Goat/cow milk soap. Need help.

[mymy]

I know this is not appropriate to be asked over and over again but I just want to double check the method of making milk soap. Please do forgive me.

My main target is to obtain milky white soap. Slightly brown is quite ok I guess.

1st method- Freeze 100% milk as water and melt it by pouring lye slowly on top of it so the milk won't burn. Blend with oil and keep it inside a fridge to prevent gelling.

2nd method- 50% water 50%milk. Dissolve lye with water, blend with oil and add milk upon trace. Store in a fridge.

3rd method - I got from soap loving blog. 1:1 lye to water. Mix milk with oil and then add the lye solution in. This method requires no milk freezing and store batter in a cool place.

Which method works best based on your experience?

 

[Arimara]

Milk soaps, unless you're going to use titanium oxide, are generally going to be a little discolored thanks to the sugars in them. I did read that coconut milk was an exception. My buttermilk soap was made with buttermilk powder and it gelled. It would have been a much lighter beige than what it was if I had not let if gel. So sticking your soap in the freezer or fridge for a while may help.

By the way, I used the 3rd method but not in those ratios. I used 2:1 water to lye and had a heck of a time figuring out how much powder to use.

 

[lsg]

I use cream and water as my liquid. I dissolve the lye in water and add the cream at thin trace. After the soap is poured into the mold, I pop the mold into the freezer and leave it for at least 12 hours. This is the only way that I have have been able to prevent gel. My soap stays creamy white this way. Please note, that adding fragrance oils with vanilla will discolor soap.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

For those that have done both - does adding the milk after the cook avoid the brownness but still give the benefits of having milk in a soap? Or should the milk interact with the lye in some way to get the benefits that we know and love? Just wondering if there is an option 4 here, add it after the cook in HP

 

[Arimara]

Found something helpful (I hope):

http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/how-to-make-soap-with-milk/

 

[Obsidian]

I used method #3, make sure the lye solution is chilled before adding to the oils and leave the mold in the fridge overnight. My recent batch of goats milk soap is a nice light creamy ivory. If you want it very white, you'll need to use TD.

 

[mymy]

Milk soaps, unless you're going to use titanium oxide, are generally going to be a little discolored thanks to the sugars in them. I did read that coconut milk was an exception. My buttermilk soap was made with buttermilk powder and it gelled. It would have been a much lighter beige than what it was if I had not let if gel. So sticking your soap in the freezer or fridge for a while may help.

By the way, I used the 3rd method but not in those ratios. I used 2:1 water to lye and had a heck of a time figuring out how much powder to use.

I try to avoid colorants as much as I could because I like it natural and more importantly I want to use milk soap on my face. So I must skip TD this time.
Hmmmm you used powdered milk, how much did u put inside if I may know? Thank you for the share!

I use cream and water as my liquid. I dissolve the lye in water and add the cream at thin trace. After the soap is poured into the mold, I pop the mold into the freezer and leave it for at least 12 hours. This is the only way that I have have been able to prevent gel. My soap stays creamy white this way. Please note, that adding fragrance oils with vanilla will discolor soap.

Thank you for the tips! What was the ratio of water, lye and cream? I assume cream will just work as good as yoghurt?

For those that have done both - does adding the milk after the cook avoid the brownness but still give the benefits of having milk in a soap? Or should the milk interact with the lye in some way to get the benefits that we know and love? Just wondering if there is an option 4 here, add it after the cook in HP

I am scared to try HP while working with milk. Plus this is my first time. I have the same idea like yours too.

Found something helpful (I hope):

http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/how-to-make-soap-with-milk/

Thank you!

I used method #3, make sure the lye solution is chilled before adding to the oils and leave the mold in the fridge overnight. My recent batch of goats milk soap is a nice light creamy ivory. If you want it very white, you'll need to use TD.

Slightly brownish is okay with me. If it turned out as coffee color I will be very sad.

 

[shunt2011]

I use the 50/50 split method. I add the milk to my oils before the cooled lye mixture. I gel my soaps and it's an ivory/pale beige.

 

[lsg]

My ratio is about 66% water and 33% cream.

 

[cmzaha]

I try to avoid colorants as much as I could because I like it natural and more importantly I want to use milk soap on my face. So I must skip TD this time.
Hmmmm you used powdered milk, how much did u put inside if I may know? Thank you for the share!

TD is a natural oxide found in food, toothpaste, sunscreen, candy, etc, and known to be one of the whitest naturally occurring substances on earth. I soap with 50/50 lye solution, using milk for the remaining liquid. After adding my lye solution to my oil I mix a little then add in the milk Many times I mix powdered milk with the liquid milk to up the strength

ETA: I put all my milk soaps in the freezer to prevent gel. Sometimes it works sometimes not if I use an overheating fo, fortunately I do not mind the look of partial gel

 

[lovinglife]

I use 100% goat milk for water, freeze in cubes, then make sure they are melted a bit for when I start adding the lye, I put my bowl in my sink with some ice water to keep it nice and cool. I get the lye disolved with no problems, it stays cool, if I don't use a discoloring fragrance it stays creamy colored, plus the color of your oils will affect the color of your soap. Use your fridge or freezer to put your soap in if you don't want gel. I don't like using a lot of colors in my soaps as I can't stand to have colored bubbles or hands. Only thing I use is natural clays to give a tint of color and they will lather with color is over used, so mine are all pastels or plain with a light swirl for variety. Some of my fragrances color a dark brown, but no colored lather so far from that.

 

[mymy]

My ratio is about 66% water and 33% cream.

Thanks!

I use the 50/50 split method. I add the milk to my oils before the cooled lye mixture. I gel my soaps and it's an ivory/pale beige.

