Making Milk Soaps

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summerflyy

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So I just made my first batch of milk soaps today. I ran my recipe through the soap calculator and made sure everything is fine.

I froze up my milk and added the lye to the milk, I may have poured a little too quickly because there were like some specks and I am not sure if it's supposed to happen but it turned yellow? Like pastel yellow and when I added honey to the cooled lye, it turned a bit orange/red. Is that supposed to happen ?

When I added to the oil, it seemed fine though so ... I am a little confused. I may have been too adventurous !
 
When soaping with milks the slower you add the lye the lighter it will be. Make sure you stir it really well between additions to make sure the lye is dissolving. The specks could be undissolved lye. I actually use water to dissolve my lye and add my milks to my oils before adding the lye mixture. Also, adding the honey to your lye will cause it to turn orange. I add my honey to my oils as well or at very light trace.
 
Thank you ! I will do this the next time round and see how it turn out ! Phew, I am glad to know that it's normal for it to turn orange if honey is added ! I will attempt this another time and see what happens !
 
So ... I unmolded it even though I didn't expect to. The recipe I used was 70% OO, 20%CO and 10% AVO, 5% lye discount, 1 tsp of honey and 49g of milk. I was going for a small batch. I had to admit that it's an ugly soap because the milk carton I used as mold didn't exactly sat flat so .. I would have to trim it when I go home tonight.

photo32.jpg


The one on the left is made with the offending milk carton, the one on the right is in one of the small molds. It was hard on top but the sides were still a little soft. I should have waited till I come home from work tonight to unmold it but it looked really hard and so I didn't think about it.

Now I know. Just leave it for 24 hours. I admit that I am too impatient LOL. It looks like butter and some of the offending smell is slowly disappearing phew. Going to zap test it tomorrow and see if it's fine. I used some of the trimmings that fell off to try and it worked fine. IT LATHERS UP ! And there's no strange tingling sensation, so I suppose that it's rather successful. Going to trim and cut up when I am home !

This is an unscented, uncoloured plain jane bar but it's really fun to make. I suppose I need to either invest in a proper mold or find something that won't result in the bar on the left. My friend thought it was butter !
 
"This is an unscented, uncoloured plain jane bar but it's really fun to make."

You almost sound apologetic! You just made handcrafted, artisan, goat's milk soap, that is undoubtedly better than anything you've ever bought at the supermarket. BE PROUD, jump up and down, tell the neighbors, hire a plane to write it across the sky.......YOU MADE SOAP!!!!!! Wheeeeeee! Really wonderful soap! Good for you.....now make some more. :D And be sure to save the pic of this batch, you'll look back on it fondly some day.
 
"This is an unscented, uncoloured plain jane bar but it's really fun to make."

You almost sound apologetic! You just made handcrafted, artisan, goat's milk soap, that is undoubtedly better than anything you've ever bought at the supermarket. BE PROUD, jump up and down, tell the neighbors, hire a plane to write it across the sky.......YOU MADE SOAP!!!!!! Wheeeeeee! Really wonderful soap! Good for you.....now make some more. :D And be sure to save the pic of this batch, you'll look back on it fondly some day.

I am hella proud of it ! The only thing is the shape HAHAHHAA. I should have at least got a milk carton with a flat bottom ! But yea, I practically told everyone who would listen to me that I made soap. HAHA.

I CANNOT WAIT TO MAKE MORE !
 
"This is an unscented, uncoloured plain jane bar but it's really fun to make."

You almost sound apologetic! You just made handcrafted, artisan, goat's milk soap, that is undoubtedly better than anything you've ever bought at the supermarket. BE PROUD, jump up and down, tell the neighbors, hire a plane to write it across the sky.......YOU MADE SOAP!!!!!! Wheeeeeee! Really wonderful soap! Good for you.....now make some more. :D And be sure to save the pic of this batch, you'll look back on it fondly some day.

I love how encouraging you are! :)

Summerfly, you just made me want to go and buy goat's milk immediately :)
 
I love how encouraging you are! :)

Summerfly, you just made me want to go and buy goat's milk immediately :)

Go and do it ! If you have never made milk soaps before [I don't know how experienced you are], the only thing I can say is, when you add the lye to the milk, it would stink a little ! I didn't breathe in the fumes but it didn't smell good. The next day when I unmold it, it didn't smell as much ! So yea. And if you accidentally pour in the whole load like I did, don't be shocked [as I was] when the lye solution turned BRIGHT YELLOW. I wish I took a photo of it though LOL. And remember to pour it slowly, that was my mistake LOL.

And if you are an experienced soapper .... ignore me and go buy that goat's milk ! I am going to challenge the Soleseife recipe tonight when I get home ! :D !
 
I am hella proud of it ! The only thing is the shape HAHAHHAA. I should have at least got a milk carton with a flat bottom ! But yea, I practically told everyone who would listen to me that I made soap. HAHA.

I CANNOT WAIT TO MAKE MORE !

I'm telling you, once you get to use that soap, and feel for yourself how spectacular it is, you won't care a bit about the shape. The goal in the beginning is a successful batch of soap. You did that. All the rest, that deals with it's appearance, is just icing on the cake and can come later. Yours looks creamy and wonderful to me. Nice job!
 
I'm telling you, once you get to use that soap, and feel for yourself how spectacular it is, you won't care a bit about the shape. The goal in the beginning is a successful batch of soap. You did that. All the rest, that deals with it's appearance, is just icing on the cake and can come later. Yours looks creamy and wonderful to me. Nice job!

THANK YOU ! I am going to slice off the ends and try it for myself when I get home. I would also do a zap test later on. I am very excited ! IS IT EVEN NORMAL !?
 
In my experience, yes goat milk soap smells very weird on the beginning. As it cures that smell goes away.
 
Thank you AKJulz, good to know that it's normal, lol !

I kept smelling my tester bar every day to see if the smell goes away.
 
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