Homemade Rosemary-Mint Goat Milk Soap
Oh my goodness, you guys! This rosemary-mint goat milk soap smells divine, and that creamy milk-based soap just can’t be beat!
I have a whole list of our favorite essential oil blends for soap making, and this particular blend isn’t on the list – because this is the first time I’ve ever tried it. I love all of those blends, but to be honest, at least 50% of the soap I make, I’m always trying new things. That’s what makes life interesting!
Another thing that was a first for me with this batch, is that I used canned goat milk that I bought from our local grocery store. much to my surprise, canned goat milk is brown! Always before, I’ve used either fresh or frozen goat milk either from our own goats, or my sister-in-law’s goats, and of course, it’s the brightest shade of white. Even better, if you get it icy before you add it to the lye for making soap, it stays a beautiful creamy white.
I was interested to see that this brown, canned goat milk stayed the same color of brown after mixing the lye into it, and resulted in a creamy, caramel-colored bar of soap. Still beautiful, just different. 🙂
If you’ve never made goat milk soap, I highly recommend either picking up a can of goat milk in the baking aisle of your grocery store or visiting a local goat dairy to pick some up.
It’s not expensive, and it’s totally worth that milky, soft, creamy bar of soap you’ll get because of it, to say nothing of the fact that goat milk is one of the best things you can use to nourish and moisturize your skin. (Read more about how good goat milk is for your skin!)
This is a small batch of soap, which is perfect for most families – especially if you like to make multiple batches so you can change up the scents frequently like I do. 🙂
A note about clean up: When you’re cleaning up the bowls and utensils you used for making soap, you’re basically cleaning up grease. Yuck! So use the strong dish soap and vinegar that you normally use for cleaning up greasy dishes. The main thing you need to be sure about is that you clean up anything that might have raw lye on it right away to keep anybody from getting accidental chemical burns!
Homemade Rosemary-Mint Goat Milk Soap
- 6 oz. ice cold goat milk
- 2 oz. granulated lye
- 4 oz. coconut oil (expeller pressed coconut oil is often cheaper and just as effective for soap)
- 4 oz. olive oil
- 8 oz. vegetable/soybean oil
- 2 teaspoons rosemary essential oil
- 3 teaspoons peppermint essential oil
*Note: For information on the results of each type of oil in your soap, I highly recommend the book The Soap Maker’s Companion.
Instructions:
- Measure out your ingredients carefully. I highly recommend not opening your lye until you’re ready to measure, and immediately mix it in with your goat milk – especially if you live in a humid area where your lye will absorb moisture and stick to or lump up in your measuring device.
- In a well-ventilated place – preferably outside, pour goat milk into a large, non-reactive bowl – either glass or high-quality stainless steel.
- sprinkle lye granules on top of milk, and stir with a non-reactive spoon or spatula until lye is dissolved.
- Let the mixture sit and cool until it reaches about 100 degrees.
- In the meantime, melt the oil and cool to 100 degrees. I like to use an instant infrared thermometer, but a candy thermometer will work as well.
- When the temperatures match, gently pour the oil into the milk/lye mixture.
- Mix with an immersion blender for 5-15 minutes until your soap mixture reaches a trace. If you’re not sure what a trace is, read this article with descriptive pictures.
- Stir in essential oils and mix well.
- Pour the soap mixture into a prepared mold. The mold used for the soap in these pictures was a plastic half-log mold from Hobby Lobby, making six five-ounce bars.
- Carefully move your full mold to a place where it can sit undisturbed for at least 24 hours.
- Cover with a cardboard or plastic box, and then with a towel or blanket to insulate.
- After 24-48 hours, you can remove your soap from the molds.
- Place soap back in a place where it won’t be disturbed, and let it cure for at least three weeks before using it to complete the saponification process, sweat, and become harder.
Have fun with your homemade soap! And check out these other recipes:
- Lemon Poppyseed Soap with Goat Milk
- Handmade Lavender Soap Recipe
- Homemade Rosemary Vanilla Soap Recipe
- Oatmeal Lavender Goat Milk Soap
Recipes everyone can make!