Great! So both oil and lye are cooled down? But when a batter is gelling, temperature's rising isn't it? Hmmmm. Maybe there's a range of temperature that ensures the milk will not be scorched during gelling. Depends on the initial mixing temperature i guess. Gosh so many questions. Sorry :'(

TD is a natural oxide found in food, toothpaste, sunscreen, candy, etc, and known to be one of the whitest naturally occurring substances on earth. I soap with 50/50 lye solution, using milk for the remaining liquid. After adding my lye solution to my oil I mix a little then add in the milk Many times I mix powdered milk with the liquid milk to up the strength

My supplier told me that TD is dangerous to be used that is why I'm scared to use it. Thank you for your explanation cmzaha. Now I know that it's safe

I use 100% goat milk for water, freeze in cubes, then make sure they are melted a bit for when I start adding the lye, I put my bowl in my sink with some ice water to keep it nice and cool. I get the lye disolved with no problems, it stays cool, if I don't use a discoloring fragrance it stays creamy colored, plus the color of your oils will affect the color of your soap. Use your fridge or freezer to put your soap in if you don't want gel. I don't like using a lot of colors in my soaps as I can't stand to have colored bubbles or hands. Only thing I use is natural clays to give a tint of color and they will lather with color is over used, so mine are all pastels or plain with a light swirl for variety. Some of my fragrances color a dark brown, but no colored lather so far from that.

Thank you for your brief explanation lovinglife. I guess there are few factors that could change the color of milk soap after it went through gelling. Like you said, oil. I couldn't agree more on this, I'll keep it in mind. My saltbars are colored with blue mica and I had a rough time cleaning the pots I used to mix the batter. Bummer.

 

[Obsidian]

I don't have any pics of my recent goat milk soap but this is my very first soap made, I used 100% chilled goat milk and added the lye in very slowly. I kept the pitcher in a bowl of ice so the solution never got hot. My recent batch is the same color, neither were gelled.

 

[mymy]

Lovely color u have there Obsidian. I like it! Hmmmm something is wrong here, I can not upload pictures that I would like to show.

 

[snappyllama]

TD is quite safe - I'm worried about what else your supplier has gotten wrong. You can also explore natural colors using oil infusions: do a search here to see some fabulous results and tips. To get lovely color from mica and avoid colored bubbles, consider coloring only a small portion of your batter with the mica.

Pretty much every soap I make contains goat milk or coconut milk. I've tried the split method and iced milk method. Both produce identical results so long as you soap cool and avoid gel. Keep an ice batch handy in case things heat up and a spot in your freezer/fridge in case the batter decides it wants to heat up.

Tip for cleaning-up: procrastinate! Wipe out what you can. Then leave those batter-splattered dishes to saponify by locking them up in a bucket out of reach of kids, pets, and other people. When you get back to them, you'll just have soap residue to wash. Just get your stickblender clean - soaping residue inside its bell is a pita to clean later.

 

[shunt2011]

TD is perfectly safe, I don't know where your supplier is getting their information or why they are saying such a thing. Many of my cosmetic contain TD and it's also used for sunscreen.

 

[mymy]

TD is quite safe - I'm worried about what else your supplier has gotten wrong. You can also explore natural colors using oil infusions: do a search here to see some fabulous results and tips. To get lovely color from mica and avoid colored bubbles, consider coloring only a small portion of your batter with the mica.

Pretty much every soap I make contains goat milk or coconut milk. I've tried the split method and iced milk method. Both produce identical results so long as you soap cool and avoid gel. Keep an ice batch handy in case things heat up and a spot in your freezer/fridge in case the batter decides it wants to heat up.

Tip for cleaning-up: procrastinate! Wipe out what you can. Then leave those batter-splattered dishes to saponify by locking them up in a bucket out of reach of kids, pets, and other people. When you get back to them, you'll just have soap residue to wash. Just get your stickblender clean - soaping residue inside its bell is a pita to clean later.

Thank you snappyllama! Yes, I've no idea that TD is safe until cmzaha wrote bout it. My supplier told me that TD is used to stabilize something that I couldn't recall. Haha. Anyway, it does not matter now as I am leaning to make soap with natural colorant such as tumeric, spirulina and more. Now I want to try milk soap. One question, what if the batter is suddenly gelling inside the fridge? Anything that I can do?

 

[cgpeanut]

I know this is not appropriate to be asked over and over again but I just want to double check the method of making milk soap. Please do forgive me.

My main target is to obtain milky white soap. Slightly brown is quite ok I guess.

1st method- Freeze 100% milk as water and melt it by pouring lye slowly on top of it so the milk won't burn. Blend with oil and keep it inside a fridge to prevent gelling.

2nd method- 50% water 50%milk. Dissolve lye with water, blend with oil and add milk upon trace. Store in a fridge.

3rd method - I got from soap loving blog. 1:1 lye to water. Mix milk with oil and then add the lye solution in. This method requires no milk freezing and store batter in a cool place.

Which method works best based on your experience?

I use method 3. I don't do the the method 2 because lye must be mixed with an equal amount of water and unless you are sure 1/2 of the liquid in the recipe that you will use in method # 2 in you water meets the requirement for the lye to dissolve you could run into problems.

 

[mymy]

TD is perfectly safe, I don't know where your supplier is getting their information or why they are saying such a thing. Many of my cosmetic contain TD and it's also used for sunscreen.

Yes, now I know that is it safe to use. Credits to this forum members!

Maybe they just don't want to encourage me to use colorant as I'm new in soapmaking though.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Then why say it is unsafe? A supplier that would lie to me instead of just saying "maybe hold off on that for now" is a bad supplier.