First time soap maker looking for a honey almond oatmeal goats milk soap recipe

[Shadyduk1979]

While I appreciate the whole "do it all by hand" thing, get a stick blender - unless you are REALLY doing everything by hand (did you make your mixing bowl by hand?), leaving this one thing out will make soaping such a pain.

i actually have a few hand formed mixing bowls, but that was done out of necessity not just because lol. I needed a bowl, stores did not have what i needed but i had stainless sheet. Not a big deal.

If your wife's best friend sells M&P, she may know some CP soapers. It sounds like you don't necessarily want to take this up as a hobby, more like just make some soap for your own personal use. I'm a hobbyist and I LOVE having people over who are interested in making soap! So you may find somebody who'd be willing to have you over to their home or come to your home and let you use their equipment and ingredients for free, or for a small amount of $. I had over 2 friends and we made soap and lip balm. One of them handed me a $20 as a thank you (I tried to give it back but she wouldn't take it.) That $20 MORE than covered the cost of ingredients and materials for me, but they would have spent far more than $20 in order to get ingredients, equipment, etc.

She actually does not. We are talking about getting together once i have it down and doing a batch together. The soap thing has really brought the two of us closer which is nice. I used to just spend time with her husband, now i feel like i cheated myself by not getting to know her better.

I want to say i won't take it up as a hobby, but who knows. If i can make my own soap, maybe shampoo as well i will be a pretty happy camper. But as with any skill i am always willing to teach people.

 

[Susie]

I am going to warn you now that soap making is the most addictive hobby I have ever seen. You think you are just going to make this one batch every few months, and that's it. Then you see a suggestion for this oil, or that wonderful recipe, not to mention those additives. And OH, you can make LAUNDRY SOAP, SHAVING SOAP, AND SHAMPOO! Then it is just too late...you are a soaper.

 

[Shadyduk1979]

I am going to warn you now that soap making is the most addictive hobby I have ever seen. You think you are just going to make this one batch every few months, and that's it. Then you see a suggestion for this oil, or that wonderful recipe, not to mention those additives. And OH, you can make LAUNDRY SOAP, SHAVING SOAP, AND SHAMPOO! Then it is just too late...you are a soaper.

It does fit me to do all of that. I prefer to do as much as possible on my own. I would much rather build/make than buy. i don't have many thing that i haven't either build from scratch or repaired. Machines are easy, provide my own heat with fallen trees, make my own booze, grow our food... etc

 

[Susie]

You are a soaper already. You just did not know it yet. Welcome to the addiction!

 

[Dahila]

It does fit me to do all of that. I prefer to do as much as possible on my own. I would much rather build/make than buy. i don't have many thing that i haven't either build from scratch or repaired. Machines are easy, provide my own heat with fallen trees, make my own booze, grow our food... etc

yeah :-D I wanted to make salve and I ended up making everything from scratch, I do bake my own bread from scratch with sourdough starter. I make my own yogurt and kefir, then soaps even one liquid soap thanks to Irishlass and Susie)

I bet a lot of people like me are on this forum; people who can make their own clothes and furniture. This kind of people tend to group

welcome to the forum and say hello to your new addiction. I agree with Susie wholeheartly.

Please, do not mind my accent and style of writing, English is my second language,

 

[Sislea]

I'm a newbie as well......I actually started making my own laundry soap when I for some crazy reason in my adult life developed Dermatographic urticaria aka skin writing disorder AKA dermographism. Did it help...heck no but it felt good making laundry soap and knowing my families clothes are being cleaned with my own special sweat and hard labor No really, it was nothing but it got me "itching" to make our bar soap considering I am not the only one in my household with some form of skin problems. So here I am :clap:

 

[reinbeau]

I will point out that it is usually considered bad form to copy a soap maker's formula. Use the idea as a base, but you really should come up with your own recipe. Who knows, maybe you will get to the point that you want to sell - and you would not want someone coming along and copying your product!

But welcome to the forums, these are a great bunch of people. I have had a blast since I started a month ago!

Umm - if someone publishes their recipe as a tutorial there is absolutely nothing wrong with using it. You need to learn what you're doing before you can branch out into your own recipe territory. That's why people post recipes, so others can learn and then grow.

To the OP, I created a New Soaper blog post, I hope you find something in it of use to you.

 

[ClaraSuds]

but when I tried to make soap the first time, it took me over 2 hours of stirring, and still did not get trace. I just poured at emulsification. I would never do without a stick blender now.

