Goat Milk Soap Science

Understanding the science of making goat milk soap may be difficult for some but not for qualified and experienced soap makers. They know exactly how to handcraft this soap to the perfect consistency and texture. Since this soap is handcrafted, ingredients may be added for customized skin care needs. Understanding the science of making goat milk soap gives more appreciation for its superior quality and the soap making efforts that accompany it.

Handcrafted soaps are formulated using a combination of emollient oils and butters, such as: olive and avocado oils, and cocoa or shea butter, with lathering oils such as coconut or palm kernel oil. These oils are mixed with liquid saturated lye. The chemical reaction that occurs between oil and lye is known as saponification.

Once saponification is complete, there is no lye left in the mixture. A simplified explanation of soap making chemistry is that, one molecule of fat added to one molecule of lye yields three molecules of soap and one molecule of glycerin. In reality, each type of oil requires a different amount of lye to produce the complete reaction. However, today's savonnier has tools to calculate exact ratios of specific oils to lye, but the result is always soap and glycerin in roughly a 3:1 ratio.

It is important to understand essential oils. Why is it important? It is important because, essential oils are bioactive ingredients. That means, they contain natural chemicals that interact with biological systems. Never use large amounts of essential oils externally, or internally. Never use essential oils straight. Essential oils must always be diluted in carrier oil, or soap, lotion, or other buffering agent. Finally, never use essential oils without knowing what their bioactive compounds are known to do. Essential oils are potent chemicals. They should be respected and used with care.

Great Grandma had to make her own lye; we have standardized lye available commercially. Grandma also rendered animal fats to get oils, so she was limited to tallow or lard. We have all kinds of terrific oils to choose from, but the lard with some olive oil and coconut oil makes wonderful, basic, castile-type soap.

Lately, finding lye has become a problem for the small soap maker. Unfortunately, it is an ingredient in illegal homemade drugs, so the lye companies have just about all stopped packaging it for household use. You cannot use any kind of drain cleaner. Try the cleaning supply section of the local hardware stores. You must find 100% lye. Also, you might try contacting a goat milk soap maker for soap making supplies.

The science of goats milk soap can be a lot of fun. Goats milk soap offers a lot of skin care benefits. Learning the science and chemistry of making goat milk soap can help you produce a high quality and long lasting natural bath product. Your natural product and handmade soap making efforts can be acknowledged and admired by many.

Goat Milk Soap For Acne - Goat Milk Soap Recipes

Handmade soap products are an excellent alternative to the mass produced alternatives you'll find in the skin product section of your local supermarket or pharmacy, and goat milk soap is one of the best natural products for helping prevent and treat acne.

When you're looking for a good goat milk soap for acne or other skin problems, make sure that it does not contain artificial coloring or preservatives and that it does contain 100% goat milk. Making your own goat milk soap for acne treatment is a good option, to ensure that you are only using the most natural ingredients.

So why is goat milk soap good for acne, as well as eczema and dermatitis? Research has shown that goat milk soap, when properly made, has a pH level close to that of your own skin and that it contains vitamins and other skin nourishing nutrients. The reason that it is beneficial in the treatment of acne is that the goat milk soap contains an acidic property which helps neutralize the bacteria while still allowing your skin to retain its moisture.

Goat milk soap for acne treatment can be handmade at home, using the cold process of soap making. This involves mixing lye and water with fat or oil, and adding this to the cold goat milk. For acne problems, using oils - palm oil, olive oil and coconut oil - in the soap will give it a moisturizing feeling. Once the soap mixture has been blended to trace, you can add fragrance oils or essential oils for scenting the goat milk soap. The soap is then poured into a mold to let it set, and after it has been cut into bars it is left to be cured for around 3 weeks.

Another way to make your own goat milk soap is to use the melt and pour method, where you buy the glycerin soap base instead of having to start from scratch with the lye solution. The soap base is melted and the goat milk is added, again with scented oils for fragrance.

