Thursday 24 June 2010

Goat Milk Soap Colours

I keep hearing that goat milk soaps all turn tan coloured.

Mine don’t. Some turn tan... others turn yellowy... others are creamy white. I can’t quite figure out why some turn out a nicer white than others!


These three are all no-palm soaps. In all three soaps, 100% of the liquid in the white/tan part is goat milk. I froze it first and added the lye to the frozen goat milk.

After all my experimenting for a great palm-free soap, my favourite recipe so far is the one with the heart in the middle. It's smooth, creamy, bubbly, sudsy, long-lasting, hard, the smell stays & it cleans well. I am so pleased!! I am now using this recipe as my base recipe, with variations. So for these three soaps, you can notice that the heart one is the whitest. The only difference is that for the liquid oils, it has Olive, Castor and SWEET ALMOND oil. The other two only Olive and Castor oil. The bottom one looks more yellowy, the one on the left looks more tan. The only difference between these two is that the one on the left has more Castor Oil.

So, it appears that sweet almond oil makes for whiter goat milk soap, and the more castor oil, the more tan coloured?


The middle one is the heart one


I have added another soap here. The top one is one of my older soaps and has palm oil, but again you can see that it appears whiter, and it has Sweet Almond Oil.

I have been told that Titanium Dioxide produces a nice white, and is natural. I actually have purchased some but have not found I have needed to use it yet.

Any comments on goat milk soap colour or Titanium Dioxide or anything at all welcome!

xoxo

18 comments:

Holly said...

Very interesting observations! I have not used full goats milk at any point in my soaps but when I do use it, my soaps are always a tan color.

Michelle said...

OMG! That heart in the middle of your soap is so adorable. Who wouldn't love that. Very cute idea!

Dörte said...

eine Ziegenmilch hab ich fast schneeweiß! Die hae ich sofort nach dem einfüllen in die Form, draußen in den Frost gestellt, es war 18 Grad minus.

Liebe Grüße Dörte

Karen said...

Too funny jen. I am starting to think I should try to make sopa again. It is so contagious! Too bad you live so far away!

Polly McNamara said...

Your Heart soap is Beautiful! Really lovely. I love a white bar of soap, and it it interesting that the Sweet Almond Oil gave this colour. I;ve not used goats milk at all as I'm not sure of what I'm doing quite yet, but it is interesting experiment you're doing.

Mónica said...

Gracias por contarnos tus experimentos. A mí me encanta el jabón con el corazón incrustado. Me gusta también la textura que tienen, la parte de arriba parece que está pulida.
Besos

Jennifer Young said...

Hello all, I am so glad that you like the look of the soaps! Thanks for the comments. I am going to continue to investigate.... I have tried several different free on-line translation services to translate Dorte's comment... as I have a feeling it maybe be VERY helpful... but all the translations come out pretty strange. If I have understood Dorte correctly, you have achieved a milky white goat milk soap? Maybe by putting it in the freezer after pouring into the mould? If this is true it could be a very interesting and simple experiment! xo Jen Gracias Monica por todos tus comentarios, siempre tan positivos y cariñosos!! xo

Amy W said...

I make my goat's milk soaps with the milk as 100% of the liquid as well. I use my usual recipe which has six oils plus shea butter, and they are almost always tan. There is some debate as to whether or not titanium dioxide is actually a natural product. Here's a great post to read more on the subject.

Erin Napier said...

I use frozen goatsmilk too but I don't add any titanium dioxide so mine is a tan colour. I think if you wanted a whiter soap, use TD and powdered goatsmilk at trace?

karen lee said...

Hi Jen, Read your 'Guest Blog' on The Soap Bar but couldn't find any link to your soaps or a blog! Then read a comment 'Jen' left on Inner Earth Soaps yesterday (that I follow) and found you! Look forward to reading your blogs - past and present. Beautiful soaps!

Millie D said...

These look simply gorgeous. I love the whippy top.I am a novice soap maker have made 5 batches, just starting to use the first vegetable fat based one now, very exciting!! It was lavender, but seemes to have lost all its smell during curing. It lathers fantastically. You are right, so addictive, I love your blog.
Millie

Anne-Marie said...

I notice that my Milk soaps go more tan when they get warmer. If you use frozen GM, add the lye slowly to the GM, the color is lighter. Or if you add 50% GM at thin trace at a low temp, that helps me with the lighter color too.

Maggie said...

Hi Jen, I've tried putting the soap in the freezer after pouring, and it works great every time! What I do is, I pour at heavy trace, freeze it for 24 hours, take it out and leave it by the window (the cold canadian wind usually keeps it cool), and wait for an extra 2 or 3 weeks to cut. The goal is to keep the temperature down through out the process to prevent it from going gel. I've learned that the heat during the gel stage burns the sugar in GM and turns the soaps brown/tan. Give it a try next time!

Natural Aroma Handmade Soaps said...

Hi Jennifer, I've just found your blog and just wanted to say I love it. I use Goat's milk in some of my soaps, I like to use 100% goat's milk, I use it frozen and yes, mine come out a tan, sometimes light, sometimes a bit darker. Keeping it from trace is supposed to keep it a lighter colour, but I find it still is a light tan.
I bought some titanium dioxide to use as I'd read how it kept them nice and white and was natural, but I agree with Amy, after doing some research on it, I decided that I wouldn't use it, I don't really think it is a great thing to be using in all natural soaps, but for soaps with fragrance oils it would be good, but that's just my opinion. Keep up the great work!

lynnybee said...

I am right at this moment trying to put together a non palm oil goats milk soap recipe..I want off the palm oil train.. I see your list of liquid oils.. but what were your solids. Coconut and ???? I've seen shea suggested but its much more expensive and I have customers who won't like that :).
LYnn

Jennifer Young said...

Lynnybee, My solid oils are Coconut and shea. All of my soaps have organic non-refined shea butter in them. I love it. I have made soaps that I have liked with only Olive, Coconut and Castor though... I also make a soap with only olive oil. 2 active ingredients - water and organic, extra-virgen olive oil. Let me know how your formulating goes!! I remember when I took the no-palm decision and the early days formulating were frustrating until I struck on to recipes that i really liked. Good luck! xo Jen

Nathalie said...

Hi Jen
Great inspiring blog. Thanks for sharing!
I'm actually new at soap making and I really love the heart shaped soap.
How do you manage to form it?
Thanks for your help...
Nathalie

Jennifer Young said...

Hi Nathalie, I made some orange soap in small heart moulds, then I took them out and lined them up like a tube. Then I made another soap, the goat milke soap and stuck the tube in the middle. When I cut it, this is what I got!! xo Jen