I love milk!

The weather has been pretty bad lately, so I've been staying home a lot... and you all soapahoolics know what that means, right? Of course, soaping soaping soaping! My partner has by now given up complaining about the mess, the soaps everywhere and all the smell, and is actually enjoying my handmade shower soap and shampoo. So that means I have one more reason to experiment more. :)

Today I'd like to show you one of the batches I've made so far that I'm most satisfied and proud of. Even though the colour didn't turn out as it was supposed to, this soap has a wonderful lather and it still smells great and feels great on the skin.

Here we go:

This is a goat's milk and rice bran oil lavender soap. As you can see, I tried to colour it purple (with food colouring), but it turned out some kind of pinky, which layered on the surface and left the rest of the soap green. To tell you the truth, the colour isn't bad and, as I said before, I love the lather and how creamy and nice-smelling this soap turned out. After this, I tried to make other milk soap (mainly with cow's milk which is cheaper and easier to find around here), and I have to say this might become my favourite ingredient! It gives the soap a nicer, creamier look, I believe it might help it to bubble and it seems to be very soft to the skin too (in this specific case probably also thanks to the rice bran oil, which is packed with beneficial vitamins and minerals). In a word, I love it.

Here's the recipe, which I took from some website (I don't remember which one, but you can check out my links list to find many interesting recipes) and changed to suit my personal taste, and most of all the oils and materials I had at hand.

MILKY WAY

40% rice bran oil

35% olive oil

20% coconut oil

5% jojoba oil

lye (discount 5%)

frozen goat's milk

At trace I added: 1/3 the goat's milk (now de-frost and liquid) mixed with some purple food colouring, plus a teaspoon of rice flour (as a fixative of the scent) mixed with about 10 drops of lavender e.o., and finally the jojoba oil.

It took about 24 hours to become solid and come out of the mould, and then I started using it about 4 weeks of curing time.

If you ever try to make it, please come back to share your experience, tips or feedback.