Oatmeal Milk & Honey Advice

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KatieShephard

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Hi all...I'm going to attempt my first oatmeal milk and honey soap this weekend and was hoping to get some feedback before my attempt. Ill be using a recipe that I've used before and liked. Only differences are that ill be adding the oatmeal and honey to it...and using a new FO (from WSP).

I have plain, rolled oats and plan to pulverize them in my coffee grinder, and add them to my oils before I add my lye solution. How much to add? 1 or 2 tsp per pound??

As for the honey...how much should I add and when? 1 tsp per pound of oils?

I'll be using coconut milk since I already have it and have used it before with good results. I don't want to change too many things at once since I'm still experimenting and learning.

I think I'll also be putting this in the fridge overnight so it doesn't overheat from the honey.

Am I on the right track? Thoughts? Opinions? Tips?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Don't know on the honey, I use sugar in the lye water before the lye is added. I'd personally stir the oats in after stick blending to ensure a solid trace and not be fooled on whether or not trace occurred because the oats blended in thick. Oats 1 tablespoon ppo I believe. Wsp omh I have. Didn't like it out of bottle, but made GM soap with it and honey saffron by bb. I didn't like that oob either. Together, there's a great earthiness....and I love almond which wsp omh does have. It is destinct enough to mention.
 
That FO is lovely, however it cures into more almondy than OMH. It soaps great, no problems there.
As for oats, I usually use about 2tbs per 1kg, which is around 2 pounds.
With honey, I would use maybe 1, 1.5 tbs tops as it will heat up. Make sure your lye water and oils are quite cool or everything will separate and turn into orange mess especially in long wooden molds. Don't ask me how I know. :)
Good luck!
 
Please, don't add your honey to your lye, or to the oils before the lye. It just makes it dark from the git-go. Add it at trace. The lye caramelizes the honey, that's why it gets so dark. I also pulverize my oats in a coffee grinder and use 1 tbsp ppo. I mix the lye with frozen goat's milk cubes. It comes out a lovely cream color, I do nothing to prevent gel, I actually encourage it, I think the soap has a nicer texture that way. On the left is ungelled, on the right, gelled. The ash forms on the ungelled because I use individual molds for my leftover batter, and I never remember to cover them :)

gelcomparison.jpg
 
I have used honey and oats in almost all the soaps I have made so far. Now it is not a lot of soaps since I am new about 6 batches with honey and oats total. My second recipe called for 3 oz of honey and 2 oz finely ground oats for about 5 lbs of soap. I melted the honey in about 2 oz of warm water that I took away from total water amount. I then added the honey and oats at a very light trace. The next batch I tried to put the honey in the lye water and it turned all orange and almost overheated on me. All part of my learning experience. Then the next time I did honey and milk I tried it hot process and I ended up with a dark brown caramel. not at all what I had planned but it actually worked well in that soap. I put jajoba oil after sponification and first tried the soap yesterday and fell in love with it. Glad I took great notes!!
 
Thanks everyone for all the advice! I think I'm going to do 1tbsp each of both oats and honey. I love Kats' idea of mixing the honey in some water first. I think ill do this (taking the water away from my original amount) and add it at trace.

I have high hopes for this soap...I hope the gremlins stay away this weekend!
 
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