The crux of the issue here is that a waifu is imagination personified. By definition, she is how you fantasize her, and this thought is aided in taking form through a personality set forth in the original source material she came from. The healthy man knows he is imagining his waifu, and accepts this.
Definition of lye. 1 : a strong alkaline liquor rich in potassium carbonate leached from wood ashes and used especially in making soap and for washing; broadly : a strong alkaline solution (as of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide )
Lye is a stronger alkaline than baking soda or sodium bicarbonate, with a pH reading ranging from around 13 to 14.2 Its base of sodium hydroxide is created commercially by the electrolysis of sodium chloride solution, as well as reacting calcium hydroxide with sodium carbonate, according to the FDA.