Nourish your body with ingredients you already have in your kitchen!
This soap looks fantastic! It makes me want to rush out and get a goat just so I can make it whenever I want! I’ll definitely find some goat milk and try this! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Elyse,
Wondering how many bars this recipe yields?
Hi Courtney, I cut mine into 6 4oz. bars.
Weight measurements or liquid measurements or both?
Weight is more precise.
Can I replace the vegetable oil with castor oil, lard, or shortening?
You can play with the oils, I like the soft soap and stable lather the vegetable oil creates.
Thank you very much for the recipe. Betty
I thought the safety rule about using lye was to pour it into the oils, not pouring anything into the lye
You have to mix the lye with liquid before adding the oil.
Hi,
How do you keep the milk from getting to hot and burning or turning brown? Also do you let it go through the gell phase? Your soap is beautiful!
Thank you
If you get the milk icy to the point of being slushy and slowly stir the lye into the milk, that helps a lot. Essentially, the colder your milk, the lighter the soap.
Hi I am thinking of making soap for gifts for an event in June – I need to make enough for 120 women – giving each 3 bars of soap – can you give me an idea of what that might cost me ( per bar ) after I purchase the equipment I need? I love the idea of goats milk and think I can find it fresh in my area. Thank you for any info you can give me – Debra
Je vous donne pourtant mon bon imail!
Got all my ingredients ready for this soap – but when I mixed the lye in with the soap it only reached about 85 degrees so I made my oil be that temp too before I mixed them. My immersion blender died at 4 minutes in so now what do I do? I have a bowl of runny soap??? Also, I do not like how the immersion blender splatters – any tricks?
What Lye do you use? I tried to click the link and it won’t take me to the product.
My lye doesnt heat up to 100. It’s been between 80 and 90 forever! Will it still work?
I have placed my lye/milk bowl in a sink of hot water to raise the temp, ice water to,lower the temp.
What oil can I use instead of coconut oil? A few of my family members are allergic to it. Thank you, can’t wait to try it.
Is there a good alternative to using coconut oil? My son is extremely allergic to it.
You could run another oil through a lye calculator to figure out the replacement.
Thank you for the recipe! I put mine in a rectangular log. Do I cut it into smaller bars after the 24/48 hours? Or do I let it completely cure for the 3-4 weeks before cutting into smaller bars?
Thanks so much!
This has turned into my favorite go to soap recipe. Simple ingredients. Great moisturizing and lather.
Thank you for sharing that detail. It was fascinating and insightful. Continue to share useful resources over these blogs…
Can I use any essential oil or does it have to be for soap making. Thanks
Excellent post and wonderful blog, this sort of interesting posts I really like, keep it up…
Can one use cows milk, coconut milk instead of goats milk
What proportion of melt & pour goat soap would you recommend when making rosemary/peppermint soap?
Hello, I love how well you explain this and have the perfect list of EOs I was looking for! My question is, I want to use only coconut and avocado oils in my soap. Would you be able to tell me the amounts to use please and thank you? I am brand new and only did one batch of hot process so far following another recipe.
can i replace the soy bean oil with olive oil? thanks
Hello! I have only been using melt and pour soaps so for the rosemary mint soap recipe what are the measurements on the oils. Than you
I’m a little bummed. My goats milk was pretty dang cold but it was also in the 90s outside when I made this, so I brought the mixture in soon after. It immediately turned a orange/yellow/brown, so I assume the Lye burnt the goats milk. (I am thinking I added the Lye too quickly) I continued on and used Lavender and Rose EOs and after the 48 hours I sliced them up today and they smell VERY strong. I am hoping the smell dissipates as they cure in the next 3-4 weeks. Possibly these EOs are too strong or shouldn’t have been mixed at such a high quantity. Soap making is so much trial and error.
Quick questions…
The lye is measured by mass like the oils, not weight correct?
And how does the cold milk plus lye need to cool down, lye makes it hot or??
Thanks
Soapmakers comment is correct. Once the lye has been mixed with the milk and the temperatures of the lye mixture and oils have reached the same temperatures, you pour the lye mixture into the oils. Not the opposite per #6 of the instructions.