# Goat Milk Soap



## trestlecreek (Sep 2, 2009)

Do I have any fellow soap making folks on here?


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## broke down ranch (Sep 2, 2009)

I would LOVE to be one of your fellow soap makers but I can't find lye ANYWHERE but ordering online and I surely don't need as much as I'd have to buy THEN pay shipping.

Goat-milk soap is the best thing since showers....


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## trestlecreek (Sep 2, 2009)

I agree, Goat Milk soap rocks!!! 
My sons skin breaks out with most soaps, but with my soap, his skin stays nice and pretty.  I have customers that use it for their hair, they claim it calms it down. I also have men customers that swear by using it to shave. I happen to use it for shaving in the shower myself. No dry skin and I don't have to use lotion!

Have you tried Menards, Lowes, or your grocery store for the lye? It's usually found in the section that has the plumbing chemicals. I found the last container at Menards for around $3.00.


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## broke down ranch (Sep 2, 2009)

We don't have Menards here. I have checked Lowes and so far nothing..... :/

My husband LOVES the goat milk soap. He swears if used soon after brushing up against stuff like poison ivy it will get rid of it. I will be saddened when we run out.....


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## trestlecreek (Sep 2, 2009)

You can try your grocery store too, I have found it there before.


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## helmstead (Sep 2, 2009)

I found my lye at Ace Hardware!  I have all the stuff, just haven't made the time to make a batch...


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## trestlecreek (Sep 2, 2009)

Ohhhh Kate, you'll love it!!!
I have to make some myself. I'm starting to run low on supply.


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## helmstead (Sep 2, 2009)

How long do you usually cure it?


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## lilhill (Sep 2, 2009)

I just finished curing my first batch of soap, and it's wonderful!  Getting ready to start the second batch and then I'll have to wait until kids start coming to get more milk.  Love it!

Kate, I cured mine for a month.  

I found the lye at Ace Hardware.  They have it under lock and key now.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 2, 2009)

Yeppers, I cure mine for 30 days at least.
I pop them out of the mold within 1-3 days, then let it sit up on my cabinets on the wire rack the rest of the time.
Soap making is addicting!! LOL. Once I get on a roll, I end up making every variety! he,he


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## broke down ranch (Sep 2, 2009)

I have asked at the Ace stores - they look at me like I have 3 heads...lol. Then they tell me to go to Gebo's and get the "LIME" there 

I even have quarts of milk saved in the freezer for when I do finally find some lye (or get someone to go in on an order of the stuff). So, who has a REALLY good recipe? The one I have sucks (lye, milk, lard) compared to some I have tried...

Would someone be willing to share a fantastic recipe??


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## Heavenly Springs Farm (Sep 2, 2009)

I love making Goat Milk Soap. I started this winter. Once you start, you can't stop.


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## freemotion (Sep 2, 2009)

Nuttin' wrong with lye, milk, and lard!  I use that and some tallow and it gets rave reviews.  Of course, I have a fascination with how my grandmother did things.  I have made it with veg oil in the past.  I can get pig fat free from the local butcher and render it into poor quality lard that is excellent for soapmaking but not the best for piecrust.  I purchase the leaf fat for that.


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## Blackbird (Sep 2, 2009)

I have a recipe and 'how to' on BYC in the Hobby section if any of you are interested.

I wouldn't recommend getting lye in the drain section unless it says 100% pure lye. Often times lye sold in the drain & pumming section has impurities such as aluminum and metal shavings. I don't think we want that in our soap..


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## Mini-M Ranch (Sep 2, 2009)

I'd love to make goat milk soap!  I've even been looking at soap molds...the only thing holding me back is that I don't have any goats!!!! 

That will be remedied this weekend, though!


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## trestlecreek (Sep 2, 2009)

WoooHoooo!!!


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## lilhill (Sep 3, 2009)

Blackbird said:
			
		

> I wouldn't recommend getting lye in the drain section unless it says 100% pure lye. Often times lye sold in the drain & pumming section has impurities such as aluminum and metal shavings. I don't think we want that in our soap..


Yep, make sure it's 100% pure!  They can sneak ingredients in there that you don't want.


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## broke down ranch (Sep 3, 2009)

So I went to Ace hardware again yesterday, scouring for lye. The lady told me she has another lady that comes in ever so often that makes soap who orders hers online. Then she tells me that about a year and a half ago the EPA came in and removed ALL lye products and even some containing lye saying it was illegal for the stores to sell it any more.....


