It’s Memorial Day weekend and lots of people are BBQing and hitting the ‘suds’. Here it’s cold and it’s snowing outside. Nevertheless, I need to get the Summer soaps made. There is a CucumberMelon and G’Oatmeal HoneyMoo (goat milk, oats & honey) on the racks. I’ll be working on a plain Honeymoo today and still have 9 other kinds of soap I sold out of that need to be restocked. It’ll keep me off the streets next month...that is, if there WERE any streets here. The closest pavement is 35 miles away.
The goats are due to freshen soon, so I won’t have to use my frozen milk from last year much longer. Milk in soap is skin nourishing and makes for a very creamy and moisturizing lather.
It’s a very luxurious soap and goat milk is even a tad better than cow’s milk, as it is nearly the same PH as our skin. Cow’s milk is only very slightly more alkaline, although the Jersey Milk Soaps are my very best sellers. The milk offers alpha hydroxy acids which assist in gently removing dead skin cells, unlike harsh commercial soap.It also has proteins which kill acne producing bacteria. Milk soaps also tend to be highly moisturizing and beneficial to dry, flaky skin. In addition to this, they are loaded with vitamins and minerals that are able to be absorbed into the skin .
All soap is made with lye and fats or oils. The chemical reaction of combining them turns it into a type of ‘salt’. Oils and fats are made up of ‘triglycerides’. Combining them with an alkaline solution such as sodium or potassium hydroxide (lye) causes a chemical reaction known as saponification, which combines and becomes soap. Glycerine, a highly prized, skin softening humectant, is a natural by product of soap. Unfortunately, in commercial soap, this is processed out to use in more expensive beauty products, leaving the soap you buy in the store lacking any of the natural benefits of real, homemade soap.
There is an endless variety of oils that can be used in soaping. Each type of oil brings a different quality to the soap. Some are moisturizing, others create bubbles, some make a harder bar of soap...there are endless variations. Adding ingredients such as milk, aloe, or other liquids to the lye mix can add different properties as well. Top it all off with some nice essential oils or fragrances and/or a pretty color and it can feed more of your senses. For the fragrance allergic, I also make unscented soaps such as the Plain Honeymoo, Oatmeal/Honey/Milk bars and my famous beer soap (This Sud’s for You).
There is something there for everybody.
New and replacement soaps will be available in July. Until then there is a limited supply of Honeysuckle, ButtermilkAlmondMoo and a few variety bars.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our active military, veterans, and their families for protecting us here at home and for protecting American interests throughout the world.
-Kim/Petey
