Comments on: Nana’s Lavender Goatmilk Soap Recipe

By: Judi / Momma Muse

Judi / Momma Muse — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:08:43 +0000

Oh thank you for your sweet comment ncsunny! You made my day when I read this! I’m sooo not a soap snob. It’s competitive if you’re in soap for business, but I got out of that several years ago. Keep soaping and have fun!

By: ncsunnygirl

ncsunnygirl — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:35:00 +0000

Your site is the most awesome site I have found. I have researched soap until I had almost talked myself out of trying to make my own batch… but your rescued me.. I love your straight forward answers and you much needed explanations and the fact you are not a soap snob to newbies makes you number one special to me. Thanks for all the advice. I love making up my own recipes, so far only one flop, but i milled it and saved it. God Bless…

By: Judi / Momma Muse

Judi / Momma Muse — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:04:06 +0000

Megan – thanks so much for your input! I’m sure others will appreciate your findings.

By: Megan

Megan — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:14:25 +0000

Here is my experience with substituting PKO with coconut oil:

When I made this soap I used 75% olive oil, 20% coconumt oil, and 5% lard. I ran this recipe through a lye calculator and used the suggested amount of lye to produce a 6% superfat. The resulting soap was very hard and very beautiful. Next time, however, I will not use so must coconut oil as it is slightly drying.

By: Judi / Momma Muse

Judi / Momma Muse — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:53:52 +0000

A few important questions…
How long has it been since you made the soap?
– Ideally, you want to let it set up in the mold around 24 hours. That said, I sometimes un-molded mine at 12 hours.. but yes, it will be softer.. just handle it gently.

What did you use to line the mold?
– If nothing, then… ouch.. it may be difficult to get it out. Assuming you lined the mold, I’d take a butter knife and slide it around all accessible sides of the mold, then, I’d slowly try working it out.
– If it isn’t lined, then, I’d consider grabbing a couple melon ballers and make a lot of soap balls. ;) And it’d be best to do that while it’s still semi-soft.

Since you change the posted recipe, did you remember to run it through a soap/lye calculator?
– If not, then it may not have enough of the lye solution to allow it to harden up. It is *very*extremely* (made up stress word) important to run all recipes through a lye calculator. Even one that is posted (what if *I* made a mistake in copying my recipe to the post?) and even more so if you change a recipe. The lye amount is determined by each individual oil property – and all oils have different, even if similar, properties.
– So.. if you didn’t check the recipe before, and now you have soft soap.. go ahead and check it now. If the amount of lye isn’t correct, then it may not harden up even given time. :(

I saw your second comment and wanted to let you know, it’s not a bad batch, even if you did use a lot of coconut oil. Coconut oil IS good. And it makes for a great soap. But if there is too much in your soap, it might cause drying to your skin. You can try it, see what happens.. it might be ok. But if you find it’s too drying, then you could use it in my laundry soap recipe. Or you can re-batch it (I can’t remember what the proper term for it is) where you shred the soap, water it down, cook it on the stove – you’d have to search for it for specifics, but my understanding is it makes a nice gentle soap. Or another option is to shred it/slice it, and add to new batches of soap for ‘design’.. like white chunks in a darker soap.. uh.. like if the batch is scented vanilla, add shreds or chunks to a chocolate soap, and giving it a creative name, Chocolate Marshmallow – for a simple example.

If none of these ideas or suggestions help, feel free to email me.. and we can try to hash out a solution together. :)