How to Make Goat Milk Soap At Home From Scratch: Making Goat Milk Soap for Beginners
If you’ve learned about what goat milk soap does for your skin, you probably don’t want to waste any time trying out this product.
You can always visit a trusted retailer to find your goat milk soap–or maybe you want to try out making it for yourself at home.
If you’re unsure how to make soap with goat milk, and what the process entails, no need to worry, we’ll walk you through all the steps right here. Keep reading through this guide to learn how to make goat milk soap for beginners from start to finish.
What Exactly is Goat Milk Soap?
Before we dive into the steps for how to make goat milk soap, let’s discuss what this product is.
As you may be able to gather, goat milk soap is a soap that’s made with goat’s milk. Even though it has regained popularity in recent years, people have used this product for centuries as a cure-all for a number of skin condition like using goat milk soap for eczema, psoriasis, acne, and more.
We will dive deeper into the soap-making process below, but what separates goat milk soap vs regular soap is the fact that regular soaps use lye made from water and sodium hydroxide, but goat milk soap uses goat’s milk instead.
This difference leaves goat milk soap with a more luscious and moisturizing consistency, owing to the natural saturated and unsaturated fats that you’ll find in goat’s milk.
Why Learn How to Make Soap With Goat Milk?
Once you start learning about the product, it’s not hard to see all the benefits of goat milk soap, and the different types of conditions it can be used to treat. Thus, it’s important to know all the ways you could use it so you can see how beneficial it would be to learn how to make soap with goat milk.
To begin with, goat milk soap offers a gentle cleanse while other types of soap can be too harsh and stripping. Becuase of this reason, you can even use goat milk soap for babies!
Additionally, goat milk soap is known for being moisturizing and nourishing to the skin, largely due to the high concentration of fats, vitamins and minerals present in the soap. Thus, you can use goat milk soap for psoriasis and other sensitive skin issues like eczema and acne because it can help strengthen and restore the skin’s natural barrier, wihtout causing further irritation and damage.
Similarly, goat milk soap can help you fight inflammation and redness on the skin, meaning it’s a good product to use to soothe the skin when you suffer from a condition like rosacea.
With all these benefits, you may wonder–is goat milk soap antibacterial? It absolutely has antibacterial properties that mean you can use it get a thorough cleanse and kill germs, but without overdoing it and harming your skin’s natrual pH balance. For these reasons, goat milk soap is often the best soap for bacterial vaginosis.
Is Making Goat Milk Soap at Home Better Than Buying Professionally-Crafted Formulations?
It is possible to learn how to make goat milk soap at home. However, this is not a simple process that everyone will nail on the first try.
Just like when making any type of soap or homemade product, the process can be tiresome and laborious. So, it’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into before you get started. Many newcomers who are excited to learn how to make soap with goat milk just end up disappointed with the end product, and wishing they just went to their favorite retailer instead.
So, why go through all this when you can just buy the best goat milk soap here at our store? We recommend you do this when you want to try out the wonders of goat milk soap–nevertheless, we’ll teach you how to DIY below so you can see for yourself.
How Hard is Making Goat Milk Soap?
When learning how to make goat milk soap for beginners, you may wonder how hard the process is, and what exactly you’re singing yourself up for.
As we alluded to above, this isn’t a process that is extremely easy to get the hang of on the first try–or the next dozen tries, either!
The ingredients that go into making the soap aren’t all that complicated, but the saponification process that turns the goat milk, lye, and other added oils into soap is a bit tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing first.
If you end up doing the process incorrectly, you’ll likely end up with soap that is just too mushy, and never sets into an actual bar of soap. Otherwise, you could get goat milk soap that is too dry and crumbly to even use. Finding the balance between all the ingredients and mastering the saponification process isn’t all that easy, so keep this in mind if you decide to make your own at home.
How Long Does it Take to Make Goat Milk Soap?
