McKherring Farm Soap

[McKherring Farm]

Round 1 - Aloe Goat Milk Soap
A friend of mine has allergies to..."everything" to quote her doctor. Except, she is not allergic to my no color, no scent 4 oil goat milk soap so I make her a batch every couple of months. She loves the way her skin feels after using it and appreciates it so much. (No medical claims here, just her reported happiness). After shipping her the last batch I was looking at this big pot of aloe that is growing on my porch and wondered if she could handle aloe in her soap. Even if she can't, I have this resource sitting right here so.... I've never made aloe soap so of course, I would need to experiment and tweak before even thinking about giving it to her or anybody else. And that is how my aloe goat milk soap experiment began. Lol.

"Harvesting" the aloe. I used three large stalks and then added frozen goat milk 50/50 for my liquids. 2:1 lye ratio

I also put parchment paper on the inner sides of my mold because I noticed there is some pitting happening in my 5 year old silicon liners. I've never added paper before and will definitely do it differently the next time. The extra batter went into small animal molds that I use for gifting to kids at the food pantry. I had added indigo powder to this batch since it is my experimental batch (not for my highly allergic friend) but it sure started out avocado green!

Wellllllll.....partial gel despite being elevated on cans with fans blowing on all sides. That doesn't normally happen. I think next time I may let it gel and just watch for any overheating issues.

After a week...tons of air bubbles because I got a little hyper with my stick blender. The partial gel isn't so noticeable and it's sort of blue....kind of??

Round one of learning opportunities with my aloe goat milk soap.

Ideas? Suggestions?

 

[bookworm42]

That looks amazing and I love the animal molds! The idea I have is that if you are worried about aloe and your friend you could always take some raw aloe juice and have her do a patch test to see if she reacts.

 

[McKherring Farm]

That looks amazing and I love the animal molds! The idea I have is that if you are worried about aloe and your friend you could always take some raw aloe juice and have her do a patch test to see if she reacts.

Thank you. I have emailed her to see what she knows about her sensitivity to aloe.

 

[McKherring Farm]

Round 2 - Lavender Swirl Goat Milk Soap (by request)

I haven't mastered the feathers, but I feel much better about my swirl efforts! Still so much to learn and practice.

 

[MrsZ]

Round 2 - Lavender Swirl Goat Milk Soap (by request)

I haven't mastered the feathers, but I feel much better about my swirl efforts! Still so much to learn and practice.

View attachment 79953

It's so pretty!

 

[McKherring Farm]

It's so pretty!

Thank you!

 

[McKherring Farm]

Peppermint Swirl Goat Milk Soap

 

[dmcgee5034]

So pretty, @McKherring Farm

 

[McKherring Farm]

So pretty, @McKherring Farm

Thank you!

 

[Tammyfarms]

Beautiful soaps!
As someone who also has a lot of allergies I would be cautiously optimistic about the aloe. I use aloe vera (from WalMart) in all my soaps. It has been ok for me and my friend who also has lots of allergies. Your friend is lucky to have you.
Not sure about the accuracy of a patch test as you would be testing the aloe pre saponification. I’m not sure how the chemical makeup of aloe changes once soap goes through saponification but it seems like something that would happen.

 

[bookworm42]

Not sure about the accuracy of a patch test as you would be testing the aloe pre saponification. I’m not sure how the chemical makeup of aloe changes once soap goes through saponification but it seems like something that would happen

That is an excellent point!
Maybe send her a shaving or part of a bar to have her test.

 

[McKherring Farm]

Beautiful soaps!
As someone who also has a lot of allergies I would be cautiously optimistic about the aloe. I use aloe vera (from WalMart) in all my soaps. It has been ok for me and my friend who also has lots of allergies. Your friend is lucky to have you.
Not sure about the accuracy of a patch test as you would be testing the aloe pre saponification. I’m not sure how the chemical makeup of aloe changes once soap goes through saponification but it seems like something that would happen.

Thank you!
You have a good point.

 

[Jackie H]

Round 1 - Aloe Goat Milk Soap
A friend of mine has allergies to..."everything" to quote her doctor. Except, she is not allergic to my no color, no scent 4 oil goat milk soap so I make her a batch every couple of months. She loves the way her skin feels after using it and appreciates it so much. (No medical claims here, just her reported happiness). After shipping her the last batch I was looking at this big pot of aloe that is growing on my porch and wondered if she could handle aloe in her soap. Even if she can't, I have this resource sitting right here so.... I've never made aloe soap so of course, I would need to experiment and tweak before even thinking about giving it to her or anybody else. And that is how my aloe goat milk soap experiment began. Lol.
View attachment 79942 "Harvesting" the aloe. I used three large stalks and then added frozen goat milk 50/50 for my liquids. 2:1 lye ratio

View attachment 79943 I also put parchment paper on the inner sides of my mold because I noticed there is some pitting happening in my 5 year old silicon liners. I've never added paper before and will definitely do it differently the next time. The extra batter went into small animal molds that I use for gifting to kids at the food pantry. I had added indigo powder to this batch since it is my experimental batch (not for my highly allergic friend) but it sure started out avocado green!

View attachment 79944 Wellllllll.....partial gel despite being elevated on cans with fans blowing on all sides. That doesn't normally happen. I think next time I may let it gel and just watch for any overheating issues.

View attachment 79945 After a week...tons of air bubbles because I got a little hyper with my stick blender. The partial gel isn't so noticeable and it's sort of blue....kind of??

View attachment 79946 Round one of learning opportunities with my aloe goat milk soap.

Ideas? Suggestions?

I love the color