Soapmaking
Goat's Milk & Honey Castile Handmade Soap
100% olive oil soap is pure indulgence. It is known to be the gentlest and most nourishing of soaps. Adding goat's milk and honey adds a warm colour and scent to the soap.
The inclusion of the milk and honey helps boost bubble and lather and cut out on the slimmy feel associated with pure castile soap. On the other hand, these two ingredients impart great skin-conditioning goodness to the soap. Goat's milk is known to have alpha-hydroxy acids such as lactic acids, which help to gently exfoliate dead skin cells. It is also high in vitamins A, B and B6 which help protect skin. Honey acts as a humectant which helps skin retain moisure and reduce dryness, and it gives a lovely sweet, warm scent to the soap.
You can choose to use buttermilk instead!
INGREDIENTS
900G Olive oil
115G Sodium Hydroxide
205 G Goat's milk (or substitute with de-ionised water and buttermilk powder)
1/2 tsp honey powder
ADD ITEMS TO CART
PROJECT COST: R440 for the basic ingredients exc silicone mold.
TOOLS & EQUIPMENT
Digital scale
Stick blender
Spatulasl
Various containers for weighing and mixing
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
1Prepare the milk a day before or a few hours ahead of time by freezing the amount needed in an ice tube tray. When ready to soap, thaw the milk at room temperature until it's slush consistency.
2WEIGH YOUR INGREDIENTS
Prepare your supplies and equipment and weigh your ingredients in separate containers. Warm a small amount of the olive oil and mix the honey into this portion. Warmed honey solubises better in soap and gives a smoother looking soap.
3PREPARE THE LYE SOLUTION
As soon as you milk in thawed to the right consistency, add your sodium hydroxide in small – like a teaspoon at a time. This is to prevent the milk from burning. So, add a bit in your milk, stir until it is dissolved and add a bit more until all there is no more sodium hydroxide left to dissolve. Your lye mixture will have a bit or more of a tan colour.
If using buttemilk powder instead of liquid goat milk, you can stick-blend the 1 tsp of buttermilk powder into your olive oil. Add lye to di-ionised water normally, in this case.
4PREPARE THE HONEY
Add a 1/2 teaspoon of honey powder to olive oil and stickblend. Stick blend until it looks homoginised.. Don't worry about it, it will blend once you start soaping.
Honey powder may also be dissolve in a small amount of water and added at trace.
5BLEND TO MAKE SOAP
Pour your lye solution into the oil and stickblend until you reach trace. 100% olive oil soap takes longer to reach trace that other oil mixes. Give your stickblender a rest inbetween, so the motor doesnt' overheat, if need be.
6POUR AND INCUBATE THE SOAP
Once trace is reached pour the batter into prepared or silicone moulds. Decorate or texturised the soap if needed. Cover the mould and incubate the soap for 24 hour or until firm enough to cut.
7CUT AND CURE
Cut your soap into bars and leave to cure in a humid-free environment for at least 6 months. Olive oil soap take longer to cure that other formulas. Enjoy and please share your creations with us.
Shop: Olive Oil
Shop: Sodium Hydroxide Pearls
Shop: De-Ionised Water
Shop: Honey Powder
Shop: Buttermilk Powder
Shop: Silicone Loaf Mold With Box