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## Heavenly Springs Farm (Sep 3, 2009)

I guess I am lucky. I have two place locally that sell lye. One is called Headly's which is family owned. The other one is a little country store that has everything you can think of. Good Luck to those looking for it. I had a hard time finding it until I looked at these two places.


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## lilhill (Sep 3, 2009)

Not illegal here.  I got mine 2 months ago from Ace.


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## broke down ranch (Sep 3, 2009)

lilhill said:
			
		

> Not illegal here.  I got mine 2 months ago from Ace.


So, if I send you a money order would you go pick some up for me??


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## cmjust0 (Sep 3, 2009)

I got two big things of lye from Lowe's, but last I checked, they didn't carry it anymore.  Or maybe it's just hidden, I dunno..

The brand I got was Roebic Crystal Drain Opener.  Back when Red Devil either stopped making lye or it got really hard to find, quite a few soapmakers started frantically searching for an alternative...someone, at some point, queried Roebic about their lye-based drain opener to see if it was 100% lye..  Roebic made their MSDS available and, sure enough, it was 100% pure.

Shortly thereafter -- perhaps after an uptick in sales  -- the folks at Roebic made a very wise decision and actually put "100% Lye" on the canister label and began to advertise it that way.  They obviously knew what people were up to and must have figured...hey, whatever moves product!

If you look at the product on their website , you'll see that they're sure to mention that it "contains 100% Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda; lye)" in a fairly obvious hat-tip to the soapmakers of the world.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 3, 2009)

Yep, I haven't seen a container of lye that didn't have "100% Lye" on the container.


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## cmjust0 (Sep 3, 2009)

As an aside...  ...Roebic also happens to make a root killer called "K77 Root Killer," which is 99% Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate..  

Apparently, it's pure enough that some folks -- NOT ME -- but _some_ folks use it to treat copper deficiency in goats.*  

They should probably change their slogan to "Roebic -- The name to trust for all your homesteading chemical needs, and we do plumbing stuff too."





* -- I won't even go into how it's done because the information is already out there for all the world to see, and because I know you could kill one dead as a hammer if you do it wrong..  If you really wanna know, you're just gonna have to ferret it out for yourself.


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## cmjust0 (Sep 3, 2009)

trestlecreek said:
			
		

> Yep, I haven't seen a container of lye that didn't have "100% Lye" on the container.


Perhaps not, but I'll bet you've seen _drain-cleaner_ that didn't have 100% lye on the container!


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## trestlecreek (Sep 3, 2009)




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## cmjust0 (Sep 3, 2009)

I've wondered before how many people have epic failed at soapmaking because they keep combining milk, lard, and Drano?


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## DuckLady (Sep 3, 2009)

I was thrilled to find 100% lye at the hardware store.

It was sold as a drain cleaner, but it was the exact same as Red Devil....100% lye.

I used to get it in Portland OR, but then they outlawed it.


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## broke down ranch (Sep 3, 2009)

I have found a place down in Austin I can order 2 lbs at a time but it's like $30 + $15 shipping!! I may have to bite the bullet tho.... :/


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## momto5lilrascals2angels (Sep 3, 2009)

Do any of you make goat's milk soap without lye?


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## crazygoatlady (Sep 4, 2009)

You can't make soap without lye. We ahve been making for a few years and selling it for about 2 yrs and can't keep up on it--We will start the fall with at least 1000 -1500  2 oz bars and 1000  to 1500 4 oz bars, not to count the cute shapes and ornaments.   Then there is the homemade clothes soap with goats milk soap in it.  Most of the time we do HP --done in the oven because once it is done, it is done and with a quick turn over, we can replenish our supply quickly.  i hear that you can take pour and melt--but that is a petroleum by product or glycerin-I do see that some use melt and pour and add goats milk to it--  I am making pumpkin soap sometime this weekend with pumpkin cutouts for a fall swap in one of my soap groups.


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## DuckLady (Sep 4, 2009)

Many people don't realize that bar soap is made with sodium hydroxide and liquid soap is made from potassium hydroxide.

The chemical reaction of fat and lye (saponification) changes it to soap. You will see on a commercial bar of soap the ingredients  sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate, sodium palmate, etc which is what the lye fat combo becomes.

lye+lard=sodium tallowate
lye+ coconut oil = sodium tallowate
etc.

