About to make my first goat milk soap w/ oatmeal!

[AshleyR]

I'm going to be making my first goat milk soap with ground oatmeal in it. I have two questions:

1. Can I use ground "instant" oatmeal (Quaker) in it, or should I use regular steel cut oats? I think I remember reading somewhere that instant oats would just get slimy and soggy in soap?

2. Do Oatmeal, Milk & Honey fragrances tend to have vanilla in them? I'm thinking so? I ordered mine from Saffire Blue and am curious if it is going to discolour my soap. I guess I will find out soon enough, but just thought it'd be nice to have a heads up. I'm really hoping it turns out nice and light!

Thanks! I'll post pictures!

 

[laulow]

What Recipe did you use

I have used oatmeal in my goat milk soap and loved it! I am looking for other recipes to use since I am fairly new I don't have that many that I can say "are good" ones to use. Would you mind sharing?

Thanks,
Laurie

 

[IrishLass]

I'm not sure about the sogginess factor since I've never used 'instant' oats in my soap before. Maybe someone who has done so will chime in.

I use baby oatmeal in mine because I didn't like the scratchiness that other oatmeals added to my soap, even though I had finely ground the others to a flour-like consistancy first. Baby oatmeal just can't be beat in my book.

I have an Oatmeal, Milk & Honey scent from Oregon trails and it goes deep brown in my CP. I hate deep brown soap, so I don't use it for CP anymore. Instead, what I use for my goatmilk/oatmeal/honey soaps is Daystar's Buttermilk and Honey F/O. The soaps I make with it don't ever go brown. It goes medium-tan, but I don't know if that's because of the honey content or the F/O. I only use a little bit to barely enhance the natural smell of the honey and oats that come through.

If you have any way of finding out the level of vanilla content in your F/O, you'll know whether it will go brown or not. A lot of 'foodie' scents have vanilla in them, but it depends on how much vanilla is in them as to whether or not your soap will turn brown. Hopefully someone who uses the same one as you will chime in.


IrishLass

 

[Jaaret]

Oatmeal

I use whole Quaker oats, grinding it with a coffee grinder and then sifting the resulting flour through a fine mesh strainer. I don't find it to be scratchy but I like the tip on using baby oatmeal and am going to try that.

I have found that ground oatmeal absorbs water and that seems to speed up trace. My hunch is that the oatmeal absorbs some water and makes the lye more concentrated. THe last two batches I made with oatmeal actually heated up and heave in the mold. (I wrote about this a few days ago in the thread I started, "Soap heaves and heats up in the mold.")
I would suggest making your lye a little more dilute to account for this.

I've had friends recognize the oatmeal scent in the finished bars so keep that in mind when you choose your fragrances.

 

[Bunny]

I like to use either oat flour or baby oatmeal. As was already mentioned, baby oatmeal is very nice.... zero scratchiness. Oat flour is pretty fine but does add just the slightest teensiest bit of exfoliation, which is fine enough for facial use even. Love it!