I cannot suggest anything without some idea of the purpose, for some things (e.g. soap making) there is no practical substitute for lye.
I buy my lye at Essential Depot (essentialdepot.com ) , its food grade and perfect for making pretzels, but I also use it to make soap in my spare time. Its the best I have found (much better than red devil lye) and the price is great, Use the discount code "ship30" to receive a 30% discount on shipping. I found the vintage pamplets at LyeDepot.com ( lyedepot.com ) a very usefull resource on all the uses of lye.
No, because sodium chloride isn't alkaline; you could use sodium hydroxide instead of potassium hydroxide (lye) but sodium chloride wouldn't work very well.
Lye is already basic.
you can use it instead of your water when mixing your soap. Butto be sure your lye mixes, dissolves all the way use some water to liquefy it first ,adjusting your liquid amount's it to the cocomilkslowly as not to burn it. check your lye calculator for proper amounts.
You use methyl red as a ph indicator for for the MRVP test.
His issues lye more with attention rather than immaturity.
Yes, but not for the same purposes that you use lye for. Lye works because it is alkaline, while citrus is acidic.
Using expired lye in cold process soap can greatly affect the process and final product.
Yes, lye soap is safe to use in fact that is what I use every day. When I was a child, my father used to make lye soap which we all used regularly. Except that it didn't have perfume, it was no different from 'store bought' soap. In previous centuries, many people made and used lye soap.
use more of it
you can and cant
I do. Heard it will kill fleas.