Goat's milk soap

[Caprice_Acres]

I raise dairy goats and as another product to sell at the farmer's market, I thought it would be enjoyable to begin making soap with extra milk. Problem is, I'm overwhelmed. I have never made soap so I have ZERO on-hand supplies to start with or experiment with. I have read some books on soapmaking but it just intimidated me. If I get good at this, I'd like to make it in larger batches - is there a place to order soapmaking stuff in bulk for affordable? I have found MMS supply and a couple other soapmaking supplies - but they offer so much and I don't know what I actually *need* to start making and selling soap. Any places I shoud look locally for supplies, like bulk oils to avoid shipping costs?

Sorry if I seem to need some hand-holding - I think I'd finally like to make the leap this year after a few years of admiring everybody else's goats' milk soap (I have lots of goat raising friends. )

What I'd like are natural soaps, but not necessarily organic. Something I can add natural colors, exfoliants, and essential oils to, and have a 'varied' product to sell. Something a beginner can't screw up easily...

 

[Stinkydancer]

First things first- you shouldn't be selling anything until you learn the soaping process especially Milk soaping- there are a lot of variables there. It will take you at the very least a good year before you should sell anything.

Now onto the soap making stuff:
Start to research goat milk soap made with fresh milk and learn the process. As far as oils- I would start with something simple you can buy from the grocery store like Olive Oil and Coconut Oil- you can get both of these at Walmart or a health food store.
Keep it simple for the first batch with the milk (frozen) and the Coconut and Olive Oil. Learn how to use a lye calculator- Soapcalc is a good place to start.
For your first recipe after research I would do something like- 80% Olive Oil and 20% Coconut with the milk- should make a fabulous soap.

As far as bulk oils go- shop around and look for oil sellers in your area. I live in the Chicago suburbs so I drive to Soapers Choice for my stuff but google soap supplies around your town or a major town in your area to save on shipping.
I wouldn't start with bulk oils until you do more than a few batches though. I would just go to the grocery store for the 2 above oils and you already have the milk so you will be good to go. You also need a thermometer, stainless bowls, gloves and goggles, lye (100%), a good scale and a notebook to take notes.

There are about a million other things but this should give you a start.

 

[Nightlilly]

Don't forget the stick blender! lol

 

[MooreThanBags]

Good luck with making soap with goats milk. I started with a basic goat milk soap recipe that I googled and had wonderful beginners luck. The main thing for me to learn was to start with frozen milk and not to allow it to go through gel to make a light colored bar of soap. I make and sell my soap and I have not found any better wholesale price for oils than just buying at Wal-Mart. By the time you factor in shipping even the wholesale stuff is pretty expensive.

 

[judymoody]

Soapers' Choice for oils, hands down. Except for olive oil, I buy everything else from them. But wait until you've got a few batches down before investing. It could be (gasp!) that you don't like soaping and then you've got to figure out what to do with gallons of oils.

For lye, I like Essential Depot. They often have special deals on various quantities.

If you want one stop shopping, try Brambleberry, Soapmaking Resource, or Wholesale Supplies Plus. You might do better price-wise if you shop around to various places but it might cancel out in shipping costs and time spent.

Enjoy and don't be afraid to ask questions. We're here to help.