I'm really interested in making some moisturizing soaps and I know milk creams are notorious for it's moisturizing properties (some milks more than others).
For those that don't know, whole milk has about 3.5% milk fat and heavy cream varies by brand from 36-42% from what I have found.
I've read that milk can be used in place of water for the lye mix but by doing this it may lead to curdling of the milk and turning a gross orange (and maybe lumpy). To avoid this a neat trick is to freeze the milk and cream before hand. I do this in ice cube trays and I've found that what works best is using really small cube's or only filling the cavity to a certain level. I measure out 15ml with a syringe and fill each cavity. It doesn't take long with a 60ml syringe as one filling will do 4 cubes. One of the reasons to keep them small is when mixing the lye surface area is key in keeping the mixture cool.
I recently did this with 300g milk, 80g of cream & 147g of NaOH. I sprinkled 1/4 of the lye, mixed thoroughly coating all the cubes, added another 1/4, mixed, and continued until it was melted and dissolved. The liquid remained a nice white and stayed cool-ish until finally reaching the final temp of 84 degree F. The only thing is that it slowly turned a yellowish color with a slight tint of orange, which was not wanted. IDK if this can be avoided in the future and I have some ideas of how I might be able to avoid this.
I used a 1 qt pyrex measuring cup to mix and next time I think I will try a stainless steel bowl and have it in a water bath while mixing. I'll try cold water, maybe a few ice cubes, but nothing major. This alone should make a big difference compared to the pyrex cup/bowl.
What I need to hear from the community is how to factor in the values of milk (if it needs to) and the value of heavy cream (milk fat). I see on the Lye calculator that there is a section for milk fat but that doesn't say what exactly they mean as milk fat is and what concentration (%) it is.
Also, does anyone have any experience with powdered or evaporated milk and how does that work with the soap?
Finally if milk is used and let's say that it has a 10% milk fat % (some cream was added to the milk) and this liquid is used instead of water for the lye mix. Is the lye going to saponify while dissolving into the liquid and is that going to hurt anything?
Any important info regarding milk & cream is greatly appreciated especially if a specific type of animal milk or cream has better qualities. (ex, buffalo milk has roughly 8% fat while goat and bovine average around 3.8%.
For those that don't know, whole milk has about 3.5% milk fat and heavy cream varies by brand from 36-42% from what I have found.
I've read that milk can be used in place of water for the lye mix but by doing this it may lead to curdling of the milk and turning a gross orange (and maybe lumpy). To avoid this a neat trick is to freeze the milk and cream before hand. I do this in ice cube trays and I've found that what works best is using really small cube's or only filling the cavity to a certain level. I measure out 15ml with a syringe and fill each cavity. It doesn't take long with a 60ml syringe as one filling will do 4 cubes. One of the reasons to keep them small is when mixing the lye surface area is key in keeping the mixture cool.
I recently did this with 300g milk, 80g of cream & 147g of NaOH. I sprinkled 1/4 of the lye, mixed thoroughly coating all the cubes, added another 1/4, mixed, and continued until it was melted and dissolved. The liquid remained a nice white and stayed cool-ish until finally reaching the final temp of 84 degree F. The only thing is that it slowly turned a yellowish color with a slight tint of orange, which was not wanted. IDK if this can be avoided in the future and I have some ideas of how I might be able to avoid this.
I used a 1 qt pyrex measuring cup to mix and next time I think I will try a stainless steel bowl and have it in a water bath while mixing. I'll try cold water, maybe a few ice cubes, but nothing major. This alone should make a big difference compared to the pyrex cup/bowl.
What I need to hear from the community is how to factor in the values of milk (if it needs to) and the value of heavy cream (milk fat). I see on the Lye calculator that there is a section for milk fat but that doesn't say what exactly they mean as milk fat is and what concentration (%) it is.
Also, does anyone have any experience with powdered or evaporated milk and how does that work with the soap?
Finally if milk is used and let's say that it has a 10% milk fat % (some cream was added to the milk) and this liquid is used instead of water for the lye mix. Is the lye going to saponify while dissolving into the liquid and is that going to hurt anything?
Any important info regarding milk & cream is greatly appreciated especially if a specific type of animal milk or cream has better qualities. (ex, buffalo milk has roughly 8% fat while goat and bovine average around 3.8%.
. Also, when I said 15ml, that is just the amount I use as it is close enough to H20 in being 1g/ml and when I do my oils, water/milk and lye it is all done on a scale so that takes care of that! It's much faster to just squirt 15ml on the syringe and not have to worry about hitting 15g on the nose on a scale especially b/c some always sticks to the tray or other losses. 
