Honey and goat's milk soap

[Oregon Groves]

I never made a honey soap.


I tend to keep my ingredients simple and I don't add a ton of oils.

I do

14 oz pure olive oil
11 oz coconut oil
11 oz lard
2 oz castor oil

5.5 oz lye

12.3 oz goat's milk

If I add honey how much would I add and would I only add 1 ounce of the castor oil and 1 ounce of honey?



Thank you!

 

[violets2217]

I've always just used 1 Tablespoon PPO mixed with a little bit of water to thin. So if I were making your soap I'd use 2 to 2 1/2 tablespoons of honey. The amount of honey would not change the amounts of your oils. That's gonna be a hot soap batter! But I've never used goat's milk either....

 

[GemstonePony]

Also, you may want to dissolve the honey in equal parts water. Whether you decide to add it to your lye solution and risk burning the honey or blend it into your oils and accelerate the batter is up to you, but not dissolving it or adding it late can result in spots of unincorporated honey in the final bar of soap.

 

[Oregon Groves]

Also, you may want to dissolve the honey in equal parts water. Whether you decide to add it to your lye solution and risk burning the honey or blend it into your oils and accelerate the batter is up to you, but not dissolving it or adding it late can result in spots of unincorporated honey in the final bar of soap.

So I need to thaw my milk and wisk in honey and refreeze?

I make goat's milk soap only, so I don't do just water.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

You don't want to mix that honey with the milk at all, it will burn when you put the lye in. I usually discount my milk by about 2 oz and replace that with 2oz of water and I mix in 1 tablespoon PPO and dissolve the honey in the 2 oz of water. I will pour the dissolved honey into the oils and stick blend the crap out of it and then add the lye and milk mixture. As soon as I get about a medium trace I pour it in the mold and put it straight into the fridge so it stays cool. Honey and milk definitely heat up. I've never had a soap volcano by following the above.

 

[GemstonePony]

So I need to thaw my milk and wisk in honey and refreeze?

I make goat's milk soap only, so I don't do just water.

I don't do water either, but whatever liquid you use has to get hot enough to melt/dissolve the honey. I use boiling distilled water, and even then I sometimes need to microwave it if the mixture cools off before the honey dissolves.
For my last Oatmeal honey soap, I did add honey to the oatmeal, but I also simmered the oatmeal for a few hours and stick-blended it quite a bit before freezing it.
You can simmer your milk for a bit to incorporate the honey and then freeze it, but the lye might not dissolve the skins that will form on top of the milk. Those will probably need to be strained out.

 

[Oregon Groves]

I don't do water either, but whatever liquid you use has to get hot enough to melt/dissolve the honey. I use boiling distilled water, and even then I sometimes need to microwave it if the mixture cools off before the honey dissolves.
For my last Oatmeal honey soap, I did add honey to the oatmeal, but I also simmered the oatmeal for a few hours and stick-blended it quite a bit before freezing it.
You can simmer your milk for a bit to incorporate the honey and then freeze it, but the lye might not dissolve the skins that will form on top of the milk. Those will probably need to be strained out.

That makes total sense. I may just save my honey for eating ....for now at least but great advice. I never worked with honey do had no idea! I may. just stick with the fragrance and do my oatmeal and milk.

Thank you.