Soap #4 – Lavender Goat Milk

[donotprint] Well, we are at it again. Yesterday we made our fourth soap – Lavender Goat Milk. We liked the goat milk soaps we purchased in Florida and at a local craft show so we thought we’d try one and add lavender from our garden. Also, I read The Sage blog where they are having a milk soap challenge. (I love challenges!) [/donotprint]

This procedure was a little trickier than the others because of the small amount of water and adding the goat milk. There are several different ways to handle milk in soapmaking. After lots of research I decided to try the method that I felt was the easiest.

Getting ready to soap – love the tablecloth I found at the Dollar Store!
HA Lavender Goat Milk Soap

Happy Acres Lavender Goat Milk Soap [print_link]

Mango Butter (5%) 45 grams

Avocado Butter (5%) 45 grams

Shea Butter (5%) 45 grams

Castor Oil (5%) 45 grams

Coconut Oil (30%) 270 grams

Olive Oil (30%) 270 grams

Palm Oil (20%) 180 grams

Water – 171 grams

goats milk – 171 grams

lye – 126 grams

Liquid Silk – 9 grams (add to water)

1.5 tablespoon ground lavender buds

2 teaspoons lavender essential oil

1.5 teaspoon grapefruit seed extract (GSE) optional

This makes 4 lbs of soap or 10 bars. As with any recipe you get off of the internet, please run this through one of the calculators. This one is my favorite.

Please refer to the cold process instructions here.  The major difference in this process from the link is the small amount of water which takes the lye longer to dissolve. To make the process go a bit smoother, especially since I added several more oils to the recipe, we measured all of the oils before adding the lye to the water.

We added the goat milk to the oils right before pouring in the lye water. The lavender buds were ground and soaked in the essential oil and then added at trace. I also added the GSE to the oils, but after more research I’ve found that most camps report that it does nothing to preserve. Kristina has a great comment about it on my Citrus Coffee Hand Soap post.

Since we ground the buds they are just flecks of lavender throughout the bars. We might try next time leaving them as buds. The soap is a pretty color and a nice lavender smell. I’m looking forward to using it after it’s cured.

If nothing else, we are learning a lot about the chemistry of soap making and are enjoying taking showers!

UPDATE: Check out our revised Lavender Goat Milk Soap recipe HERE.