Soap making
This blog is long overdue as I’ve had many friends ask me how I make my own soap. I make my own soap for personal use, but I also love to give them as gifts to friends and family. You can always find a recipe for soap online, there are thousands. I have more than one recipe that I use but today I’m going to share with you my favorite one. Goats milk herbal soap. Now, when making my soaps from scratch I use lye, which I really don’t like handling and I’m told many others don’t as well. But if you want to get technical, the FDA specifically says if it doesn’t contain lye it’s not actually soap because in order for the saponification process to happen, well, you need sodium hydroxide (lye). We’ll skip the semantics though for brevity sake. Lye is a harsh chemical that can cause severe burns to your body if you aren’t careful and I caution first time soap makers to do research before using it. Luckily, this is an easy recipe that does not require you to handle lye in its chemical state.
I have used different ingredients over the past few years while experimenting and finding my groove and I must say that goats milk just makes for a creamier soap than other bases I’ve used. If you don’t have access to fresh goats milk don’t worry, when you aren’t mixing the lye yourself you will be using a premixed soap base. I use fresh goats milk from my nanny goats when making it from scratch but today we’re using a goat base.
Ingredients:
2 pounds of goats milk base
1 oz. of any scents or additives (I like to use lemon verbena, sage, or lavender fresh from my garden, but essential oils are fine as well
A double boiler
Soap molds
1. Start by cutting your soap base into small chunks and adding it to your double boiler. Melt it down to a soft consistency, it doesn’t have to be completely liquified.
2. Stir in the scents and herbs you’d like to use. (There is a long list of options so have fun and try different combinations).
3. Once you’ve added your scents you will place the mixture into your soap molds and allow them to set.
Before the mixture hardens you can use pH testing strips to check the pH and make sure your soap isn’t too harsh for skin. The pH should be around 9 or 10.
That’s it! You now have your own soap! How easy was that?!
I have used different ingredients over the past few years while experimenting and finding my groove and I must say that goats milk just makes for a creamier soap than other bases I’ve used. If you don’t have access to fresh goats milk don’t worry, when you aren’t mixing the lye yourself you will be using a premixed soap base. I use fresh goats milk from my nanny goats when making it from scratch but today we’re using a goat base.
Ingredients:
2 pounds of goats milk base
1 oz. of any scents or additives (I like to use lemon verbena, sage, or lavender fresh from my garden, but essential oils are fine as well
A double boiler
Soap molds
1. Start by cutting your soap base into small chunks and adding it to your double boiler. Melt it down to a soft consistency, it doesn’t have to be completely liquified.
2. Stir in the scents and herbs you’d like to use. (There is a long list of options so have fun and try different combinations).
3. Once you’ve added your scents you will place the mixture into your soap molds and allow them to set.
Before the mixture hardens you can use pH testing strips to check the pH and make sure your soap isn’t too harsh for skin. The pH should be around 9 or 10.
That’s it! You now have your own soap! How easy was that?!
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