Lye is the end result of a water infusion or decoction wood ash. Before the advent and widespread use of cheap soap in everyday life, it was the main natural disinfectant and detergent. Used for washing hair and body, dishes, washing clothes, home cleaning, tanning leather.

With such an abundance of different liquid detergents in stores, preparing lye in modern urban conditions for use in household needs and for personal hygiene, is hardly advisable.

Lye as a detergent and antiseptic instead of soap or shampoo for personal hygiene and washing clothes. Obtaining lye from ash.

At the same time, the skills of preparing lye will be very useful and in demand during a multi-day hike. Without much effort, you can independently make for yourself any quantity that is quite appropriate in field conditions, effective and affordable detergent. Which will be very helpful, for example, when organizing laundry during rest days or day trips. Plus, you won’t have to take with you, in such a case, additional supplies of regular soap, washing powder or other detergents, which, although not by much, will still reduce the overall weight of your wearable equipment.

Preparation of lye from wood ash.

To prepare the lye, you will need ordinary clean wood ash from, without any plastic or other debris, and water. Ash is preferable from hardwood rather than softwood because of the resins it contains. The ash of oak, birch, pine, and aspen has the highest alkalinity. It is better to take narrow and tall containers for preparing lye. It will be much more convenient to drain it at the end of the process than from a flat and wide one.

The material of the cookware doesn’t really matter, but it’s better to give preference to something metal that you won’t mind throwing away later. There is no need to strive for very large volumes; for household use, the resulting concentrated lye is usually diluted with water. In a ratio of 1:10, or even more, so 0.5-0.7 liters of pure lye per person will be quite enough.

Pour wood ash into the prepared dishes, filling 2/3 of its volume and pour warm water almost to the top. There is no point in pre-cleaning or filtering the ash, it will only be a waste of time and effort. Mix the solution well, wait until large wood debris floats to the surface and remove it.

Then we expose the container with the solution to the sun or place it closer to a burning fire. It is advisable to stir the solution periodically, at least once an hour. 1.5-2 hours before the cooking time you have determined, all stirring must be stopped so that the ash has time to settle to the bottom of the dish. Various sources recommend infusing the solution in this way until three days, but from experience, to obtain a suitable concentration, it is quite enough to mix the solution in the evening and place it close to the fire. And in the morning put it in the sun, then it will be ready around lunchtime.

After the ash has completely settled to the bottom of the container, a transparent, yellowish, slightly soapy liquid to the touch will remain in its upper half - this is lye. If the color of the liquid is simply transparent, without obvious yellowness, and it does not feel soapy to the touch, then the lye is not ready yet and the infusion process must be continued. The resulting concentrated lye is carefully poured into another container and used for household needs.

It differs from preparing lye using the cold method in that the diluted solution is not left to infuse for a long time, but rather put on fire, brought to a boil and simmered over low heat for at least two hours, stirring occasionally. This method is undoubtedly faster, but at the same time more tedious and costly in terms of effort. At the same time, this method is excellent for obtaining very high concentrations of liquor.

To do this, you need to take two containers twice as large as the planned yield of lye, and boil them together over low heat. As the liquid in the first container evaporates, replenish it not with clean water, but with a hot solution from the second container, until it completely subsides. At the exit we get a strong concentrate in the first container and an empty second one, where we pour the pure alkali.

Using ready-made lye instead of soap and shampoo for washing and washing.

It is not recommended to wash and wash clothes with concentrated, undiluted lye; this can, at a minimum, lead to dryness and irritation of the skin, and the fabric of clothing and threads may lose their original strength from the effects of the caustic active substances contained in the lye. To wash hair and body, lye is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:15, for washing clothes - 1:10.

In addition, in urban conditions, any concentration of lye is not recommended for washing in modern automatic washing machines, since the water-insoluble particles of organics and salts included in its composition will most likely settle on the heating elements washing machine, which may lead to damage or breakage.

Storing finished lye.

It is better not to store the finished concentrated lye, but to use it immediately. If such a need does arise, then a metal or glass container is preferable for storing it. Any plastic will most likely be corroded by concentrated alkali over time.

Washing greasy dishes with wood ash.

In order to wash dirty and greasy dishes in the field, it is not at all necessary to waste time and extract lye from wood ash. In this case, it itself is a good detergent, since when mixed with fat it forms the same thing, only crude soap, which will remove dirt and grease from the walls of the dishes. The only condition is that the dishes must really be greasy.

If there is very little fat in it, then you need to add a little, literally a few drops. Any fat will do, including edible oil or margarine. Add two or three handfuls of ash to a greasy bowl. Then pour a little boiling water into it and mix the resulting mass to a paste. Then the mixture is rubbed over the walls of the dishes from the inside and outside, allowed to stand and cool for a while, and then washed as usual, rinsing with clean water at the end.

