic" is the word for concentrated fragrances in a small space but rather fumes can be irritants. Lye is "TOXIC". One good whiff is enough to get that point across. I do believe that over time you build up a sensitivity to fragrances and certain ones like florals may cause a reaction. If candles were cancer bombs then any method for introducing fragrance into the air would be just as unhealthy IMHO. Concentrated liver and onion fumes are really deadly to me but the cat doesn't seem to mind.

[Candybee]

Maybe I am using the wrong word for the FO vapors. But I know for a fact they can and do cause damage to your lungs over a period of time depending on your health and the amount of exposure.  Plus I am sorry but I don't believe that your lungs build up a resistance. It took just under 5 yrs for my lungs to feel the effects and for me to start coughing. As far as I am concerned damage to my lungs is more than an irritant.

[topofmurrayhill]

I don't know that "toxic" is the word for concentrated fragrances in a small space but rather fumes can be irritants. Lye is "TOXIC". One good whiff is enough to get that point across. I do believe that over time you build up a sensitivity to fragrances and certain ones like florals may cause a reaction. If candles were cancer bombs then any method for introducing fragrance into the air would be just as unhealthy IMHO. Concentrated liver and onion fumes are really deadly to me but the cat doesn't seem to mind.

 

Do we have to capitalize it? 

 

Steam from hot lye can carry sodium hydroxide into the air, which you don't want to breathe. A concentrated lye is very alkaline and can burn you.

 

However, NaOH is also a harmless food ingredient that I'd rather eat that a lot of other food ingredients. It's FDA classified as GRAS (generally recognized as safe). Pretzels wouldn't look and taste right without being boiled in a weak lye. It's directly added to some foods and cosmetics. It's not what we normally think of as a poison.

 

Toxicity is dose-dependent. Water can kill you, but you have to drink a lot at once. It's doable. Based on the amount that can kill you, vitamin D is classed as extremely toxic. It's a poisonous chemical your body couldn't function properly without. Caffeine is classed as very toxic. In coffee and tea and soft drinks, it's harmless and kinda useful. Salt is classed as moderately toxic. Which brings up back to sodium hydroxide:

 

Sodium chloride has a 50% chance of killing a rat at a dose of 3000 milligrams per kilogram of its body weight.

 

Sodium hydroxide has a 50% chance of killing a rat at a dose of 4090 milligrams per kilogram of its body weight.

 

Just want to be fair to lye. 

[topofmurrayhill]

Actually it's time to replenish the glove supply. This time I'm getting black ones and I'm gonna SO uber-cool. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dynarex-Nitrile-Gloves-Powder-Medium/dp/B002UFC3EY/

[moonshine]

So even if I continue and wear a respirator and air out my house despite having the exhaust fan and furnace light....from doing none of the above for many years I could still develop a serious lung disease- scary stuff

does anyone have household members in the house while they make candles and ever had sensitivities or issues? My cats and dogs never did but it makes sense now that they could

This is a big eye opener for me I just really wish I knew all this years ago....never crossed my mind at all, I assume all products would at least say vapors can be harmful like toilet bowl cleaner and all the videos and tutorials on websites that I watched when starting out of "how to make a candle" never said the risks and the person making the candles never was wearing a respirator so I never thought about it- and I did get the organic cartridge one awhile back but I get so claustrophobic I stopped wearing it

to hear someone on here did develop lung disease from candle making is terrifying and I really think I am going to retire It until I can put up a barn or shed that no one can enter that's heated with exhaust fans and wear a full body suit and respirator- breaking bad style- I love the craft, it calms me and I love fragrance but I am just sick over thinking I could of caused my family harm over basically a hobby

[Candybee]

Other family members, pets, children, older adults, etc., should be okay if they are standing several feet away or in another room. If they happen to be sensitive to the smells like my cats are, I just put them in another room with a closed door and ventilate the room I am working in before I let them back out.

 

Remember this mostly effects you, the candlemaker/soapmaker working directly with the FOs. You are in the immediate area of the vapors. As long as you are wearing a ventilator no problem.

[chuck_35550]

My wife is very sensitive to concentrated amounts of fragrance in the house when I'm pouring a large number of candles in the basement shop. She coughs, sneezes and sometimes throws up when exposed to certain types of fragrance. I have a large window fan that blows outward for exhaust, close off all doors to the rest of the basement and to the upper story and try to pour when no one is home. I used to stick my nose down into the pour pot at the beginning but not now. This is just common sense to not overwhelm your senses with long periods of concentrated fumes or vapors in an enclosed area. No reason to get excited or scared about working with any of these raw materials, as long as you understand their properties and use reasonable caution; and yes capitals Top. Can't over emphasize the need to respect the lye monster. HTH

Steve