We had so many different things we wanted to do when we first started on this homesteading journey. We wanted to grow as much of our own food as possible, have a huge garden, all the animals, make as much as possible at home, including soap.
Making soap was quite an intimidating task to me, as it requires working with chemicals. However, this did not discourage me from trying. I read books, watched YouTube videos, joined soap making groups and may have gotten a little overloaded with knowledge, input and information in general.
Safety Precautions
The first time I attempted soap at home was after a pretty intense YouTube watching marathon. I made sure the kids were in school and the husband at work, ... just in case. All windows and doors were open to assure maximum air flow and ventilation. I wore all safety equipment there is to find. I looked like I was ready for a pretty extreme science experiment.
I started by slowly mixing frozen goat milk with lye, as recommended by all the other professional soap makers. I mixed the oils. Once the lye and goat milk was nice and smooth, the oild and lye mix were within 20 degrees temperature from each other, I mixed them, thus causing the chemical reaction of turning oils into soap (saponification).
All true! I may have taken it a bit too far. The house is still standing, nothing started bubbling or exploded. Success! We made our first brick of soap! Since then we have made many more. Though we are still experimenting a bit with oils and scents, I believe we are honing in on our favorites.
Soap Ingredients
For raw ingredients, we proudly use our own lard and our own goat milk, which makes an amazingly creamy lather and fantastic soap. Goat milk and lard are amazing moisturizers and help improve dry skin. Both ingredients are nutrient rich and support a healthy skin microbiome. It's especially beneficial for individuals with skin allergies and helps heal eczema.
In addition to our lard and goat milk, the soap produced at Hidden Oaks Homestead contains olive oil and coconut oil, which in themselves are great skin conditioners.
Recipe
11 oz goat milk
6 oz lye
12 oz olive oil
11 oz coconut oil
12 oz lard
1 oz frangrance oil