As well as using goat milk soap for acne prevention or treatment, it can also be used to soothe other skin problems and is great for using on sensitive skin. Easy recipes for goat milk soap for acne, either using the cold process or melt and pour methods, are widely available and come in all shapes and quantities. If you are going to buy goat milk soap for acne problems, look for a genuine homemade soap and make sure it doesn't have any unwanted additives.

Marie Ackland - Soap making was originally a hobby of mine that gave me great pleasure, theres something quite satisfying about creating from scratch a beautifully scented bar of soap.

It then turned into a full time passion, creating wonderful soap for family and friends to enjoy. When a friend suggested I take some along to a local craft fair, which I did and from that day on I never looked back. I now have a great soap business which makes a healthy profit and gives me great satisfaction.

So now 20 years on from my first batch I love to teach the art of soap making. It can be frustrating at first but if you learn the fundamentals and put into practice my methods you WILL have great soap every time.

Medicinal Properties of Goat Milk

The importance of feeding of infants with goat milk has been recognized since ancient days. In developed countries like U.S and South Africa, the goat milk is specifically marketed for the infants. The milk allergy problem common in infants fed with cow milk is rarely encountered when replaced with goat milk and it plays an important role in the formulation of infant formula. This is a proof of the medicinal property of goat milk.

The symptoms like gastrointestinal disturbances, vomiting, colic, diarrhoea, constipation and respiratory problems can be eliminated when goat milk is fed to the infants. The reason cited for the relief in respiratory problems when fed with goat milk can be attributed to the structure of casein micelle of the goat milk. Pasteurized goat milk is well tolerated by the infants with gastro intestinal or respiratory symptoms. Fermented goat milk products are ideal for the persons allergic to cow milk.

The goat milk is naturally homogenized. It forms a soft curd when compared to cow milk and hence helps in easy digestion and absorption. Regular intake of goat milk significantly improves the body weight gain, improved mineralization of skeleton, increased blood serum vitamin, mineral and haemoglobin levels. These points are considered advantageous when compared to consumption of cow milk.

The other medicinal property of goat milk is higher concentration of medium chain fatty acids which play an important role in imparting unique health benefits in mal-absorption syndrome, steatorrhoea, chyluria, hyperlipoproteinaemia and during conditions of cystic fibrosis, gall stones and childhood epilepsy. The medium chain fatty acids minimize cholesterol deposition in the arteries, aid in dissolving cholesterol and gallstones and significantly contribute to normal growth of infants.

Goat Milk Soap - 5 Tips For the Best Results

Goat milk soap works well and many people know it. Of course you can make milk soap with other kinds of milk. Cleopatra supposedly used soap made with donkey milk. I personally prefer my soap made with Jersey cow milk. But in any case, lots of people want goat milk soap. Here are 5 tips for making it better, based on my experience making about 35,000 bars of milk soap.

Don't Add Water

Some soap makers want you to add water to the milk and use a diluted milk solution for the liquid. It isn't necessary and then whatever positive attributes you get with the milk are diluted. Don't do it. Just use the milk straight. Let's make the good stuff!

Freeze The Milk

It really makes managing the whole milk soap process easier if you freeze the milk. It's easier to store and easier to deal with. You'll see more why that is in a second. Freeze the milk in a plastic milk jug until you need it, then take it out and let it partially melt. Here's why that helps.

Control The Temperature

The secret to beautiful milk soap is controlled temperature. Just dump lye in milk and the huge spike in temperature actually scorches the milk. It carmelizes it and turns it a burnt brown.

All you need do is keep the pan with your milk in it in an ice water bath while you mix in the lye. By having partially frozen, slushy milk to start with, controlling temperature becomes all that much easier. Monitor the temperature and keep it under about 150 F and your soap will stay a beautiful ivory color. It's easy to do.

Blend It Well

Some of the milk fat starts to turn to soap as you mix lye into milk. That results in little globules of soap in the lye and milk mix. It doesn't really hurt anything, but it may show in the finished soap. To eliminate that possibility, you can mix the lye and milk solution very well before pouring it in the base oils. Always be very careful with lye mixes. This is one dangerous material.

