Why does splashing the hands with sodium hydroxide solution make them feel soapy

Why does splashing the hands with sodium hydroxide solution make them feel soapy  

Sodium hydroxide in solution dissociates to yield solvated cations and anions, Na+ and the hydroxide ion OH- respectively  

The solvated hydroxide ion in Equation (6.9) is formed in addition to the hydroxide ions produced during water autoprotolysis, so there are more hydroxide ions in solution than solvated protons, yielding excess hydroxide in solution. We say the solution is alkaline. As an alternative name, we say hydroxide is a base (see p. 241). 

Care It is a common mistake to call the OH- ion a hydroxyl. It is not a hydroxyl is correctly a covalently bound -OH group, for example in an alcohol. 

Fullers earth is a type of clay named after a fuller, whose job was to clean cloth, e.g. stripping wool of its grease. Fullers earth removes oils and grease from cloth because of its alkalinity, just like an oven cleaner solution. 

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