How It's Made!

To make lye soap, lard, water and lye are mixed together over an open fire in a big cast iron kettle, and stirred for hours with a long-handled paddle. It is said that when the paddle sticks straight up, the soap is ready. Lye soap is then poured into a large pan and allowed to dry and harden; a process that can take from two weeks to one month. After the lye soap hardens, it is cut into smaller bars for everyday use. People use lye soap to clean everything from their faces to their laundry. Today, many people still buy and use original lye soap.

Yup, here at Smoky Mountain Lye Soap our original soap is  actually made the true old fashioned homemade way, Lye Soap, made with lye,  lard, water and nuttin' else. Our customers have taught us well - there's nothing quite like this homemade lye soap recipe for stopping the spread of poison ivy or oak, or taking tough stains out of clothes, especially salvaging antique linens.

This homemade lye soap is a Smoky Mountain tradition, with its historical use including the elimination of head and body lice, bed bugs, mites, as well as general household and floor cleaning. There was a time when a Lye Soap recipe provided the only source of basic hygiene available. Lye soap was generally made once a year, coinciding with Autumn Harvest and the killing of hogs in preparation for Winter.

In making this homemade lye soap we experience the same variations in pork fat (lard) that our ancestors did, caused by the diet, age, region, breed and processing of the, well, the 'donor' for lack of a better way to put it. There's a difference between the body fat of a hog raised on corn and commercial grains, and one raised on 'slop', and sometimes this soap will be a little soft and beige in color, and other times white and powdery. 

The variance in color and texture is a result of the natural materials it's made from: it's not something we can control, nor do we try to. Lye soap is a part of our history, and we make it the historical way. For those of you who have shared with us 'fond memories' of childhood, remembering soap so strong 'it practically took your skin off,' well, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!!! We make our homemade Lye Soap in the tradition of The Great Smoky Mountains - gentle enough to use every day.

Lye Soap comes in a big 6-7 ounce chunk you can grate for laundry or whatever your little heart desires. Our Lye Soap is hand cut and there will be rough and uneven edges due to the unpredictable texture of the natural fat - it will not have smooth edges like manufactured soaps.