Nina submitted her milk soaps for our Milk Soap Challenge. She used the Half & Half Method with sheep milk.
Enjoy!
| I have a special love for milk soaps! In fact I will no longer do without one in my shower. They are all that I make now.
For this soap challenge I decided to use sheep milk; my new favorite! Sheep milk has a higher fat content than goat and cow milk and is wonderful for dry, sensitive skin types. I wanted to create a very gentle soap and I wanted it light in color, which can be hard to achieve with cold process milk soaps. For this particular recipe I chose oils which are of a lighter appearance to ensure a whiter looking bar. Ingredients: 30% – Hydrogenated Soybean oil |
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1) I weigh and melt the fats, then set aside to cool until room temp. This is to prevent the soap batter from overheating and seizing which milk soaps are notorious for. I usually weigh and heat the fats before preparing the lye because the fats will take longer than the lye solution to cool.
2) While the fats are cooling, I weigh the first half of the total liquid as aloe vera juice and set aside.
3) Next I weigh the second half of the total liquid as milk into a separate jug. I make sure the milk is very cold.
4) I grab the jug of aloe juice and add the lye slowly to the liquid. I then stir the lye solution gently to ensure the lye has fully dissolved.
5) I add the lye solution to the melted oils and blend until I reach a very light trace.
6) Now it’s time to add the milk to the lightly traced soap mixture. With a few short bursts from the blender the milk is fully incorporated.
7) Next I add the (non-discoloring) fragrance oil. Mmmmm
8) Voila! Now the process is complete and the soap mixture is ready to be poured into the mold.
I decided against insulating the mold because again milk soaps are known to get very hot and I wanted to prevent overheating. This will also help the soap to stay a lighter shade.
….
2 weeks later!
I usually allow my soaps to cure for 4 weeks but this week I decided to go ahead and test a bar. Well all I can say is WOW what a dream it was to shower with. The soap is very gentle and moisturizing with a thick creamy lather. YUM!
Hope you enjoyed!
Nina
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Beautiful!
Zany in CO
Nina,
Your soap looks very nice, and sounds so moisturizing. Do you ever sell it? If so, I would like to try some.
Thanks,
Kathy
Nina,
I love your soap. I don’t have any sheep running around, but used aloe juice for half of the liquid and a combination 2:1 of half and half and whole milk. It’s only been two weeks and I tried the bar tonight, it was great. It soaped like a dream, too. Thanks for a great recipe
Lisa in Louisiana
Nina,
I meant to say I used 2:1 heavy cream and whole milk. But next time I may use all heavy cream and see how it turns out. They say the mind is the first thing to go! Thanks again.
Looks good, but I am not sure when you aded the silk fibers. Since they will only dissolve in HOT lye solutions, did you add them with the aloe water? When I use silk fibers I normally do not use milk soap. In milk soap I use the liquid silk. Do please tell if the fibers dissolved fully, it would be much cheaper. Thanks
I suspect Nina added the silk fibers to her aloe water and then added the lye. My personal experiences with silk fiber is that if the silk is “fluffed”, it will dissolve in a fresh lye solution.
How much superfat would be good for dry skin for this particular recipe?
We generally recommend 5%-6% superfat. You can go as high as 8% but we think that it makes the bar too soft. I hope this helps!
that soap looks Absolutely Amazing but I can’t make that kind of stuff. Do you sell it I would love to try some.?? Please & Thank You.!!!!
Stacy,
At this time, Nina the creator of this soap, is just a hobbyist. I would look for handcrafted soap in your area. It is often available at farmer’s and craft markets. Best of luck to you!
Taylor
Sounds like lovely soap. Don’t you have to get the Lye and the oils to be at the same temp before combining?
Ann,
We generally recommend that they are within 10 degrees of each other. I hope this helps.
Hi, what pretty soap. ..can I ask what the titanium dioxide is for? I am severly allergic to it and wondering if I can leave it out of the recipe.
Thank you.
Claudia
Claudia,
The titanium dioxide is used for the white color. You can certainly omit it.
Best,
Taylor
I love this recipe, but wondered how much kaolin clay was to be added? I would appreciate the information…if you can.
Sally,
Good question. I generally add about 1 tablespoon of clay for every pound of oils I am using. You don’t need much and it sure makes a soap silky!
Tina
I am not totally clear on your directions. When do you add the silk fibers, kaolin clay and titanium oxide?
I generally add all of these to the lye or at the beginning. Silk is with the lye. Titanium and Kaolin are into the oils and then add the lye solution. Easy-peasy!
Tina
Hello, we’ll I do not have sheep, but I do use cow milk. Was wondering if we can sub, palm,and soybean oil for something else.
Ty happy soaping.
Bree,
Any type of milk is suitable. Any oils can be changed too. I like olive oil, lard, tallow, or even just more coconut oil.
Cheers!
Tina
Where do you get sheep milk
Generally it is found from someone who has sheep and is milking. I would check to find a few fiber people to link you with sheep owners in your area. From there, you can ask. Also, look for local sheep milk cheese makers. You will find someone in your area.
Tina
I don’t understand what you mean by total liquid as aloe or milk. You didn’t mention when you added the titanium dioxide. What is the function of the silk fibers and where did you get them? Thanks for the clarification.
Kathleen,
Andee posted a Milk Soap Challenge which you can read about here: http://blog.thesage.com/2010/02/18/blog-reader-challenge-3/
Nina wrote about her sheep milk soap. This soap follows our half and half method which is adding the lye to half the amount of water/liquid then adding the other “half” of the liquid needed as milk. We plan for 6-8 fl oz of water/liquid per pound of fats. Nina would add the silk fibers to the lye solution where they dissolve. It has long been thought that silk protein helps the hair and skin look their best. This type of addition is for marketing purposes, in my opinion. MMS once carried silk fiber but we do not anymore. As long as your silk is clean and not dyed then I think you could use it. Be sure to add it to the lye solution. If titanium dioxide is used, it can be set out and only used if the maker feels it is necessary, then the color is generally added during mixing to make sure it has sufficient time to disperse.
I hope that helps.
Tina
I would like to try this soap would you mind listing the ingredients in pounds and ounces. Thank you. Linda
Hi, Linda! The recipe is in percentages so that you can adjust to find the exact size you want.
Sometimes I enter the percentages shown into the Lye Calculator and then resize the recipe to fit my mold. Do you have a size you most often like to make? I can help you with the math so that you can easily convert any percentage recipe to be YOUR recipe.
Cheers!
Tina
Hi Nina. I noticed your Soap Milk Challenge – Sheep Milk how to recipe. My question is what heating method, tools and utensils do you use to melt your fats? Thanks 🙂 By the way, your soap looks beautiful!
Lori,
I suspect that Nina (a guest writer) used similar methods to our Cold Process Day One or Introduction to Soapmaking – Day 2 instructions. She may have combined techniques like the Silk Soap and the Cold Process Soap: Half and Half Method with Cows Milk.
I hope this helps!
Andee
Hi all! I’m trying to find a recipe and this does look awesome but doesn’t specify if you’re measuring by weight or volume and doesn’t say how much milk to add. Can anyone add insight? Thank you!
This recipe was provided by Nina and she only gave percentages for the oils. This allows you to put the percentages into the Lye Calculator and resize the batch size to your ideal size.