Your next question may be how long it takes to make goat milk soap from scratch. Especially when you’re still getting a hang of the process, you should expect the actual soap-making steps to take about one or two days.
Of course, not all of this time will be hands-on, and much of it is waiting for ingredients to cool down or set, however, it’s still something you’ll probably need to set aside a few days for.
Once the soap has been set in the molds and cut, it will need to be cured for a few weeks before it can be used. This hardens the soap and ensures all excess moisture is evaporated from it, so this isn’t something you’ll be able to speed up.
Many experts note this should take four to six weeks at a minimum, but some seasoned soap makers point out that the longer you can cure goat milk soap, the better. So, expect this step to take a month or so.
How Much Does it Cost to Make a Bar of Goat Milk Soap?
Again, there aren’t too many ingredients involved in making goat milk soap. But, you should know that the better quality of ingredients you use, the better the end product will be. So, don’t aim to pinch pennies here, make sure you’re finding the best ingredients to end up with a quality goat milk soap.
The main inputs to making goat milk soap from scratch are goat millk, lye, and added oils like coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil, or palm oil, among others.
Thus, the cost of the ingredients likely isn’t something that will restrict you from making the soap on your own or not. However, you’ll likey need to buy the lye in bulk, and the added oils can be quite spendy when you’re getting the highest quality.
So, you can expect to spend about a hundred dollars or so when you’re compiling all the ingredients to start making goat milk soap at home. This compares to most gars of goat milk soap you’ll find in stores, which often won’t cost you more than $15.
How to Make Goat Milk Soap From Scratch for Beginners: Step-by-Step Guide to Making Goat Milk Soap at Home
Let’s jump right in–if you want to learn how to make soap with goat milk, you can follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Gather the Necessary Goat Milk Soap Making Supplies
The first step you’ll need to do when learning how to make goat milk soap from scratch is to gather all the necessary ingredients and supplies for soap-making.
We briefly mentioned it above, but the ingredients you’ll need to gather for the soap include:
- Goat milk (powdered or liquid)
- Lye
- Coconut oil
- Olive oil
- Kernel oil
- Cocoa butter
- Palm oil
As far as equipment and other supplies go, here is what you’ll need to gather:
- Kitchen scale
- Soap mold
- Stick blender
- Old pots
Prepare Your Work Area & Wear Proper Clothing
The next thing you’ll need to do when making goat milk soap is to prep your work area, and make sure you’re wearing the proper safety gear. Make sure you have everything on hand, and that it’s easy to reach.
You’re not working with equipment that’s too dangerous, though you’ll be working with hot liquids and ingredients like lye, which can be corrosive and damaging if not handled properly. So, wear clothing that covers up your skin, and consider wearing thick gloves as well to protect your hands as well as safety goggles.
Measure and Freeze Your Goat Milk
Once you’re ready to go, you’ll start by measuring out the goat milk you’ll need and freezing it.
This is done first to prep the milk because mixing lye with any mixture will increase the temperature quickly, which can lead to curdled milk if it’s already starting at room temperature.
You only want to get the milk partially frozen and slushy so you can still work with it, so aim to have in the freezer for a few hours.
Measure the Lye
Next up, you’ll need to measure out the lye you’ll used based on the amount of goat milk you’ve prepped.
For every twelve ounces of goat milk you use roughly, you’ll need about five ounces of lye flakes, though this can depend on the exact recipe you’re following. Again, carefully handle the lye, as it can burn your skin if you’re not careful.
Mix the Lye & Goat Milk Together
Once you’ve measured out the lye and taken the slushy milk out of the freezer, you can carefully add in the lye flakes to the milk, starting with about a quarter of the flakes first to ensure they fully melt together and combine.
Stir together, and slowly add in the rest of the lye flakes in portions until you’ve fully incorporated it all together.
Take your time with this step, as you don’t want to end up with undissolved lye flakes that could burn your skin once you use the soap. So, keep stirring until the milk has fully melted and dissolved all the lye flakes, then set aside to cool.