I do without a stick blender all the time. You don't have to stand there and stir. I just stir for about 5 mins to get all the oil mixed with the lye, pop a lid on it and go do something else for a couple of hours. Return, stir again for a few mins and repeat until light trace. Sure it does take hours to trace but it doesn't need you standing over it the whole time either. I do soaping on busy days, 10mins to get everything in the pot together. Occassional stirring, maybe about 30mins in total, in 5 min lots to check on progress. 6hrs later pour it into a mold. Easy! The big advantage for me is I never have to worry about oil temps and overheating, by the time it reaches trace its room temp.

One of the easiest milk soaps I ever did was 100% olive oil, a water discount and coconut milk added after emulsion. Could probably add oats at that time too. Never tried it with cow or goats milk but I can't imagine it would be much different.

 

[BubblesnBears]

Forum has just eaten my rather lengthy reply...this one will be a bit shorter

I find the easiest way to add milk is to pre-freeze fresh milk and use (by weight, not volume) a 50:50 to 75:25 mix of frozen milk to water. I'd also (personally - not sure what others here think?) ever use more than 2-3 tbsp (that's an aussie tbsp = 20ml) of honey per 1kg or so of oils - especially in combination with milk as it's a good recipe for superheating and if you're really "lucky" (as I found out my first time making a milk & honey soap) a pretty spectacular soap volcano :mrgreen:

Laura

 

[OliveOil2]

I made my first batch without a stick blender, it took a crazy amount of time. I use a stick blender now, but some batches need less blending than others. I think the difference is that I learned what to watch for in the texture and thickness of a batch.
I much prefer using the 50/50 split method for adding milk, especially for someone starting out. You could even stir in less milk than 50% on your first milk batch, using water for the difference. Honey is a heater, and also has to be well incorporated, or you will have dark spots.

 

[jules92207]

A lot of great advice here, have you checked out soapcalc yet? I'm happy to share some recipes I like, I don't mind, but you will need to learn how to input it into soapcalc.

I tend to like this percentage:
Olive oil 40%
Palm oil 25%
Avocado oil 10%
Almond oil 10%
coconut oil 10%
Castor oil 5%

I use full milk in milk soaps and freeze them into cubes. When you mix in the lye you will want to stir longer than you think you need to make sure your lye is fully dissolved. Watch some videos on milk soap making, soap queen's really helped me figure out the lye thing. Before that I had to throw away batches with lye crystals in them.

I also add baby oatmeal and honey melted in a little hot water added at trace, if you feel like exploring options.

Welcome to the addiction!

 

[Shadyduk1979]

yeah :-D I wanted to make salve and I ended up making everything from scratch, I do bake my own bread from scratch with sourdough starter. I make my own yogurt and kefir, then soaps even one liquid soap thanks to Irishlass and Susie)

I bet a lot of people like me are on this forum; people who can make their own clothes and furniture. This kind of people tend to group

welcome to the forum and say hello to your new addiction. I agree with Susie wholeheartly.

Please, do not mind my accent and style of writing, English is my second language,

Sounds like i already fit in here lol. When i was growing up being able to be self sufficient was a necessity, not a choice. We were not well off and lived well off the beaten path. Town i grew up in was all postal routes, not streets. I think i grew up like most peoples grandparents did. My peers cannot grasp this for the most part(i am 30). I will run out in a few and grab a blender. We did our valentine's day stuff yesterday to beat the crowds, so today i can do a run. With yet another foot of snow arriving tonight on top of the 8 we already have i think we might lose power so i want to get my bread, booze and soap done today so if the power goes out, i can just relax.

 

[reinbeau]

<snip..>With yet another foot of snow arriving tonight on top of the 8 we already have i think we might lose power so i want to get my bread, booze and soap done today so if the power goes out, i can just relax.

Side jaunt, but howdy, neighbor - well, sorta. You only have 8"? We have a solid 40" snowpack and are expecting another foot here on the South Shore/Hanson area!

 

[Shadyduk1979]

Side jaunt, but howdy, neighbor - well, sorta. You only have 8"? We have a solid 40" snowpack and are expecting another foot here on the South Shore/Hanson area!

8 feet in total snow here near Worcester. About 5 feet of snowpack in the yard.

 

[reinbeau]

Ah, now that's more like it

 

[Dahila]

I have a foot of snow on my car, still snowing.........

 

[BubblesnBears]

^ wanna swap? I was stuck outside at a family get together today...nearly 40°C in the shade :shock:

 

[Shadyduk1979]

^ wanna swap? I was stuck outside at a family get together today...nearly 40°C in the shade :shock:

Thats toasty... can't imagine watching v8 supercars in that heat

 

[Sislea]

I want to see some snow! Our weather men are being funny. They claim we will have some possibly Tuesday!! :clap: