Milk Soaps

Milk soaps are so much fun to make, and there are so many choices. How do you know which kind of milk to use or even how to use it? It depends on what qualities you’re looking for in your soap.

Coconut MilkCoconut Milk

Coconut milk is possibly my favorite milk to use in soap, and it is also one of the easiest. Some of the qualities I have noticed are a tendency to increase fluffy lather with big bubbles and to lighten the color of the soap. Most milk soaps will be a bit darker than water-based soaps, but coconut milk soaps look lighter than water-based soaps to me. Coconut milk soaps feel creamier than water-based soaps as well. I use coconut milk just like I use other milks: I freeze the milk and add the lye a little bit at a time. The handiest method might be to measure it out in ice cube trays, freeze it, and then just use the amount you need. I think that coconut milk behaves a little better than other milks. It doesn’t tend to discolor, like goat milk will, and it is a lovely creamy white right up until you add it to the oils. I have noticed that like other milks, the lye will begin to saponify the fats in the coconut milk, so I tend to give it a stir every few minutes until I’m ready to add it to my oils just so that it stays smooth. However, I haven’t had any problems when I’ve added thicker, partly-saponified coconut milk to my oils. I use coconut milk in several of my soaps. I recently used it in a Creamy Coconut soap (along with real cream) that turned out very nice.

Creamy Coconut

Goat Milk

Goat milk is the soap maker’s standby, and it’s fabulous in soap. It comes in three kinds: fresh, condensed, and powdered. I have used all three, and I prefer using it fresh or powdered. My experiments with condensed milk did not go as well. I think it discolors more than fresh goat milk, too. If you do use it, make sure you remember that you need to add equal parts water. Most soap makers who use it will reduce the amount of water for a recipe by half and mix that with their lye, making up the other half of their liquids with condensed goat milk.

Fresh goat milk works best when it’s frozen, just as I described with coconut milk. Add the lye to the frozen milk a little bit at a time, stirring well until the lye is dissolved each time. If you keep the temperatures low, making use of ice water baths when necessary, goat milk will discolor less, but it will still discolor. I happen to think naked goat milk is rather pretty.

Lilac Goat Milk Goat milk produces a creamy, moisturizing bar of soap. It can be used raw or pasteurized. I haven’t noticed if it affects the lather much, but it does feel nice on your skin.

I also used powdered goat milk in some of my soaps. I add the powdered milk directly to my oils and stick blend it in to combine it until it is well incorporated, and I can’t see any clumps. I have never had any problems using powdered milk in this way, though I have heard some soap makers actually mix up the goat milk powder with water and then freeze it, just as with fresh goat milk. Some soap makers also add the milk powder at trace. Powdered goat milk still adds creaminess to the soap, but it’s much easier to use than fresh goat milk.

Cow Milk

I have used cow milk in my Chocolate Milk bars. It works fine, and I liked it, but I do feel that goat milk adds a certain extra something that cow milk doesn’t. I recommend using whole milk when using cow milk. It should also be frozen and mixed slowly with the lye. I noticed that while goat milk tends to turn an orangey shade when it is getting too hot, cow milk turns more yellow.

Almond Milk

I recently made my own almond milk and used it in a new Sweet Almond and Honey soap, and I loved it. The soap has a fluffy, bubbly lather and smooth feel. There are too many variables to say for certain the almond milk made all the difference—I also used more sweet almond oil than I typically do, and the soap has honey it in, which likely contributed to the wonderful lather.

Sweet Almond and HoneyI used almond milk in the same way as I did every other milk: I froze it and added the lye slowly to the frozen almond milk. I noticed this milk, like coconut milk, stayed whiter, but it did not saponify with the lye that I could tell, and it could be that it has less fat. It was nice to work with, and I’d do it again.

Yogurt

Yogurt is wonderful in soap. I use full fat plain yogurt and mix it with an equal amount of water to thin it. Then I freeze it and use it like I would any other milk in soap. It truly adds a luxurious feel to the soap. It feels smooth and creamy. I think some soap makers add yogurt to their oils either before adding the lye or at trace, but I haven’t tried that yet, though I have used yogurt powder in my oils, and it’s very nice—similar to goat milk powder.

Buttermilk

I like using buttermilk powder in soap more than fresh buttermilk, but that’s just because it’s a little easier. Buttermilk has alpha hydroxy acids that are very good for facial soaps. I use it in my Lavender Chamomile facial soap.

2013-06-08 11.53.56This is a very nice facial soap for a lot of reasons, including the oil combination, the chamomile-infused olive oil, and the French pink clay and lavender essential oil, but the buttermilk contributes very nice qualities to it.

Cream

Cream is amazing in soap. I have not tried substituting all my water for cream, but I have tried adding cream to my oils before adding the lye, and it results in a very nice, luxurious feel.

Coffee and CreamIn my Coffee and Cream soap, I mixed cream with the white part you see marbled through the soap, in addition to the coffee you see in the brown part. It was a little bit of juggling, but the bar is so amazing! It smells and feels incredible.

If you want to learn more about making soap with a variety of milks, I highly recommend Anne L. Watson’s book Milk Soapmaking.

Coconut milk photo: John Revo Puno

10 thoughts on “Milk Soaps

  1. Hi Dana

    Thanks for the milk soaps post, really enjoyed reading it and very helpful tips.

    I'm keen to try adding cream. What percentage can you go up to and is it added in addition to the lye water ? Thanks so such for your help 🙂

    1. Lin, what I typically do with cream is add maybe 100 grams in a batch with 1100 grams of oils, so that's about 9%. I have gone higher than 10%. I add it directly to the oils at room temperature and emulsify. I deduct the amount of cream to use from the water amount, so if I am using 100 g of cream and want need to use 400 g of water in a recipe, then I use 300 g of water instead. I haven't tried mixing it with lye, but given that a little cream really goes a long way, I think it is probably better just to sub cream for part of the water and add it directly to the oils.

      1. Thank you so much Dana, I will give it a go. Fingers crossed 🙂

        Just a thought , do you insulate/gel your milk/cream soaps?

        Kind regards

        Lin

  2. These are beautiful. I’ve done some milk soaps already and they’ve always proven to be fabulous with lovely creaminess. This week I want to try a new idea (for me) with milk. I purchased a container of coconut/almond combo milk today and wondered if anyone’s tried that? I’m planning to use the same as I do any other milk, about 1/3 of the water content as milk, added at light trace. Any thoughts on this?

    1. Angie, I should think that would be lovely. You can also add the coconut/almond milk directly to the oils before you add the lye water, which might keep it from thickening up too fast and tracing really thick. You could also try freezing the milk and adding the lye directly to it, but that works best (I think) when all of the liquid is milk. I am just about to post a new tutorial on making a milk-based soap. I have tried almond milk but not with coconut milk. However, I have tried goat milk, yogurt, and cream together, and I just made one with goat milk and coconut milk. I say go for it. It should be really nice. Milk soaps are amazing, and so much fun to make!

  3. Hello, Dana! Your soaps look amazing, the coconut milk one is so white! May I ask, did you add some titanium dioxide? So far I made a soap with milk goat powder and in my opinion it is so much nicer than soap made with water. So creamy and gentle to my skin. I froze reconstituted powder and it worked great. Two days ago I made a soap mixing milk powder with oils, haven’t tried that obviously yet but I cut it and it seems so smooth. In theory – should soap made with frozen milk be paler than than the other one? Tempreture is lower in that case. I wonder. Also, my milk soaps are softer but I assume it is because of milk fats?
    You encourage me to try coconut soap. Will it smell survive saponification?
    Thank you for any advice, it is such a great help!

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