Is this Goat's Milk Soap?

Aloe and Oat Soap, aloe vera juice is the liquid in this soap.

I love talking to people about soapmaking. I get to do that a bit when I go out and sell in my community. During these interactions, I get asked a lot of questions about my soaps. The most common one last fall was "Is this goat's milk soap". When I say no, they then sometimes ask what "it is". Well, to understand that question, I like to explain a little bit about how soap is made. 

To make soap you need a chemical reaction to happen, called saponification. It is the reaction between the fats (I use plant oils, but some people use tallow or other fats from animals) and the sodium hydroxide (the lye). Sodium hydroxide is dry, and it needs to be dissolved in a liquid first, before adding it to the oils. This is often where the goat's milk comes in. Some people use the goat's milk as the liquid, I use distilled water, aloe vera juice, herbal tea or occasionally plant milk. The saponification begins when we add the lye mixture to the oils and blend them together. In cold process soapmaking we then pour into a mold, and it continues to saponify (turn to soap).  

I made Fir needle tea for the liquid in this soap. 

So why do I not use goat milk? For one, I don't have goats ;) For another, I want my soaps to be fully plant based. I think there are many lovely ingredients to use in soap, goat's milk is just one. It's not the only way to make a nourishing, luxurious handcrafted bar of soap. My interest is in plants, I love infusing skin-softening olive oil or other nourishing oils with herbs such as Lavender, Comfrey, Calendula, Chamomile or many others. I am fascinated with the ability of plants to care for us, when we know how to use them. I absolutely love oats and their skin soothing abilities. I just adore using Shea Butter and Cocoa butter, they have so many properties that are absolutely wonderful for our skin. I enjoy learning about the plants we use and have so much more to learn. 

Some people just love their goat's milk soap and that's great! It's wonderful that there are so many ingredients and types of soaps to choose from. Some people are looking for plant-based soaps and that's what I love to make. I think my interest in plants leads me down a certain path of soapmaking, while other people are led down another path, maybe because they have goats or know someone who has goats that they get the milk from. 

Soapmaking is amazing and so much fun to do. I am looking forward to sharing this on my blog, so that people can see how I make my soap. 

Thank you for reading, 

Ginny