Re: African crystals
Posted by Anon on August 15, 1999 at 18:23:29:
In Reply to: Re: African crystals posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on August 05, 1999 at 15:16:17:
: How is lime (mineral lime, not fruit) at darkening henna outside of
: palms and soles? How is it for skin irritation?
PLEASE be careful - lime is caustic! Nasty stuff if concentrated or
weak but long exposure. Fire ashes are a source of lime -- the old
technique for soap-making was to leech the lime out of a lot of ashes
with water, then mix with fats for soap -- so the concentration in ash
may be low enough to get some effect without too much danger. If the
results feel soapy, though, be aware that the caustic lime is reacting
with the fat in your skin to make it soap! Perhaps an application of
extra oil can help? I'm not sure if the lime's effectiveness is
destructive in nature, though.
(When making soap with caustic & fat or oil, it's usually left to cure
for several MONTHS to make sure the caustic has all reacted with the
fat so that it doesn't burn the skin when the soap is used.)
Toward safe experimentation, Anon