Goat milk and lavender bad smell :-/

[Quilter99755]

Well, I made the bars yesterday. My first official Goat Milk Powder soap. No, there was no scent other than what I put in the soap. I gathered together a mixture of oils that had been hanging around my soaping area for a long time, none had enough to use as a main oil in any of my recipes, it will become one of my "leftovers" soaps, only this one will have GMP added to the title!

It all seemed to go together just fine, I may have been a bit high on the temp. I poured it in the molds, left to take a potty break and when I came back the top of the loaf mold was at least 1-2" higher than when I poured. I quickly cleared space in the fridge and crossed my fingers! After looking in on it several times the potential volcano did not appear, nor was there a crack in the top surface.

Now comes the hard part...waiting until it cures. So back to my quilting. And maybe trying to figure out how to use my favorite quilting design, feathers, on the top of my soaps! LOL

 

[Savage Daughter]

GM soap smells bad right out of the mold.

I don't understand this....or rather did not experience this with my first batch, made yesterday. It smells beautiful. All I have been able to smell since un-molding is my essential oils. Granted, I did use cavity molds because it was a small, 1 pound test batch.

I did use my now usual clay / castor / essential oil slurry, plus saturated my oatmeal in my oils for a good hour as my lye temperature dropped to room temp. I used oil infused natural colorants - indigo / fustic / dock.

Yes, it is. The "typical" smell is more like ammonia to my nose. Not to worry. The off-smell will dissipate as the soap cures.

I smelled a slight whiff of ammonia when my lye first hit my goats milk, but that was it. I replaced all of my water with goats milk, frozen.

On another related topic, how long are people finding their goats milk soap takes to cure vs their regular oils & butters soaps? This is a new avenue I've ventured onto, so not sure what to expect. I haven't found much info regarding this topic in my search of the forums earlier.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

how long are people finding their goats milk soap takes to cure vs their regular oils & butters soaps?

In my experience, GM Soap takes as long to cure as the same formula made with water.

 

[Savage Daughter]

In my experience, GM Soap takes as long to cure as the same formula made with water.

I'll have to see how this test batch does as I was thinking of the extra super fatting due to the goats milk replacing 100% of my water.

This being fresh goats milk straight from my friend's farm, I expected much more of an ammonia smell when mixing this up. I am still very surprised. I am wondering if that will change significantly if / when I start doing larger batches of goats milk soap, especially in a 16 pound slab mold. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to stick to cavity molds or smaller 8 pound molds after seeing some other people's goats milk soap overheat to the extreme.

 

[Shelley D]

This is an interesting thread to read as all my soaps (except for maybe 2 batches) have been goat's milk soaps. I don't bother with fragrances but with all the different oil blends I have tried I never had any funky smells. My goat's milk was bought straight from a local farm, it wasn't a commercial product.
MPO would be the heat generated by mixing the lye solution into oils heated up the lavender and gave off a funky smell. I personally am on the fence when it comes to lavender, neither like, nor dislike. To me it has a heavy earthy smell and I typically need to "soften" the scent with something else. I have smelled the various types of lavender but I forget which one is stronger but with your double lavender blend I can't help but wonder if that's what smelled funny Like I said, just my opinion, and opinions are like belly buttons I think it will mellow out during the curing time. My soaps usually cure at a rate determined by which oils I used, and since I was trying recipes that contained mostly OO my cure times were about 2-3 months, but that was due to the oils, not the goat's milk

 

[Marie_with_an_e]

Thank you, that’s helpful to know. I’m on the steep part of the learning curve with GM! Yes I smell ammonia too.

I only make GM soap and have been soaping for about 16-17 years, so have made hundreds of batches, maybe even more. The soap always smells funky (of ammonia and camphor to me as well, straight out of the mold), and takes a couple of days to dissipate enough to where I can smell the true scent of it. Don’t give up on GM! It truly makes a beautiful, skin-loving bar