Preparation and production of soap from lye.

If you wish, you can make regular soap from the lye obtained from wood ash. However, this process is labor-intensive and does not make much sense to carry it out in cramped field conditions. To make soap, in addition to lye, you will also need any animal fat, such as lard, or fish oil, or vegetable oil. The fat is mixed with lye in a ratio of 1:2 and cooked over low heat, with constant stirring, until all the liquid has boiled away, but not less than 4-6 hours.

As it evaporates, the lye will need to be added. Then let the mixture cool. The resulting liquid, potassium soap will cleanse the skin, but will not be an antiseptic. You can add antiseptic properties to soap by adding pine resin to the solution during cooking.

I would like to note that such soap may not work out the first time and you will have to experiment to find the most suitable ratio from the available ingredients. You should start with a small increase in the amount of fat or oil, and not lye, since a large concentration of it will dry and irritate the skin, which will only cause more harm.

To obtain solid soap, salt must be added to the resulting liquid soap. The approximate amount is three tablespoons per initial liter of solution. As a result of the reaction, potash soap will disintegrate into liquid and a soap core. It then needs to be separated from the solution and poured into a suitable form. After complete hardening and drying, we get almost ordinary laundry soap, well, as far as this is generally possible under field conditions.

Water is the juice of life and a component of all living things. The human body consists of at least 60% water. It is necessary for all life processes on Earth.

Man and all living creatures on earth cannot live without water. Ideally, each of us should consume 1-1.5 liters of water good quality daily.

Not every liquid that looks drinkable is healthy. It may contain a lot of impurities chemicals which negatively affect the immune system and impair the functioning of gastrointestinal tract, cause allergic manifestations, etc. Moreover, healthy drinking water plays a big role in maintaining the acid-base balance in our body.

Acid-base balance: what is it?

The ratio of acid and alkali in the human body is determined by the pH indicator (its value ranges from 0 to 14). The level of acid-base balance is determined by special tests of urine and saliva. With an increase in the concentration of positive ions, an acidic shift occurs, the pH value tends to 0. With an alkaline shift, the number of hydroxyl ions increases, the pH value increases to 14. A pH of 7 indicates a neutral acid-base balance.

A healthy body should have a pH ranging from 7.35 to 7.45. Violation of the acid-base balance in one direction or another contributes to the development of various diseases.

Acid-base balance: impact on health

For the normal functioning of all body systems, balance is necessary.

When the body is acidic:

body weight increases;
provokes an increase in sugar in the blood and urine;
urolithiasis occurs;
immunity is weakened;
joints and muscles hurt;
The cardiovascular system and musculoskeletal mechanism are severely affected.

Food significantly affects the acid-base ratio. To reduce acidity, your diet should include (vegetables, fruits, clean water), to increase acid levels, you should consume more oxidizing foods (meat, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, sugar, etc.).

In order to maintain a normal acid-base balance, it is recommended to drink “proper water” (alkaline).

How to make alkaline water at home? The methods are presented below.

Alkaline water: lemon and Himalayan salt

One of the most common ways in the world to make drinking water alkaline requires the following ingredients:

drinking water - 0.5 liters;
Himalayan salt - 0.5 tablespoons (teaspoon);
lemon - 1/2 piece.

For information: Himalayan salt is produced in Pakistan, contains more than 80 useful minerals and does not contain toxins, and is sold in large supermarkets in our country.

So, how to make water alkaline at home:

cut the lemon into four parts;
pour water into a glass jar, dissolve salt, add lemon;
Close the jar with a lid and leave to infuse for 12 hours at room temperature;
It is recommended to drink water in the morning on an empty stomach.

The easiest way to alkalize water

To obtain alkaline water, simply boil drinking water for five minutes.

Drinking water typically has a pH between 7 and 7.2. If you boil it for five minutes and cool, the pH will increase to 8.3. This allows you to use boiled water to regulate the acid-base balance of the body.

Water prepared in this way is stored in a tightly closed glass container.

Alkaline water: soda, ammonia, eggshells

To artificially increase pH drinking water, you can use improvised means, which, as a rule, are available in any home.

Method one: how to make alkaline water using ammonia:

You need to add it to the water ammonia(per 10 liters take one or two drops of alcohol). Then it is advisable to measure the pH of the resulting water; if it approaches 14, then the water should be boiled.

Method two: get alkaline water using baking soda.

Required components:

drinking water - 1 liter;
baking soda - 0.5 spoons (teaspoon);
table salt - 0.5 tablespoons (teaspoon);
- to taste.

Dissolve soda and salt in water, you can add a little sugar (to improve the taste).

Pour the resulting solution into a bottle and shake well. Alkaline water is ready to drink.

