How to Make Goat Milk Soap – a natural cold process recipe

Goat milk soap is a classic handmade soap that is sought after for a reason.

The milk added to soap makes such a moisturizing soap that it’s a traditionally THE soap to buy from artisan soap makers. It can make a hard soap bar that’s long lasting, especially when made with tallow, and so wonderfully conditioning for the skin that it can even double as a shampoo bar as well!

Why Make Goat Milk Soap

I mentioned above how goat milk soap is moisturizing. Goat’s milk is even better is soap than cow’s milk, because it’s higher than beta-casein (fat content). This raising the superfat content in the soap and therefore increases the moisturizing content.

Goat milk also has Vitamins A, B6, B12, E as well as minerals like magnesium, potassium, and selenium. These do not get destroyed in the soap making process. Remember that your skin is the largest organ of your body. What you put on your skin matters.

Got milk is also full of alpha-hydroxy acids. Alpha-Hydroxy acids soften skin by helping to break the bond between dead skin cells. This helps to remove dead skin cells from the surface of your skin while you wash, making your skin look younger and more healthy.

Lastly, goat milk soap is naturally antibacterial. Those with acne prone skin do well with a goat milk soap because it’s not overtripping, but cleanses really well, moisturizes, and then helps kill bacteria better than other soaps.

How to Add Goat Milk to Soap

If you are new to soap making, you may not know that anything with herbs or sugars, even natural sugars like those found in milk, can cause scalding when lye is added.

Typically, after the water and lye are weighed and taken outside, the lye is slowly added and stirred until dissolved. When spirulina, aloe, and other herbs are added to the water before the lye is added, it results in a dark lye water. This is actually a benefit when it comes to adding color to soap. Lye water can deepen colors, which is why some herbs are added to the lye water directly instead of to the oils or at trace.

But when adding lye to milk, the milk can scald and separate. This stinks, literally. If this happens it’s not the end of the world. The scent can be covered up with essential oils for scent and the coloring will be a deep cream to creamy brown color. But its better not to scald the milk. There are ways to do this!

3 Ways to Add Milk

1. Add powdered goat’s milk to the oils. Instead of using goat’s milk for the lye water, use the same amount as water and make your lye water as usual. Then, add powdered goat’s milk to the oils and blend well before adding the lye water as you usually would with a cold process soap recipe.
2. Reduce the amount of goat’s milk in the recipe and add water instead. So, instead of adding 100% goat’s milk, add 30% goat’s milk directly to the oils and use the other 70% as the water that you will dissolve the lye into. If you want to use mostly or all goat’s milk, then use the next method.
3. Freeze the goat’s milk! Ideally you’ll want to make it almost frozen, but not fully. That slushy stage. Then when you add the lye to the goat’s milk, it will heat the milk, but not be able to rise the temperature to a degree that will actually scald it.

Goat Milk Soap Recipe

Here it is!

This great soap recipe makes 2 pounds or 8 four ounce bars. This fits most 2lb block molds and most silicone molds like these.

The superfat content is at 10%, making this a very moisturizing soap, while still cleansing wonderfully.

Equipment Needed

• Large stainless steel pot
• Large spoon
• Kitchen scale
• 2 Large glass bowls
• Small glass bowl
• Rubber spatula
• stick blender
• zip close bag for lye
• 2lb soap mold

Ingredients:

• 7 ounces tallow
• 4 ounces coconut oil
• 4 ounces castor oil
• 2 ounces apricot kernel oil
• 1 ounce hazelnut oil
• 1 ounce avocado oil
• 2.5 ounces lye
• 6 ounces goat milk
• 0.65 essential oil of choice

Directions:

1. Combine the tallow, coconut oil, castor oil, apricot kernel oil, hazelnut oil, and avocado oil in a large stainless steel pot on medium heat until melted. Remove from heat and cool until oils are around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Weigh goat milk and freeze. Weigh lye in zip close bag and set aside until goat milk is ready.
3. When goat milk is frozen, take it and the lye outside to combine. Wear gloves, charcoal mask, and goggles and pour the lye into the goat milk and stir until dissolved. Cool until around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. When both oils and lye milk is at the proper temperatures, pour the lye milk into the oils and blend with a stick blender until light trace.
5. When soap is at light trace, add the essential oil or combination of essential oils that you desire and blend.
6. Pour soap into the prepared mold and cover.
7. After 24 hours, remove from the mold and cut if necessary. Cure for 3-6 weeks until the soap is hard.

Here’s the recipe again in printable form. Enjoy!

For more Goat Milk Soap recipes, try these:

• How to Make Goat Milk and Honey Shampoo Bars
• Goat Milk Blackberry Soap Recipe
• Soap for Men – How to Make 3 Hot & Cold Process Recipes
• How to Add Milk to Soap