Measure and Melt Your Oils
Now it’s time to melt your oils to get them ready to add into the milk lye mixture. Depending on the exact recipe you’re using, you may use different oils from the ones listed above, and you’ll need to pay attention to the amounts that are needed of each.
Measure and melt all the oils together to create an even consistency. You’ll likely hit a temperature of 130-140 degrees Fahrenheit in order to do so, so you’ll need to let the mixture cool to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit once you’re done before moving on to the next step.
Combine & Pour Your Soap Into the Mold, Insulate it, and Let it Set
With the two mixtures prepared, you can now mix them together to create the finished product. Pour in the melted oils to the lye milk, and mix them together with a stick blender for a few minutes until they combine and produce stiff peaks from the blender.
Immediately pour the mixture into the soap mold and smooth it out ensuring it reaches all corners of the mold.
Place it into the fridge or freezer to prevent any cracking, and let it sit for about a day to set.
Unmold and Cure the Soap for 4-6 Weeks
Once the soap has set, you can remove it from the molds, cut them into bars, and let them cure in a well-ventilated space for at least four to six weeks.
This allows the soap to harden and let any excess moisture evaporate from the product, which makes it long-lasting. You can let it cure longer if you wish, but don’t cut it any shorter than four weeks before using.
Customizing Your Homemade Goat Milk Soap as You Gain More Experience
The steps listed above are the basic instructions for creating goat milk soap. However, there are plenty of ways you can customize it based on your own needs and preferences.
For instance, you can add in different dyes, fragrances, and exfoliants, and use different shaped molds in order to personalize the soap to your liking.
Keep in mind that including these additives may alter the ratios of the other ingredients you’ll need to reach the right consistency, so make sure to account for this if you take this route.
Troubleshooting Common Issues in the Goat Milk Soap Making Process
If you’ve gone through all the steps and end up with disappointing soap that didn’t turn out how you wanted, there could be a few things at play.
For one, if you used too much goat milk and oils, and not enough lye, your soap may never fully set and you’ll end up with a mushy product that distintegrates after just a few uses.
On the other hand, you may end up with soap that’s too dry and crumbly if you didn’t use enough goat milk or oils.
So if you find yourself in either scenario, alter the recipe going forward, and try again with a new ratio of ingredients the next time.
Tips for Storing and Caring For Your Goat Milk Soap
How you store your goat milk soap can impact how long it lasts you. Make sure to keep it in a dry area out of direct sunlight when not in use.
This means you shouldn’t leave it sitting in a puddle of water between uses, which could quickly erode the product. Plus, leaving it exposed to too much humidity could also break down the soap too fast.
Now Knowing How to Make Soap From Goat Milk, Get to Work, or Save Yourself the Time & Hassle at Our Online Store!
After walking through these steps, you can now try out the process for yourself at home to create some DIY goat milk soap. This is a learning process, so don’t expect to nail it on the first try. You’ll likely go through a trial and error process in order to get the soap how you like it.
There are a lot of steps and ratios to consider to ensure that you end up with a quality product, so many people ditch the at-home process and opt instead for pre-formulated goat milk soap from a trusted brand like ours.
When you shop from Goat Soap Milk, you know you’re getting quality products every time that will leave your skin feeling nourished, soothed, and moisturized. You don’t have to create a mess in your home and risk burning yourself just to feel the wonderful effects of goat milk soap–visit our store instead to get it delivered right to your door with no hassle.
Final Thoughts on How to Make Goat Milk Soap for Beginners
As you can see, making goat milk soap on your own can be quite the process, and it’s pretty hard to get it right when you’re just starting out.
To avoid getting soap that’s too mushy or crumbly, and defeating all the benefits that you can take advantage of with goat milk soap, visit a trusted retailer to buy it instead of making it–like at Goat Soap Milk.
For the best goat milk soap around, check out our selection at Goat Soap Milk–you won’t regret it!