Method three: how to make alkaline drinking water the old-fashioned way:

In ancient times, water was alkalized using ash. To do this, you need to pour it into a canvas bag. Then rinse the ash in a bag under running water and put it in a container with water to prepare the desired solution.

Also, to obtain alkaline water, crushed eggshells, which was first thoroughly washed, then ground into dust. The water should have been left on the shell for about a day.

Melt water: method of production

There is also an original way to obtain alkaline water at home.

It has been noticed that the water obtained by melting snow is alkaline in its characteristics. If you live in an ecologically clean place where snow falls without harmful substances, then it is enough to melt it to obtain “proper water”. However, most of us live in a city where the snow is polluted.

Therefore, to obtain melt water you should:

filter drinking water and leave it in an open container to allow the chlorine to evaporate;
pour the prepared water into containers intended for freezing food;
put water in the freezer;
wait until 3/4 of the water freezes;
remove containers with ice and water from the freezer;
take out the ice and pour out the rest of the water;
melt the ice, the resulting melt water is alkaline.

Melt water in the best possible way meets our body's needs for "correct" water.

Conclusion

This article tells you how to make alkaline water at home. It's very easy and inexpensive.

And although the benefits of alkaline water are undeniable, it should only be consumed if the body is acidified. Only a doctor can determine this by conducting a comprehensive examination.

Alkaline water is contraindicated in cases of serious kidney disease, pathological manifestations in the urinary system, diabetes, urolithiasis.

If the body contains a sufficient amount of alkali, then drinking the “correct” water can be harmful to health.

Remember: everything is good in moderation. Your health is in your hands.

ASH LYE ASH LYE- a solution obtained by dissolving alkaline salts contained in plant ash. Ash of various herbaceous plants and trees contains alkali - potash, which can replace soda when washing clothes, cleaning floors, etc. Most potash is found in the ash from burning sunflower stems and husks (up to 30% or more), potato tops, wormwood, saxaul, especially black, growing on saline soil. From 10 to 20% of potash is contained in the ash of the stems of buckwheat, castor oil, soybean, corn, nettle, in the ash of birch, fir, beech, etc.
Ash lye can be prepared in several ways. 1) The ash, sifted through a sieve, is moistened with a small amount of water, preferably hot, mixed and left for 10 - 12 hours. Then pour hot water(for 1 bucket of water 2 - 3 kg ash), stir for 15 minutes and settle for 5 - 6 hours. The liquid is drained and a lye solution is obtained. If the solution is opaque, filter it through a cloth. 2) The ash is placed in a tank of water (for 1 bucket 2 - 3 kg ash), stir for 15 - 20 minutes, heat to a boil and allow the solution to settle. If the lye is not completely pure, it is filtered through a cloth.
Ash lye can be used to soften water when soaking, washing, boiling clothes, for washing hands, dishes, floors, as well as for disinfecting contaminated laundry, which is boiled with ash lye for 1.5 - 2 hours. When washing, ash lye should be diluted with water (1 part lye to 2 parts water).

Concise encyclopedia household. - M.: Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Ed. A. F. Akhabadze, A. L. Grekulova. 1976 .

See what “ash lye” is in other dictionaries:

ashy- see ash; oh, oh. A heap of ash. Ash lye. Third fertilizer... Dictionary of many expressions

Soap (see), soap flakes, washing powders, briquettes, soap substitutes, synthetic detergents, alkaline substances, etc. Soap flakes (soap shavings) are crushed and dried high-quality soap, its content ... Concise Encyclopedia of Housekeeping

A few years ago, I asked my grandmother to tell me about how they used to wash their hair and what they used to wash their clothes. She replied that it was lye. Back then I had no idea that I would choose this particular shampoo for my unruly, wavy and slightly dry hair. Lye not only perfectly and very quickly washes away dirt and grease from the hair and scalp - it treats dandruff, strengthens it and gives an amazing feeling of lightness and cleanliness.

Judging by the paintings, chronicles and literary works of the classics, our Russian girls have always been famous for their beautiful, healthy, thick and long braids. The condition of the hair was used to judge not only a woman’s health, but also her level of energy and ability to protect her family. Even 100 years ago, our grandparents did not have any problems with hair until they were very old, but with the advent of chemical shampoos, conditioners, rinses, gels and soaps, everyone became aware of premature gray hair, dandruff and hair loss.

Traditionally, lye is an aqueous solution of wood ash. Lye is considered not only a universal detergent for hair, body and teeth cleaning, it has been successfully used for washing dishes, floors, washing and disinfecting linen, it is sprayed on plants to repel pests and used as fertilizer. It is convenient to wash your hands with lye, keeping it in a separate container for liquid soap, and if you prepare the lye with fragrant and healing herbs, for example, chamomile, oregano, wormwood, nettle - you can heal many skin diseases.

