How To Make Cold Process Milk Soap

The directions in this article show you how to make your own milk soap using the cold process method. This is my number one go to recipe. It is simple enough that after a couple of times, you will likely have everything memorized. You will only need four ingredients to make a full batch of soap, but as great as that is, you will need some supplies before you can begin.

Even though I am teaching you how to make a basic loaf of milk soap, I still strongly recommend you get a book or two on soap making. I've been making cold process soap for many years now & can always find something new to learn.

You will want to invest in supplies that you will use only for soaping. Do not use your regular eating utensils, bowls, etc. for soap making. Please get your basic supplies, before you attempt to make your first batch of soap.

Please read through this entire article before you begin.

Helpful Tip: At the end of this article I have provided a full slideshow of photos along with guidance to visually assist you with the entire soap making process.

The most basic items have been listed. You can always get additional items as your skills develop & you figure out what other items would be useful to you. You may even find that you no longer need some items as you've become very in-tune to the entire process. For example, I no longer need a thermometer. But for a beginner, a thermometer is a must.

I have met seasoned soap makers who are so confident in their skills, that they don't even bother to wear goggles. While goggles are uncomfortable, they serve a very important purpose; protecting your eyes from the caustic chemicals & chemical reactions in the soap batter & ingredients. Always wear goggles when making soap.

You will also want to wear a comfortable pair of dish gloves. I personally love the Kroger home sense brand of dish gloves. They are purple in color, thick & have a generous amount of inner flocking. If you don't have a Kroger near you, another good option is by Casabella. While goggles are the most important protective wear you can use, gloves are equally important. Always wear gloves when making soap.

You will also want a plastic (I know, I know, plastic... but it's really safe for soap making) measuring cup, at least three plastic bowls in various sizes - nesting bowls are very convenient, spatulas, & condiment cups for measuring out essential oils (not for this recipe but useful for other organically scented soaps). I use stainless steel condiment cups. I know I said to use plastic for soap making, but in this situation when only used to hold essential oils, stainless steel cups are perfectly fine.

You should also wear long sleeves, an apron, closed shoes (no flip flops or bare feet). Should you get lye on yourself or any working surface, I have found the quickest & most effective option to be good ol' vinegar. I keep a spray bottle handy with about 90% white vinegar, 10% tap water & a drop of natural dish soap. I also keep some rags handy. Whenever I see lye go where I don't want it to, I quickly spray the area & wipe it down, this includes any exposed skin. Lye burns. If you feel a burning sensation, it's probably a lye bead or flake. You need to neutralize it right away. Lye is scary & it is dangerous, but with common sense, it is easy enough to work with. Just don't ever get too comfortable with it; always keep your guard up.

You will also want good ventilation. If you can work outdoors on your porch, that's great! An open window works great as well. Your vent on your stove is another option. You can run the vent, open the window & turn on a fan if you like. Soap making is a a stinky chemical process. You are much better off if you can avoid breathing the fumes.

A few notes:

If your house is cool, you will need to warm your coconut oil so that it is in liquid form. The coconut oil doesn't need to be warm, it just needs to be in a liquid state.

There are various ways to freeze your milk. The most common way is to freeze it in ice cube or baby food trays in one ounce portions. Before I got a silicon baby food tray, I measured mine goats milk out by weight on a scale in 9 ounce portions & froze each portion in a zip lock type of plastic lunch bag. When I knew I would be making soap, I pulled out a bag & put it in the sink. The outside of the milk would start to melt a little. By the time I had my supplies ready & my lye measured, I could usually remove the block of milk from the bag. If the bag had creases or folds & is not thawed enough, I would run the bag under warm water & massage the bag until I knew I could get all the milk out of the bag.

Supplies:
Kitchen Scale & Adapter (adapter is optional)
Plastic Measuring Cup With Pour Spout
Plastic Nesting Bowls (3 bowls is a great starting point)
Immersion Blender
Silicon Loaf Pan
Soap Cutter
Mitre Soap Cutting Box*
PH Strips

Please read through this entire article before you begin.

Plain Milk Soap

Ingredients:
21 ounces Organic Olive Oil
9 ounces Organic Coconut Oil
9 ounces Frozen Full Fat Milk (Goat, Cow, Coconut)
4.1 ounces Lye

