Goat's Milk

[adoptapitbull]

I've noticed a lot of people soap with water, or tea, or something else. I was wondering why so few people use goat's milk? Is it due to availability or something else? I always thought it was so great for soap that it was what most people used. Is it not so good, or just too expensive, or what?

Guess I'm kinda biased toward it because I milk it fresh every morning and my girls make some yummy milk (not that it matters in soaping!).

I hope I'm not making a mistake by making all goaty soaps!

 

[lsg]

Many people soap with goat's milk. I use cow's cream because that is what I have. You need to freeze the milk to the slushy stage and put the milk in an ice water bath as you very slowly add the lye to it. This will help to keep the milk from scorching. You can use 100% goat's milk as your liquid or use 1/2 water as the liquid to dissolve the lye and add cream as the other half of the liquid at thin trace.
The easiest way I have found to freeze the milk is to measure it out and seal in a zip-lock bag. Lay it flat it the freezer and it will freeze to the slushy stage in a short time. It is easy to break up that way.

 

[gunner]

I use it...and love it! I use it in soap and lotion. I've never heard anything negative about goat's milk, other than having to be very careful not to let the lye burn it up

 

[krissy]

i just started using it again and i am having the weirdest issue with it. all of my tried and true recipes, with exactly the same amounts of color are turning out different colors when i add GM. like one of my sea green soaps is pink. and not a pretty pink. :?

 

[soapbuddy]

I use goat's milk in soap.

 

[TJ]

I don't use it because I make vegan friendly soaps. Although I don't see an issue with using your own goat's milk as long as the goats are well taken care of. It's the goats getting the hormones and over-milked in a dark factory like setting that makes me not able to use it. I am not able to have farm animals where I live, otherwise I'd love some goats! And some chickens but thats besides the point! Lol.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

If you do a goats milk search you will find HEAPS of posts on it, Its used quite often by members on this forum.

I use it in half my soap, def notice the difference

 

[adoptapitbull]

Phew! OK, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I saw tons of recipes that said water and I was wondering if it was just giving people an alternative or if GM wasn't the "thing to do" anymore.

Just made my first batch over here. Had a wee bit of an oopsie while making it, but hopefully it'll still be OK. I'm too embarrassed to say now...if it turns out OK, I'll let you know! Such a blonde moment.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I use goat's milk but I also use cow's milk, cream, yoghurt, coconut cream and love them all. Wish I could have a goat to milk. :wink:

 

[dcornett]

I'd probably use goats milk more often, but it is terribly hard to get ahold of where I am.

 

[Relle]

I've made one batch with GM, the milk is $4.89 litre here to buy in the supermarket, I should get two batches out of that.

Relle.

 

[adoptapitbull]

I wish I could give you some! I only have 2 does in milk now, should have 4 next year. It's not a lot of goats, but boy do they give me the milk!

By the way, if anyone is in the Northern VA, WV area, let me know. I'll trade some milk for some soaping tips!

 

[sandyfootfarm]

I jumped in the deep end and have only made soap using GM. About to make a beer soap though and a vegan one, will be strange not using milk

 

[adoptapitbull]

I saw something here about beer soap! I'm a bit scared of that one. Does it smell like you've had too much to drink?

"No, officer, I swear, I wasn't drinking! I just took a bath with beer soap!"

 

[Elly]

Most of my soaps are made with GM they are the best IMO. As it has been explained you can use 100% or 1/2 water 1/2 GM, I use the second and it works perfect for me. The trick is to soap at low temps as GM tends to increase the heat in soap mix. I like my soaps light in color therefore I avoid gelling by putting it in the freezer, this will also prevent colors to change.

 

[Finchen]

"No, officer, I swear, I wasn't drinking! I just took a bath with beer soap!"

LOL

 

[ctay122]

I do use goats milk in soap and when I do use 100% (no water). The problem in VA is that it is illegal to sell raw goats milk to the public. So I have to use pasteurized goats milk from the grocery store. The way around this is that some goat farms will sell "shares" of their goats...this way you are part owner and can so what you want with the milk. The few farms I have found that do this are no closer that 2 hours away. I can pay about $75 for a share that will get me a gallon of milk for 30 weeks. I have to pay $10 room and board per week for my goat, and then I would have to go pick up the milk every week (think the price of gas now).

I can pay $3.77 for 32 oz so it would cost me $15 for a gallon. I'm not sure it is worth it to buy a share for raw. Plus I doubt my customers would care about the difference *not to mention I'm not ready to be pumping out the amount of soap it would take me to use up 4 gallons a month lol unless I only made goats milk soaps.

 

[adoptapitbull]

Yeah, I can't sell raw or pasteurized without a grade A dairy. It's a goal of ours eventually, in like 30 years, but now...nah, too much of an investment. But I can use it in soaps and lotions with no problems, so that's what I'll do. I make fudge and cheese with it here for me and my family to eat...mmmm....fudge!

 

[srenee]

I always warm my goatsmilk up and add it just after mixing the lye and oils. I haven't had a problem yet. But it sure does make great soap. I love it.

 

[adoptapitbull]

You know, I saw someone do that on youtube. They mixed their oils and lye and then mixed their milk. Does it affect color?