There is no longer the ingredient lye in finished soap, because it has changed into something else.

That is a simplified explanation of course.  Hope that helps.


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## crazygoatlady (Sep 4, 2009)

good jpb on explaining the process--I am sooo long winded (don't mean to be, but I get toooo technical)


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## momto5lilrascals2angels (Sep 4, 2009)

I know most bar soaps were made with lye but there was a site and I can't remember off the top of my head where they were making goat's milk soap without it. Of course that type didn't have to be cured. I even bought some soap off of someone, it was Hannah's Hideaway or something along those lines and she didn't use lye in any of her soaps and they were so creamy and rich. I just thought maybe someone on here had a similar recipe. I'll have to do a little searching and find the recipe that she used. :/


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## crazygoatlady (Sep 4, 2009)

Must be a melt and pour---if you look up the ingredients of melt and pour, one may as well buy store bought soap. jmo.   Our GM soap has goats milk from our goats that we milk ourselves, we use lard, coconut oil or palm kernal flakes,  olive oil or sunflower oil, sodium hydroxide (lye) there are no chemicals in the unscented or the soap scented with essential oils.     we do use fragrance oils and essential oils.  some of the soaps have  other natural oils inclucing tea tree oil.    I know some people don't like HP soap, they think it is ugly,  but my customers don't mind it--we have many people with  exzema and other skin conditions that buy it  20 and 30 bars at a time, so they don't run out.   One mother had her son to dermatologists, she had to fight him to wash his hands, take a bath, even the products that the doctor prescribed had some alcohol and other chemicals in it that burned him.   We told her that we didn't think this would cure it, but she jsut wanted something that didn't burn him when he took a bath.  Our soap doesn't burn him, so although it doesn't heal him, it doesn't burn him, so he does heal.  My DIL's mother had such terrible exzema on her hands--horrible--this is the only soap she gets-she won't try anything but unscented, but she has a bar each shower, each bathroom sink, kitchen sink and at her downstairs bar area.  These are only a few people,  I am anxious to try the liquid soap--but may as well order enough potassium hydroxide to make it pay--but maybe this month some time, it not only takes the potassium hydroxide, but bottles and pumps for it and that is another expense.  

http://www.fssoapworks.com/faq.html

the ingredients in the Melt & Pour Soap
Simply Ultra Clear Soap Base

Bleached Deodorized Coconut Oil, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Sodium Stearate,Glycerin ,Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Sucrose, Triethanolamine, Aqua (purified water)

Simply Opaque White Soap Base

Bleached Deodorized Coconut Oil, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Myristate ,Sodium Laurate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate ,Glycerin ,Propylene Glycol, Triethanolamine ,Titanium Dioxide, Aqua (water) 

Colored Melt & Pour Soap Bases

Bleached Deodorized Coconut Oil, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Sodium Stearate,Glycerin ,Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Sucrose, Triethanolamine, Aqua (purified water) ,FD&C Dyes

Simply Goats Milk Soap Base

Bleached Deodorized Coconut Oil, Sodium Cocoate , Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol ,Triethanolamine ,Goat Milk ,Titanium Dioxide, DMDMHydantoin (preservative , Aqua ( PurifiedWater) 

Simply Olive Oil Soap Base

Olea Europea Fruit Oil (Olive Oil), Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Laurenth Sulfate, Triethanolamine,  Aqua (purified water) 

Simply Honey Soap Base

Bleached Deodorized Coconut Oil ,Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate ,Glycerin ,Propylene Glycol ,Sucrose, Honey, Triethanolamine, ,Aqua (purified water) 

Simply Avocado Cucumber Soap Base

Bleached Deodorized Coconut Oil, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Myristate ,Sodium Laurate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycerin ,Propylene Glycol, Sucrose ,Triethanolamine, Aqua (purified water), Avocado Oil, Cucumber Extract


We can't use these chemicals ourselves, so we don't sell anything with these chemicals in it.   We also have an oatmeal and honey soap, one with coffee grounds as an exfolliant.  When the oils are saponified, we have only natural ingredients--except for those that have fragrance oils in it.   We now have rose hips steeping in oil to use in the soap, the lavendar this year didn't do so well, so I don't know if we will have lavendar in the soap.    I would be interested in seeing the recipe


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## Ninny (Sep 8, 2009)

Could someone suggest a good book on this?  Also i don't have my goats yet so where could i find powered goats milk?


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