1. Get out your bottle of vinegar solution & a couple of rags. One rag will be for your vinegar wipe downs, the other rags will be to place your used utensils on & for wiping up the soap during cleanup.
2. Using a kitchen scale carefully measure out the lye into a plastic measuring cup. Put the frozen goat milk into a small plastic bowl. Slowly & carefully begin to pour about a 1/4 of the lye over the frozen goat milk. Do not add all of the lye at once. If you do, you will burn the milk. Using a silicon or plastic spatula start to stir the lye into the melting milk. It will start to smell unpleasant. Don't forget about ventilation. Pause & add a bit more lye & repeat the process. Doing this about four times usually helps to keep the milk from heating too quickly. Be sure to stir constantly until the lye is dissolved. Set aside. Note: if the milk overheats, you can still use it to make your soap. It will have a stronger color, but aside from that it is generally a harmless reaction.
3. Measure out the olive & coconut oils by weight. Blend them together by hand in a large plastic bowl. When the lye has cooled & dissolved* (see further instructions below), slowly add it to the oil mixture so that it doesn't splash. Stir by hand a few times to incorporate. Finish the process by using an immersion blender. When the soap has reached trace** (see further instructions below), stop.
4. Pour the soap into a silicon loaf pan & place in the refrigerator to sit undisturbed for 24 hours. You can also let it sit in a cold room where it wont be disturbed. If it cools too quickly a whitish film can form on the top. This is perfectly okay, just not visually appealing to some.
5. After 24 hours remove the loaf from the refrigerator. Let it sit for a few days to harden in the silicone loaf pan. I like to wait a week. This allows the soap to start to harden.
6. After a week, pop the loaf out of the silicone loaf pan & onto a clean cardboard tray. I make my own trays using old cardboard boxes that I tape together for added strength. I then put a sheet of brown aka Kraft packing paper on the cardboard. I label the side of the paper sheet with the type of soap & date made. I put another sheet of paper on top of the loaf to keep dust off of it. Let it sit for another week.
7. After a week, slice the soap & lay the slices out on the cardboard tray lined with Kraft packing paper. Cover the soap with a piece of Kraft packing paper to keep dust off the curing soap. Allow to cure for a minimum of 2 weeks. Every couple of days you can flip each cut bar to help it cure.
8. Test the PH of the soap after 2 weeks. At this point your soap will be a month old. It should have a PH of around 7. How to test: Wet your fingers & then rub your wet fingers into the soap to make a paste. Re-wet your fingers as needed. Once you have a nice paste, put the PH test strip into the paste. Wait for it to change color. Compare the color to the color indicator on the PH test strip booklet. You want a PH around 7 which is usually indicated as a green color.
9. If the soap tests safe, you can use it.
10. When storing, be sure to allow the soap to breathe. Do not put it in plastic bags, seals, or wraps. Wrapping it in paper is fine as long as it is unlined paper that allows air to pass through.

Further Instructions:

• *How To Tell Lye Has Cooled & Dissolved: Once all the milk is melted take the temperature of the milk. When the temperature starts to steadily drop, the lye has dissolved.
• **Reaching Trace: The mixture will be thicken & have a texture like a thin pudding. I can actually hear the difference in my hand mixer when it has reached trace. The motor pitch goes from a high noise to a lower grumble as the motor has to work harder as the batter thickens. If I'm fairly certain the batter has reached trace, but not 100% sure, I will leave the stick blender standing in the batter & start cleaning up. I'll then check the batter to see if it remains thick. If the batter thinned back out, it has not reached trace. In most cases, I find the batter thickens further when I use this method. When I first started learning, I used a thermometer. Making soap creates heat. By monitoring the temperature while blending, you can see when the temperature starts to steadily rise. When you see this 3 to 5 degree temperature increase, you have reached trace & can stop blending. Note: If you over blend you can create what is commonly called "soap on a stick" this is exactly how it sounds. The blending has gone on too long, to the point you cannot even pour the mixture. Depending on your immersion blender, it may shut off as a safety feature to protect the motor from overheating. A super thick batter is very hard on your immersion blenders motor. You do not want soap on a stick!

Clean Up:

Keep your protective gear on during the cleaning process. You will hand wash everything.

If you are using rags, first wipe the soap batter off of your utensils. Once you have them as clean as possible with the rags, place the rags in a dedicated glass jar so that they may cure. Like your soap, the rags will need air to breathe, so do not put a lid on the jar. You can also store the rags in a small cardboard box.

Use a very generous amount straight dish soap (no water) applied directly to each item used in the soap making process. Then rinse clean. If anything still seems oily or isn't fully clean, repeat the process until it is fully clean. Dry in your dish rack or on a towel on your counter if you don't have a dish rack.

Use the spray bottle of vinegar, water, & soap solution and spray down all surface areas. Wipe clean with a rag. Be sure to get everything. Lye loves to travel especially if the air is dry.

When your rags have cured, you can use them for washing. Once you've used up the soap on them, toss them into your washing machine. Line dry.

*A note on stainless steel mitre soap cutting boxes
I acquired mine many many years ago from a fellow farmers market vendor. It is very similar to the one linked in the supplies. The difference is that mine is longer; fitting the entire loafs length. It also has one cutting slot. Not two. I have tried to find my exact miter box. This is the best I could find. There are several websites other than amazon that sell them. The prices and shipping vary from site to site. Here are a few examples to help you out (I don't have any affiliated aka paid links to these, only to amazon): Mold Market, Bomar, Nature's Garden & Candlescience

Step by step slide show photos & basic instructions:

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