HelP!! accidentally used lye instead of salt

[msmeredith]

I was mixing bath salt and I accidentally used lye instead of deitric salt. I added it to my dead sea salt and oils mixture. Can I do anything with it or just toss it out. I know I can't use the salt but can I make some kind of soap? Please any suggestions are welcomed.

[Bunny]

OMG girl! No don't save it! And mark your containers better!

The question should be, how do I properly dispose of xx amount of lye? How much is it?

[jenniejr]

omg!! *faint* to the best of my knowledge you can't do anything with that but throw it away. hmmmmmm....... maybe you could use it to unclog your drains??

[msmeredith]

Probably 4 cups of dead sea salt and one cup of lye. ITs getting HOT so I am going to dump it down the drain if its ok?

[Bunny]

With lots and lots and lots of COLD water. Please be careful.

[msmeredith]

Thanks, I just did it. I have to stop rushing because that was literally money down the drown.

[Grumpy Girl]

Really, you came off lucky just counting it as a loss. Imagine if you had not noticed what you'd mixed.

[mystical_angel1219]

Throwing money down the toilet was the best thing you could have done.

Read this, a few times.

http://www.tkbtrading.com/index.php?item=317&ret=http%3A%2F%2F72.37.149.157%2Findex.php%3Fpage%3D1%26maincat%3D8

I still remember this story, every time I handle lye.

I just went down to my workroom and broke up my 50lb bag of lye. I have been contemplating this for days. I waited till not one soul was in this house. VERY dangerous substance. Not to be taken lightly. Always have a bottle of vinegar handy and use every precaution. Lye is DEADLY, in every sense of the word. You were very lucky, to be perfectly honest.

[Wildheart75]

I have only made m&p soap and was contemplating making *real* soap. I have been scared because of my children and that article just made me change my mind....no lye for me. Thanks for posting that Mystical

[Beth-VT]

Thanks, I just did it. I have to stop rushing because that was literally money down the drown.

Screw the fact that it was money down the drain!!! You have to quite rushing because you quite literally could have killed someone with that mistake. Lye is (as already mentioned) a deadly substance. The money lost is the least of your worries

[Carrie]

Anyone know where to find the story of the lady that made up her lye in a pitcher and her husband took a drink of it. I never did find what happened to him, did he live?

[mystical_angel1219]

Yowsa, I didn't read that one.

That is completely insane.

[thecandlespastore]

The picture of that poor little baby makes me cry each time I see it It still makes me kind of mad at the mother. I keep all my lye behind a locked door, and when I am in my workroom, I keep a heavy duty child safe gate up, and all the lye stays locked in the bathroom just in case one of my kids get adventurous and decide to actually climb the thing one day.

the woman who's husband drank the lye, I believe he died:cry2:

[Carrie]

the woman who's husband drank the lye, I believe he died:cry2:

Do you remember where that story was posted. It was a crafters website, I read the story over a year ago and I think it was old then. Maybe RobinInOr will remember.

[RobinInOR]

I remember the story, but I don't remember who it was. Can't even remember if he died - but I do remember another story of drinking lye, with severe burns to mouth and esophagus.

Lye can kill. No doubt about it. Everyone, go check your lye and make sure

1 - it's marked so you'll never have a problem identifying it.

2 - make sure it's up off of the floor - if for any reason you have some kind of flood or water spill, or a house fire, you don't want it down where it can get wet.

[SoapDiva]

Wow, what a scary story that was. Being new to soapmaking myself, I've been very very cautious about lye...paranoid even. I store it high on a shelf at the very back, I have a special jug I mix it in and I use disposable cups to measure it out. I throw them out when I'm done with them.

I think I will be taking a marker to the jug too, I don't want the husband to accidentially drink it.

I wonder what else I can do to make it even safer?

Thanks for the reminder.

[Bunny]

Rinse your cups out before you throw them away.

Mark everything.. The lye, the jug, the spoon, everything.

Find a way to lock it up if possible.

[thecandlespastore]

Whenever I throw anything lye related in the garbage in the house, the bag gets tied right then and there and gets dumped in the garbage can outside. My son is your regular everyday 1 year old garbage picker (DH makes jokes that he is destined to have a career in the custodial arts) and I am not taking any risks. I would rather eat my feet off with my own teeth than put my family or anyone else in danger.

[gloworm]

Found on Miller's soap site-hopefully he didn't die after all:

One last thing... one of the worst hazards of lye in solution is to have it sitting around and not identified as being something other than water. One of the worst things I heard was of a man coming into the kitchen and swigging down some water from a glass on the counter... turned out to be his wife's lye solution and he suffered severe damage to his esophagus. If you are going to leave your solution unattended, cover it or label it or put it in something a person would never think to drink out of, by all means!

Glo

[msmeredith]

THanks for the story concerning the son. That made my heart cringe at the thought. No, money was not my main concern. I knew something was wrong because it was very very very hot. It was discarded safely and the lye was put away (away from everything else). Again, thanks for the responses and the lessons learned.

Meredith

[Ruby]

What a terrible accident! Poor baby! Poor Mom! So sad. Ruby