Adventures With Goat's Milk Soap

goat's milk soap
Originally uploaded by Surrender Dorothy

My daughter's best friend's mother, who I LOVE, gets fresh raw organic goat's milk from her sister for her little boy. This unpasturized milk is only good to drink for a couple of days before it starts to sour. But it's fine for soap for a week. But now I have a freezer full of the most awesome milk ever! She hasn't sent me any that's soured yet (it's wonderful!), cause mama goat is really producing, and her babies from the spring are off the milk. I only make hot process soap, so it's been a challenge to do it with milk without making it hideous. This is my first real success! I started with frozen milk first (pretty standard), mixed the lye solution, no problem, proceeded as with a CP soap. Poured the raw soap into the mold, then put it in the freezer, to cool it quickly. One hour in the freezer, then moved it to the fridge for a couple more. Then I put it into the oven at 150 degrees for one hour. Back into the fridge one hour! Back into the oven for an hour, back into the fridge for the night. Cut the next morning, cured for a week, and while there's a little discoloration, I believe it's mostly from the fragrance oil that I used, which was an amber color before the gelling. Also, I oven processed the soap in a plastic dishwasher safe mold, no problems.

Now my soaps, let me show you them...