A new day A new experience

Pieces of homemade lye soap.

A batch of lye soap cooking in a large pot.

My Mother used to make lye soap. It was not a very good smelling soap but she declared that it really made clothes whiter and cleaner than bought soaps.

I don't know the exact recipe but she used grease, bacon or any kind of fat and put a can of lye in it and cooked it for a while. I used to save my bacon grease for her to use. When she had enough grease on hand then she would mix up her batch of ingredients for a pot of lye soap.

It was sort of an ugly tan color and I can't even describe the smell of it, but it was not perfumed at all. It was just cut in jagged uneven blocks which she would chip up when she added it to the laundry water. I think maybe it might have been less expensive than bought soap in the beginning but as prices rose she finally did away with her soap making. It was easier to just buy soap at the store.

I didn't grieve over that at all. Bought soap smelled much better! I have not seen a piece of lye soap for ages. As I said, I am not grieving over it!