Honey, oats and milk soap

Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 1 hr
Yields: 6 round soaps

This is one of my favourite natural soap recipes and despite not adding any fragrance, the soap smells deliciously like porridge, which isn’t surprising as the soap is made of the same ingredients: milk, oats and honey. The milk will add creaminess to your soap. The oats are for the exfoliating effect. And the honey is for fragrance and colour, as well as being a humectant, which means it adds moisture to the bar. The honey also improves the lather, giving this soap a wonderful creamy, smooth lather.

If you have never made cold process soap before, I strongly suggest you check out the basic cold process soap tutorial first.

Before starting, please read the safety and precautions post, especially since this tutorial requires the handling of caustic soda!

ONE: First, prepare your lye. Weigh out the caustic soda in a small container. Measure the water in a small pyrex or other heat proof glass jug. Then carefully add the caustic soda to the water and gently stir until all the caustic soda has dissolved. Stir one teaspoon of sodium lactate to make the soap harder. Set aside to cool.

TWO: While you are waiting for the lye to cool down, prepare your other ingredients. You will need one tablespoon of milk powder (you can use either cow’s milk or goat’s milk powder), one tablespoon of honey (I used a manuka honey blend), and one to two tablespoons of rolled oats, depending on how exfoliating you would like your soap to be.

THREE: Next it is time to prepare the oils. Weigh out the coconut oil in a pyrex jug and heat in microwave on high for one minute or until melted.

FOUR: Add the honey to the warm coconut oil and give it a bit of a stir. I like adding the honey to the warm oil, so that it will soften up and become a bit easier to work with.

FIVE: Add the remaining oils to the coconut oil and honey mixture, and wait for the lye to cool down to room temperature.

SIX: Make sure you are still in protective gear (goggles and gloves), carefully pour the lye to the oils, avoiding any splashes. Give it a quick pulse with the stick blender.

SEVEN: Add the milk powder and keep stick blending to mix the powder and the honey thoroughly into the soap mixture.

EIGHT: Add the rolled oats and either stir with a whisk, if you wish the rolled oats to remain in size for a scrubby effect, or stick blend to cut the rolled oats into smaller sizes for a light exfoliating effect.

NINE: The soap can get a bit thick if you leave it too long, so either pour or scoop the soap into your soap molds. As you can see, my soap thickened quite significantly, while I was taking pictures, so I’m really having to pay it down with the spatula. I’m using a mold with small rounds, but you could also use a muffin tray or loaf mold.

TEN: Leave to cure in the mold overnight. The honey in the soap can cause the soap to overheat, so don’t insulate and keep an eye on it. The next day, unmold and leave the soaps to cure for a further 6-8 weeks before using.