Kaysha’s Lavender Goat’s Milk Soap Recipe

My first attempt at goat’s milk soap turned out to be a success. Today, after curing for six weeks I took my hard work to the tub for a test run. It creates a rich lather, it’s creamy, moisturizing and stays together well in the shower. It is perfect for sensitive skin and eczema!

Luckily, goat’s milk soaps don’t call for nearly as much goat’s milk as cheese recipes, because my little Nigerian Dwarf goat momma only gives me about 6 oz. a day. This recipe calls for two days worth of milking for me. But if I save it up long enough, I can accumulate the 1/2 gallon or gallon’s worth needed for cheeses. Having one half sized goat takes some patience.

This soap is simple, and is a great starter soap even for somebody who has never worked with lye, which I hadn’t. It was a learning experience, and I talk about the hidden science and my struggles with it in another blog post. My next soap adventure includes making colorful swirls and a men’s soap. So stay tuned to see how that one turned out. I hope to have a few bars of some of my soaps available on Etsy soon.

4 oz lye (caustic soda – Food Grade)
9 oz goat milk
8.3 oz olive oil
8.3 oz castor Oil (8.3)
8.6 coconut oil
1.3 oz of lavender therapeutic grade essential oil
1 oz of lemon therapeutic grade essential oil

Freeze the (pre-weighed) 9 oz. of goats milk in ice cube trays
Melt coconut, castor and olive oils together or simply mix them with a stirrer if they are already all melted (this is usually the case here in the desert). The goal is to have to oils and the lye mixture all within 10 degrees of each other, and both between 80°F and 130°F
Put the frozen milk cubes into a 2 quart Pyrex dish THEN slowly pour lye onto the ice cubes. This is crucial to keep the milk from burning. Keep mixture cool – between 100° F to 125° F** Mine never went above 90 degrees by using the frozen milk.
- ALWAYS ADD THE LYE TO THE FROZEN MILK AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! Doing so will result in a volcanic eruption like in your 7^th grade science class
Stir well, until dissolved around 4-5 minutes. Don’t skimp on the mixing, if you do, you may end up with clumps of lye hidden in the mixture that can later burst in your bar of soap onto your skin!
Next, combine the lye/milk solution and melted oils. You still do not want to touch your lye/milk mixture with bare skin. This is the tricky part, be careful not to splash while combining the mixtures. Stir (using some sort of electric mixer or you’ll be mixing for days) until the mixture traces – it took me about 30 minutes
- When the mixture has reached trace, it will support a drop, or your stir marks will linger for several seconds.
After the mix has reached trace you can mix in the essential oils and stir by hand
Pour into silicon soap mold, cover and put in freezer over night to keep a light creamy color and avoid the gel phase. Take it out of the freezer to de-thaw it and then cut into bars. **If left too long, the bars will be too hard to cut and/or will crack upon cutting.
Store in an airy place to cure for 4-5 weeks before use.

**Oils and lye mixture should be within 10 degrees of one another before mixing

Soap making isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but it is still a time consuming and scientific process. I didn’t think about how much science would be involved in the conversions, until I decided I wanted to modify a recipe and then had to figure out how much lye/milk I needed to change to adjust to the change of the oil liquid. It really is a science!

NOTE: This blog includes affiliate links, which means I may receive a nominal commission when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. I have not been paid for my opinion and any commentary on the efficiency of a product is solely my own opinion and experience.