It is best to prepare lye using birch wood ash. It could always be taken from a village Russian oven in winter, or prepared after a fire burned out in the summer. The main condition is that paper, newspapers, plastic and other chemicals should not be thrown into the fire before. In ancient times, lye was made in large wooden barrels called buchal or beech. The ash was first sifted from very large pieces and placed in a barrel, and then filled with water and hot stones were thrown into it. At the same time, the water heated up, and the main component of the lye, potash (K2CO3), began to dissolve.

Currently, lye can be prepared as follows: throw 2-3 kg of ash into a bucket of hot (but also cold) water. It is not necessary to boil; it will be enough to simply stir the solution and let it brew thoroughly until it clears. Then, the water is drained and the sediment is thrown away. If the solution turns out cloudy and dark, it should be filtered through a cloth. That's the whole recipe for making lye!

To wash clothes, the lye must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:2. You can prepare a more concentrated lye solution by filling two-thirds of the bucket with ash and adding water. In this case, 1 part of the solution and 10 parts of water are enough for washing. To wash linen, villagers advise taking a rag bundle with ash (approximately 15-17 cm in diameter) and throwing it into a bucket of water. Linen items are washed in this infusion.

There is another great recipe for making ash soap. Fill the half of the pan with ash from the stove, add water almost to the top and boil over moderate heat for about 30 minutes. You can add aromatic herbs. After this, strain the lye and throw the ash into the garden. Everything is very environmentally friendly and fast!

This soap can be stored warm in the shade, but it is better to put it in a cool place, for example, in a refrigerator or cellar.

I wish everyone healthy, thick and beautiful hair! ;)

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I am very far from soap making, but my closest friend is an extra-class soap maker Beautiful_linda, her diary is

She makes amazing soap from scratch, and like all soap makers she has to work with lye.

And then on the Internet I came across the fact that people were wondering whether it was possible to replace store-bought alkali with something else, more pleasant.

I accidentally came across a recipe, maybe it exists, I don’t know, let the soap makers correct it :)

And recipes for ash soap.

Lye production (cold method):
Where the recipe was taken, people reacted differently, but I watched a program about a millionaire who went to live in an eco-village, I forgot his last name, and so, his wife washed and washed with something similar - an ash solution.

Pour 2/3 of a bucket of ash (of course, purely wood ash), pour water almost to the top, mix, remove large pieces of debris, leave to settle for 3 days (do not stir anymore).
After 3 days, there will be a clear liquid in the upper half of the bucket, this is lye, it feels soapy to the touch. Then use a blower to suck out the lye and pour it into a container. The lye will be highly concentrated. You will need to get used to diluting it (about 1/10) with water.

Ash soap:

We take wood ash or ash obtained from burning plants (herbs), and sift it through a sieve, then scatter it, moisten it and mix until a uniformly moistened mass of ash is obtained.

After this, it is collected in a pile, in which a depression is formed on top. Lime is placed in it, which is quenched by the presence of moisture. Lime should be taken in half the weight of the ash taken. When the lime disintegrates into a fine powder, it is covered with ash. Then pour water over it and leave for 24 hours, after which the lye is drained. This is the first lye, the most concentrated. It is placed in a special vessel, and then water is poured over the ash again, it is drained and a weaker lye is obtained. When this lye is ready, the stronger one is poured into the boiler and heated to a boil.

Next, add to the lye the appropriate amount of various fatty waste (oils, lard, etc.), today you can use high-quality oils and get the most aromatic and very healthy soap) and boil, adding weaker lye, until the sample taken on a glass plate hardens into a transparent sticky mass . This method produces liquid potash soap, also called soap glue. To turn the soft mass into hard, dense soap, add table salt to the soap glue. In this case, the so-called soap core is released, which is a solid soda soap.

After adding table salt, the resulting core soap is scooped out, as well as the lye, after which the soap is placed again in the cauldron, boiled again with thicker lye, salted again, scooped out and placed in boxes lined with linen; when the excess lye adhering to the soap collects drop by drop on the bottom of the box, turn the box over, take out the soap, cut it into pieces and air dry.

Soap without NaOH

First you need to get the lye: Pour the ash of hardwood with water, leave for 3 weeks.

Mix 2 liters of lye with 1 kg of pork fat and cook. Cook for a long time... 6-8 hours. There should be thick foam on the surface. Stir regularly.

Then liquid “potash” soap will appear on the surface. To get solid soap, you need to add salt to the container. I'll take a handful. It will push dirt and water up and the so-called sound soap will separate. Strain/scoop it out and place it in the mold.

After a day, the soap in the mold will harden, it can be cut into pieces and finally dried.