1st goat milk soap...ugh

[Holly8991]

The smell....oh the smell....

I used a PVC tube (which I will totally use again!) It smelled like ammonia so badly i was gagging. Well I untubed it and it was so pretty! I light creamy color. So i cut it and it still smells horrible, BUT....my hands smelled like the fragrance and not the ammonia?
Hopefully after it cures it will be ok? What do you think? Anyone experienced this?

 

[Obsidian]

That's fairly normal, the smell will go away with cure.

 

[Holly8991]

Whew!! My sons and husband are usually my guinea pigs and they were like NO WAY

 

[shunt2011]

Yep, it will disappear with cure. Milk soaps especially animal milks get a funky smell.

 

[psfred]

Some of the protein in the milk (and probably other things containing ammonia groups) get hydrolyzed by the lye, making free ammonia. It will evaporate from the soap during cure since it's quite volatile at high pH. It can be stinky for a while though.

 

[penelopejane]

Or use the split method and avoid the smell altogether!

 

[soapmaker]

Everyone's noses and recipes are different. I never found the smell that obnoxious. I just ignore it and it will go away just like we all would if we were ignored! (similar to your health......ignore it and it will go away.)

 

[bbr]

I’ve found a direct correlation between ammonia smell and soaping temps. The lower the temp, the less the smell.

I make an unscented Goat milk soap, and after cure the ammonia smell is completely gone.

 

[NsMar42111]

It does go away but yep it stinks!

 

[Holly8991]

The amonia smell is completely gone now and smell like the Hibiscus FO I put in it.

 

[Spice]

Wow, I threw out my goat milk thinking I ruin it. I am so blessed to know that it was perfect. It had that amonia smell....only at the end, after I added more than the usual that I had been putting in (a tlb sp at a time). I can now rest assure that it was good and it would have been beautiful, I will have a peaceful sleep tonite .
So that smell must come from the amount being poured because it was great till I got impatient and added a tlb sp and one half...that’s all it took(I had three tlb sp to go)
My take is that we have to love what we do, even if it takes hours. Its like cooking a meal that takes hours, or get take out.