Goats Milk Soap Recipe ~ Newbie needs Help!

[Skyz84]

Hi everyone!

This will be my 1st attempt making goats milk soap. I have an over abundance of fresh goats milk so I'm hoping this all works out.

I hope I'm not going over board on my 1st batch but I would really like to make an Oatmeal & Honey bar. I would like to make about a 2 lb batch to see how it turns out....

I've played around with the lye calculator but I don't fully understand it...

I would like to add:
Ground Oatmeal
Honey
Borax
Glycerin

Here is what I've come up with... but I don't know if I figured it correctly...

8.25 oz goats milk
7 oz Coconut Oil
5 oz Olive Oil
5 oz Safflower Oil
1 oz Caster Oil
6 oz Lard

3.96 oz lye

1/4 cup of ground oat meal
1 TBS Honey
1 TBS Borax
1/2 oz Glycerin

I would like a hard bar that holds up well to hard water. I also like a soap that lathers up well.
Did I calculate this recipe correctly? Recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[IrishLass]

Since this will be your very first time soaping, I would suggest something along more simple lines. Goat milk and honey can be tricky to soap even for those more seasoned, and it's always best to have a basic feel for things before attempting the more complex kind of batches.

Actually, the oil part of your recipe is nicely balanced and will make a hard bar with a nice ratio of bubbly to creamy lather. The only suggestion I would make would be to use High Oleic safflower oil instead of regular safflower oil- the reason being that it will lower your total linoleic content and prevent DOS. If you do decide to use regular safflower oil, I recommend that you lower the amount to 3 oz and increase your olive oil amount to 7 oz for DOS prevention. Whatever changes you end up making, please run it through a lye calculator first before proceeding in order to get the proper amount of lye to use for your batch.

Speaking of lye, your listed lye amount is dangerously on the heavy side for your batch. I wouldn't use any more than 3.4 oz of lye for your recipe as you listed it (instead of 3.9 oz). This will give you a superfat of 5% which puts it in the safe zone.

Which lye calculator are you using? Some are more easy to use than others. I like to use SoapCalc myself. They have an on-site tutorial of how to use it, which is quite nice, and they use a default of 5% for their superfat so that you won't come out with a lye heavy batch.

Not that I'm encouraging you to make a goat milk, oats and honey soap for your first batch or anything (my advice is to hold off until you have more experience), but I just wanted to mention that I would use a little less oatmeal for that particular size of batch- unless you want a really exfoliating soap. If it were me, I would drop the amount to 1/8 of a cup, or 2 tablespoons total. Your honey amount is good, though.

Although I understand the reasoning for wanting to add borax (I know of some who add it to help their soap lather better in their hard water), I was wondering if there was any particular reason you want to add extra glycerin? I ask because the reaction between the lye and oils produces a fair amount of glycerin already as a natural byproduct. Having said that, though, some do use extra glycerin in their men's shaving soaps (me included) to help prop up the foamy-type lather and keep it from deflating as a man is shaving his face, but it's really not necessary in a regular soap.

In conclusion, my suggestion would be to omit the honey and goatmilk for now, omit the extra glycerin and the borax, too (it very well may be that the formula doesn't need any borax), and just make the base formula with the proper amount of lye and water. I don't see any reason why you should also omit the oatmeal if you want to use it, since I've never known it to cause problems like milk and honey do. In your next batch, use the same formula, but add the borax to compare and see if it makes any diference in your finished bars. If you are feeling confident enough by the third batch, go ahead and try adding milk and honey to it, but read up on all you can about it first. so that you are well prepared.


IrishLass

 

[Skyz84]

Is there a particular reason you would recommend not using goat's milk the 1st time? What about it is so hard to work with? I'd really like to make the recipe with goats milk.

What about using a recipe with 1/2 water & 1/2 goats milk?

I will try a simpler batch without the borax and glycerin.

It's very hot and dry where I live. I spend a LOT of time outside working with the animals and after a shower my skin still feels very dry. I'm looking for a soap that moisturizes but I can understand that the glycerin may be overkill in moisturizing I will definitely leave it out of my 1st batch.

WOW, didn't realize the lye was too high! I did run it through a soap calculator...maybe I mis-read it. I will re run it again.

Glad the oil part of my recipe is balanced. =) At least I don't feel completely lost.

 

[IrishLass]

Is there a particular reason you would recommend not using goat's milk the 1st time? What about it is so hard to work with? I'd really like to make the recipe with goats milk.

I'm not saying that you can't make goat milk soap if you really want to , but it's just that you'll find it a lot easier if you have a handle on the soapmaking process in general before you undertake making a milk batch. That's because milk soaps are somewhat prone to overheating and separation issues and need to be handled with a little extra care, especially if you add honey to the mix, which can also cause overheating and separation issues on its own whether milk is added or not.

What about using a recipe with 1/2 water & 1/2 goats milk?

That would be the best way to proceed for a first timer in my opinion. This is called the 'split method' of milk soaping and it's actually my method of choice when I make my own milk soaps. I would mix your lye with an equal amount of water in weight, and then to your oils I would add the remainder of your total liquid amount for your batch as fresh goat milk. Just stickblend the goat milk into your oils, and then add in your lye/water solution right after. Bring to trace and pour into your mold.

I will try a simpler batch without the borax and glycerin.

It's very hot and dry where I live. I spend a LOT of time outside working with the animals and after a shower my skin still feels very dry. I'm looking for a soap that moisturizes but I can understand that the glycerin may be overkill in moisturizing I will definitely leave it out of my 1st batch.

It's very hot and dry where I live, too, so I can relate. With a 5% superfat and 1/2 fresh goatmilk in your recipe, I think you should be fine on the conditioning end- at least I would be, but then again, everyone'e skin is different. The proof will be in the pudding once you try your cured soap for the first time.

WOW, didn't realize the lye was too high! I did run it through a soap calculator...maybe I mis-read it. I will re run it again.

It may be that you did not set the superfat level to a safe %.

Glad the oil part of my recipe is balanced. =) At least I don't feel completely lost.

It looks like a really nice formula!


IrishLass

 

[Yooper]

My first soap was a goat milk soap, because I was overrun with goat's milk and could NOT face another pound or three of chevre!

You can do it, BUT, make sure you follow some milk soap "golden rules". I froze my goat's milk until solid, and then added the lye, while stirring the lye in an ice bath so it never warmed beyond room temperature. Then, I added my oils at about 85 degrees, so it worked out very well for me. I didn't use fragrance oils (still don't) but I used essential oils and oats. It was a great soap and it aged beautifully- so you can do it if you really want to.

But keep in mind that goat's milk freezes quite well, at least for the short term, so I'd suggest freezing the milk for now and making a small batch of soap (without milk) first to get the hang of it. A very small batch is fine, just so you can see how long it takes to trace, how it "feels" when you blend, and so on. Then keep the milk slushy and attempt a milk/oat soap and I think you'd be very happy with the results.