I have a slight obsession with making soap. But one dilemma that has tripped me up lately is where to get lye in Johannesburg. I've been through a range of options, but haven't been satisfied with any of them. Chemical companies will sell it, but you must go through a slightly obnoxious process of putting in a purchase order and waiting until they have stock, then collecting in random corners of City Deep, Krugersdorp, or Kempton Park. Large pharmaceutical suppliers are in the same boat, but generally charge twice as much. To make this even less convenient, you generally either have to pay a ridiculously large amount for small quantities, or get 50 or 100 kg bags (which I don't particularly want sitting around my flat. This is, after all, a dangerous chemical).
The one rocking soap shop I've found (which I actually love for many things) only sells cold process soap supplies in quite small quantities (it's great for additives, like Bentonite and Kaolin clay, and packaging ideas); 500g of lye won't even make a whole batch.
Builder's Warehouse used to stock lye, but quit several years ago. I thought I might have luck at plumbing stores, or industrial cleaning product stores, but have been met with blank stares, or directed to drain cleaners that have a bunch of other chemical stuff added. Part of it might be that I was asking for the wrong thing (sodium hydroxide, or lye, won't get you far. It goes by caustic soda).
Having just run out of lye again, and unhappy with my most recent supplier (a chemical supply company in City Deep, where I could get 10 kgs of lye in 1kg bottles for R80/kg). First, I don't particularly like their over-packaging (the bottles are a funny size, and I can't very well come up with any way of reusing them). Second, I think they're overpriced. Third, they're inconveniently located. Three strikes.
This morning, I was going to make another run through the yellow pages to see if I couldn't find a better supplier. I was getting keys cut at the Mica at Eastgate, and though I had asked there many times before and not found them able to either sell me sodium hydroxide or tell me where I could procure it, I swung by the plumbing section on a whim. In a dusty corner were 5kg buckets of pure caustic soda flakes, for R169. The manager assured me it was pure sodium hydroxide. Made by Resinate, based in Benoni. Packaged in a fabulously useful bucket.
I feel like I just won the lotto! Tomorrow I'm going to test with a big batch of soap!
The one rocking soap shop I've found (which I actually love for many things) only sells cold process soap supplies in quite small quantities (it's great for additives, like Bentonite and Kaolin clay, and packaging ideas); 500g of lye won't even make a whole batch.
Builder's Warehouse used to stock lye, but quit several years ago. I thought I might have luck at plumbing stores, or industrial cleaning product stores, but have been met with blank stares, or directed to drain cleaners that have a bunch of other chemical stuff added. Part of it might be that I was asking for the wrong thing (sodium hydroxide, or lye, won't get you far. It goes by caustic soda).
Having just run out of lye again, and unhappy with my most recent supplier (a chemical supply company in City Deep, where I could get 10 kgs of lye in 1kg bottles for R80/kg). First, I don't particularly like their over-packaging (the bottles are a funny size, and I can't very well come up with any way of reusing them). Second, I think they're overpriced. Third, they're inconveniently located. Three strikes.
This morning, I was going to make another run through the yellow pages to see if I couldn't find a better supplier. I was getting keys cut at the Mica at Eastgate, and though I had asked there many times before and not found them able to either sell me sodium hydroxide or tell me where I could procure it, I swung by the plumbing section on a whim. In a dusty corner were 5kg buckets of pure caustic soda flakes, for R169. The manager assured me it was pure sodium hydroxide. Made by Resinate, based in Benoni. Packaged in a fabulously useful bucket.
I feel like I just won the lotto! Tomorrow I'm going to test with a big batch of soap!
