Goats Milk Soap?????????

[Evelle]

HELLO all you wonderful crafty people

so i hear you can make soap out of goats milk and olive oil? is this true? i would love to try this. does anyone have a recipe that they can share with me.. id really love to try this.

 

[OHhappychicks]

Hello Evelle!

You can make soap with goats milk and OO. If you scroll down a few threads, you will find "soap makers help". This is where I learned to make soap. I read thru the whole thing back in may, taking notes with page #'s for future ref. I would suggest you read thru as there are a few things you need to know before embarking on soapmaking. It isn't hard at all, but knowing what some of the terms used mean such as "trace" and knowing about how to use the lye, the supplies you should have, things like this. There's recipes on pgs, 8 and 13, I believe. The folks on here are very nice to help. On page 1, fellow soaper Morgaine has put a list of sites to buy supplies, scents, mold, just general soapmaking sites. There are some sites that show how to make soap. one of them is Mullerslanefarm.com. and a couple of others. Making soap is great fun! But doing a little research first will save yourself some frustration. If you will scroll up 1-2 threads from yours there is another thread called "New hobby soapmaking love it" (I think) and there's good info on here also. Check it out, too! Happy soaping!

 

[missred871]

yes, be sure you read up a lot! Lye can be extremely dangerous if you dont use it correctly

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Not only goats milk but cow milk, sheep milk, donkey milk, coconut milk, teas, etc etc.

On my soap making page there are pictures (and explanation) of making a milk soap.

Be sure to read the 'soap makers help' that dshappychicks pointed out. A plethora of information there.

 

[babylady4]

I would suggest going to the library and picking up the Natural Soap book and the Soapmaking Companion book. She is very thorough in explaining the process and you can interchange goat milk for the water; just freeze the milk first before you add the lye, and when you add the lye do it slowly so you do not burn the milk solids.

Good luck!

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

RE: adding lye slowly to the frozen goat's milk.

There are numerous ways to incorporate the lye into the milk. Some use the milk in a slushy condition. The method I've used the past 10 years is to chunk my frozen milk into about 1" chunks and add my lye in thirds. About 1/3 of the lye (all at once) and stir well to get the milk starting to melt. Then add about half of remaining lye (again all at once) and stir well. Finally add remaining lye and stir. There are still frozen chunks of milk in my lye solution, so I use the stick blender (making sure the head of the blender stays beneath the surface of the solution).

Pour immediately into the waiting oils.

I think this last is the most important! Make sure you have weighed and melted all your oils and they are ready before you start working with the lye solution.

You do not want your milk/lye solution sitting around heating up and scorching the natural sugars in the milk.

I always gel with my milk soap and always get an off-white creamy color soap. Since I use large slab molds, I stack the molds on top of each other and wrap the entire pile in 2 wool blankets. This ensures the gel gets to the very edges of my mold.

 

[Evelle]

Ohh my all this talk about lye and frozen/slushy milk kinda scares me!!!

 

[NanaKat]

It takes time and careful habits to make soap...you can practice on a small recipe using water intead of milk and get a nice bar. Then branch out.
Read first because you will learn from others mistakes and successes

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Just remember, the smaller your batch is, the more accurate you will need to be with the weighing of your ingredients. Any recipe using under 2 lb of oil, I convert the recipe from oz to grams

 

[Dana789]

One of the most popular additives to handmade soap is goat’s milk. And rightly so. It makes a lovely, creamy, moisturizing soap. From Nature With Love says "Goat’s milk is a natural emollient that helps soothe and moisturize the skin. It contains vitamins A, B6, B12 and E. Goat’s milk has 3 times more beta-casein than cow’s milk. Caseins are easily absorbed into the skin and allow for quick hydration of dry skin. The content of triglycerides, capric, caprylic and caproic acid helps balance the skin’s natural pH and promotes natural exfoliation of dry skin." All I know is that it's good soap, and that my customers used to clamor for it!

You might notice that our goat farm goatinpasturedirectory includes a lot of farms that produce goat milk soap. And you may wonder: why goat milk? In fact, why buy soap from a farm anyway? Isn’t my regular bar of soap good enough?

Let’s start with the advantages of handcrafted soap. That bar of soap from the supermarket looks so clean and pure. And yet, most big-brand soaps contain harsh chemicals that can irritate the skin, alcohol that dries the skin, and sometimes petroleum products, which is just disturbing. Handmade soap is made from natural, gentle ingredients that don’t leave the skin itchy, dry or irritated.

Handmade soap has another basic advantage: glycerin. All soap is made by combining a fat with an alkali. During the saponification process, the fat turns into soap and glycerin. In commercial soaps, the glycerin is removed by adding salt to make the soap and glycerin separate. The glycerin is then used in other, more profitable products, including cosmetics, medicine, printing inks and the production of the explosive nitroglycerin. But in handmade soap, the glycerin remains in the soap, providing deep moisturizing benefits.

So all handmade soaps have advantages over commercial soaps. But goat milk soaps offer even more. All milk contains natural emollients, vitamins and triglycerides that moisturize the skin. Goat milk specifically contains the reputed highly effective moisturizer capric-capryllic triglyceride. People who prefer goat milk soap claim that it is far less drying and harsh than ordinary soap. For those who have sensitive skin or eczema, goat milk soap is a godsend.

The best goat milk soaps are made from fresh, not powdered, goat milk. All the goat farms in our directory make soap from their own fresh milk. Some go even further and include other fresh, local products, like honey, herbs or flowers.

Greenbush Soapworks SoapsGreenbush Soapworks in Maine offers an incredible assortment of varieties of their goat milk- based soap. In addition to relatively common additions like oatmeal and fragrances, they offer soaps with real blueberries, tea leaves, poppy seeds, and even beer. Their Maine Beer Soap is made from made with Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale brewed in Bar Harbor.

But the most luxurious goat milk soap in New England must be the Goats Milk and Lanolin soap from West Elm Farm. These beautiful soaps are made in elegant molds that feature a pair of embossed sheep. But, more importantly, they contain lanolin, the oil from sheep’s skin which becomes trapped in wool and is removed after shearing. It was once common knowledge that sheep shearers had soft hands. Lanolin is an incredible moisturizer, very similar to the natural oils that human skin produces. Lanolin can hold double its weight in water; it draws this moisture into the skin. In Europe, lanolin is widely recommended by doctors for use in severe skin conditions. West Elm Farm’s incredible soaps are available in a variety of scents, including sandalwood, lemon verbena, and peppermint.

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