Why Not Share It?

Another option you gain if you make beautiful milk soap is the possibility to market it. The demand exists for handmade soap, especially milk soap. Finding the people who want it can present problems, but find them and you may suddenly be able to make all the soap you can stand.

Goat milk soap is perceived as a premium product. Make it the right way and it not only works well, it looks beautiful too. Just a few careful steps separate mediocre soap from gourmet soap.

Al Bullington and his family made and sold soap for years and developed a system for making money with natural soap and related products like salves and shampoo.

Goat Milk Soap Facts

Most people do not understand or are unaware of goat milk soap and its benefits. Day after day many people continue to use the same commercial soaps that are too harsh for their skin. They do not realize that there is a handmade natural alternative that could be much better for their skin.

Goat milk soaps are good for just about any skin type. Do you have dry skin? Some people with dry skin suffer with continual scaling and dryness causing them to itch while maintaining an overall uncomfortable feeling. They can help dry skin sufferers. These handmade natural products are super mild, gentle and very moisturizing. Do you have oily skin, blemishes or acne? Since this soap is super mild it does not irritate blemishes or acne but, instead, gently cleanses. Most commercial soaps and toners are too harsh and end up irritating blemishes and acne making it worse. This handmade natural bath product is sold to a lot of acne sufferers and they have great success with it!

Goat milk soap is so mild and gentle it can, even, be used on the face. Research shows that most commercial soaps are not buffered. This means that the pH of the commercial soaps are so far from the pH of the skin that it takes an average of two hours, after being exposed to these soaps, for the skin to return to its normal pH level. Goat milk is a buffer. This means it has a pH very close to that of human skin, so when you use soap with a high percentage of goat milk the pH of your skin does not change very much. Your skin does not take all of that time to recover. Some people have avoided using all soaps on their face because the facial skin is thin and very sensitive, but these handmade natural products offer an alternative to those harsh commercial soaps, even those that are specifically advertised as face products.

Commercial bath products can leave a soapy build-up around the tub or shower. They can leave a mushy mess for you to clean. This is not the case with goat milk soaps. This product lasts much longer than regular commercial soaps, using a well-drained soap dish. The longevity of this item is, also, dependant upon the ingredients and formula used by the soap maker. Some goat milk soaps may turn soft and only last a couple of weeks while others will last much longer. The extra care and boost of ingredients put into these natural soaps, by the soap maker, is proof of a high quality product that last longer.

Handmade goat milk soaps are available in a, four ounce, bar size and a, six ounce, liquid size. The liquid variety is available in a, handy, pump bottle for easy use and storage. A knowledgeable and qualified soap maker knows how to combine specific ingredients offering multiple skin care benefits. Since these bath products are handmade, they can be customized to meet specific skin care needs. Goat milk soaps are healthful and nourishing for skin. They are becoming more popular everyday!

These handmade soaps are offered with fragrances derived from natural extracts or some have no fragrance at all. Some fragrances include: Lavender, Peppy Citrus, Orange Tree, Peppermint Coffee, Aloe & Oats and more. There is an unscented soap called "Au Natural". These handmade natural soaps offer distinct characteristics and are good for almost any skin care needs.

Goat milk soaps are available as "seconds". Seconds offer the same exact skin care benefits as the regular bar soaps, the only difference is that Seconds have imperfections or minor flaws. Some of these flaws could consist of a slightly shaved edge, shop worn, a torn label, etc....Buying seconds offers a money saving alternative.

There is an unscented, Au Natural, handmade goat milk soap available for pets. It is extremely mild and gentle. This natural soap is so gentle, it can be used on pregnant, seizure prone and skin sensitive pets. Do not use harsh commercial pet soaps anymore. This gentle pet care soap has no residual effects and kills fleas immediately during a bath.

Handmade natural goat milk soaps, for people and pets, are becoming more popular everyday! Learn the goat milk soap facts and discover the multiple skin care benefits!

Goat Milk Soap With Natural Colors

Goat milk soap has many interesting characteristics. Many people seek it out because of the feel and the properties the milk seems to lend to soap. Another plus to the soap lies in the color. Make it in what I consider the right way and you automatically get a colored soap, that sets it apart from soap made with water.

Make goat milk soap without controlling the heat of the lye and milk reaction and you get a burnt brown color. That's the look of milk soap that you may expect, but not me. I want my finished uncolored soap to have an almost ancient ivory color, just the slightest tan. You get that beautiful color by keeping the lye and milk mix cooled as you add lye to milk.

If you want other colors in your milk soap, that's easy to do too. You can use any of the pigments available, but I prefer to skip the high tech bright pigments and go for the natural source colors. Here are a few I use and what to expect form each.

Rose hips powder is a favorite and you can expect a pinkish color with this plant material. There are several ways to use this powder. My favorite is to add a bit to just a small amount of you mixed soap just after trace begins. Mix it well and then add that to the soap. That makes it much easier to get a good mix rather than trying to mix powder in a whole big batch of soap.

Another interesting material is Spirulina powder which of course is a type of algae. As you may expect, this gives you a green, really quite bright color, that holds well for a long time.

For a yellow-orange tint, try Turmeric powder. Like many of these natural colors this one is somewhat subtle, but very distinct.

Similar to Spirulina is Kelp. Except with kelp you get more of a pale gray-green shade. It really is more gray than green.

Annatto Seed shows up in commercial products as coloring often. It produces a light yellow-orange. This one works better by soaking the seeds in a portion of the base oils and then using that oil in the soap rather than adding the ground up seeds to the almost finished soap.

Beet Root Powder produces a long-lasting muddy yellow color. These yellow tints really look cool and work best if the base soap is a lighter tint and not really dark to start. That's another reason to carefully make your soap and avoid the burnt milk dark brown color.

Another plant material used to tint the base oils is the Calendula Blossom. Soak blossoms in oil and then use the oil in making soap to get a light yellow.

Finally, why not color with Paprika? Get red-orange tints with Paprika powder added to the almost finished soap liquid. Bright and long-lasting, Paprika red goes well with any number of soap fragrances.

If you want goat milk soap with natural colors, try to keep the uncolored soap lighter colored by controlling temperatures. One great option for colors in soap is the great variety of natural materials that produce colored soap easily.

Tips For Goats' Milk Soap Recipes

People love goats' milk soap! There are various forms of goat's milk soap recipes, some are extremely simple and others are significantly more complex. Below are some tips and tricks you can use when testing out recipes on your own.

When using goat's milk soap recipes, it is recommended that you first get the milk ice cold or even partially frozen. Of course, remember to always use protective goggles, gloves, and other safety equipment. The lye in this mix can be hazardous to your health and needs to be given the proper amount of respect during soap making.

Goats' Milk Soap Creation

A basic goat's milk soap recipe would include ice cold milk, oils, and lye. The amount you use depends on how many bars of soap you wish to produce.

The first step is to melt the oil in a stainless steel pot. Be careful when doing so since burnt oil produces terrible smelling soap. While this ingredient is slowly melting, combine the milk and the lye together in a separate bowl, slowly stirring with a wooden or plastic spoon. If you want a very light colored soap, take extra caution to add the lye slowly. The milk and lye will react when combined, therefore causing the mixture to heat up. Once the oils are in a liquid state, slowly add the lye-milk mixture to the oils. Add the oils to this mixture slowly and stir constantly and slowly. At this stage, you can use a stick blender on a low setting to aid with mixing.

To add fragrance to a basic recipe, essentials oils may be added to this mix. The scent and amount varies according to personal taste, so go ahead and experiment to find the scent combination that appeals to you. The oils should form a "trace" on the surface or lines on the top of the mixture before sinking and blending in. Pour the mixture into your soap molds and allow them to set for 24 hours.

The goats' milk soap should then be allowed to cure for 4 to 6 weeks before it can be used.