Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is a classic soap to make. It’s one of the first soaps that I made when I first started to make soap. This method of milk soapmaking is a bit different than the other method where we used frozen milk in the lye solution. This method uses equal amounts of lye and water for the solution and then another equal amount of milk is added to the oils. Some people find this method easier when soaping with milk. You can use this method for any type of milk including goat, cow, hemp, coconut, soy, oat…etc.
In standard milk soapmaking you typically freeze your milk into ice cubes and use them for your lye solution. This helps keep the temps of the lye solution down and the milk from burning. It can still cause issues such as burning and burnt fat (from the milk) leaving specs in your soap. Not always…but it can happen.
In the “Milk in Oil” method…you make a lye solution with equal parts lye and water. Then you add another equal part milk to the oils before you add the lye solution. This prevents milk fat from burning in the lye solution. You also don’t have to go through the hassle of freezing your milk. For some people it is just easier to do.
I like to run my oatmeal through a mini food chopper or a coffee grinder to grind it down some. The larger the pieces…the scratchier the soap. I prefer instant as it is softer in the soap but you can use any kind. I get fresh goat’s milk from another local soaper, Donna. Learn about her goat’s here.
Let’s make soap!
The recipe:
Coconut oil – 20 oz
Olive oil – 20 oz
Rice bran oil – 5 oz
Avocado oil – 5 oz
Castor oil – 4 oz
Shea butter – 5 oz
Sweet almond oil – 5 oz
Fresh goat’s milk – 9 oz
Oatmeal – 4 tablespoons
Honey – 4 tablespoons
Sodium hydroxide – 9 oz
Water – 9.5 oz
Gear up in your goggles and gloves! If you are new to soapmaking…visit our beginner tutorial first.
The first step is to make our lye solution. I mention above to make the lye solution with equal parts of lye and water. I always add a splash more because sometimes the mixture can fall out of solution if there is not enough water. Usually equal parts is the most concentrated you should go.
Measure out the water and the lye. Add the lye to the water and mix in a well ventilated area.
Put that to the side. Weigh out the shea and coconut oil and melt.
Once melted, add all of the liquid oils to the melted oils.
Add 9 oz of milk to the oil mixture.
Next add the oatmeal. I like to use 1 tablespoon per pound of oils. We have 4 pounds so I added 4 tablespoons. You can add more or less depending on your preference.
I use the same amount for honey; 1 tablespoon per pound of oils. I added 4 tablespoons.
You can go ahead and your fragrance oil to the oil mixture as well. My favorite oatmeal, milk and honey fragrance is from Bramble Berry. I used 3 ounces.
So now we have the oils, milk, honey, oats and fragrance. Give this a good stickblend to make sure everything is well mixed.
Take a look at the lye solution. You might see some floating white filmy stuff. Give it a mix. This is just because it is such a concentrated solution and the lye is reacting to the carbon in the air and forming sodium carbonate. Lye (undissolved crust) stuck to the bottom of your container is bad…white floaties are not.
Add the lye solution. Make sure you have your goggles on!
Now it is time to stickblend! Your mixture might turn bright orange from the lye and milk reacting.
Mix until trace and then pour into your mold.
Okay…so this soap likes to heat up. Honey and (the sugar in) milk like to heat up when in the mold. I prefer my soap gelled so I really have to keep an eye on it. I cover, but I check on it every ten minutes or so. If you don’t want your soap to gel or are afraid of overheating…you can put your soap somewhere cool like in the fridge or freezer…or even outside if its cold outside.
There is definitely a difference in color between gelled (darker) and ungelled (lighter) soap.
So…some things to remember:
You can soap milk two different ways – full milk in lye solution or milk in oils as above.
Additives used:
Oatmeal – rate of 1 tablespoon PPO
Honey – rate of 1 tablespoon PPO
Happy (Goat’s) Milk Soaping!
-Amanda
Hi Amanda, I used to use the milk in oil method. When I used store bought pasteurized milk I never had any problems. When I was offered fresh goat’s milk I jumped at the chance to use it. I made a LOT of goat’s milk soap – many batches. After about three weeks instead of getting harder they got softer and when I broke one open It smelled AWFUL. I threw out nearly $2000 retail value in soap. Since then I’ve only used the lye in milk method as I suspect the unpasteurized milk needed longer exposure to the lye solution to sanitise it. I googled madly after the experience but found very little on the topic. I recently noticed a u tube video for a successful goat’s milk soap maker and noticed them pouring clear lye into the vat, so I guess they must also use the method you’ve suggested AND they have their own goats. Any thoughts would be welcome.
Thought I would throw my two cents in! I’ve been making soap with %100 fresh goat’s milk for about 3 years now. I read so many books, that my head was spinning, and I wasn’t sure what method to use. I really wanted to use all milk, no water. My first batch did not turn out, sounds similar to Melissa. Then I read the book “Making Milk Soap” I don’t remember who it’s by, but it’s an old one. According to that book, fresh milk needs to be pasturized and frozen before you use it to make soap. It had something to do with the protein molocules. So all you do is heat the fresh milk to 170 degrees, put a lid on it, and let it sit at that temp for 2 minutes, then just let it cool. Then I freeze it in ice cube trays. I just always do it this way, and I haven’t ever had another failed batch. It’s extra work, but it’s worth it to me!!
Thanks LuAnn – I have that book too. I had so many different batches spoil using the fresh milk in oil that I could only conclude that it was because it wasn’t pasteurized. I’d like to try the milk in oil using fresh milk that has been pasteurized, but because I was so far behind in production due to the botched batches I just took the safe track and did the milk in lye method. Pity we don’t get more time to experiment.
Good to know! I guess I just always get my milk frozen so haven’t had issues. Thanks for posting!
Oh that’s horrible. I’ve been doing this method for awhile and haven’t had issues using fresh goat’s milk. I know that a lot of people that do bigger batches use this method as well because they are still able to master batch their lye solution while adding the milk to the oils. The high pH of the soap should take care of unpasteurized milk issues. I’m not really sure what went wrong with yours. That is interesting and I wonder if anybody has experienced that. Thanks for posting about it! I’ll ask my milk soaping friends as I talk to them.
I also make goat’s milk soap and always pasteurize the goat’s milk and freeze it before using it for soap making. When I started making milk soap I had MANY MANY batches spoil using fresh milk …
This is exactly the method explanation I’ve been looking for, Amanda. I have watched videos from Celine B at I Am Handmade (Ireland) and she always pours her milk and additives into the oil mix and her soaps are truly beautiful. I just could not understand how it worked. I can hardly wait to give this a try. I started soaping about a year and a half ago and also live in Texas! I hope to meet you one of these days. Would love to come for one of your workshops. Thanks again! You read my mind!
Donna Watkins
Donna, where in Texas do you live? I live in Houston. I’ve been making goats milk soap for 13 years with fresh goats milk and never a problem . Do not pasteurize. Waste of time.
I’ve raised goats for 15 years and learned to soap with only fresh (unpasteurized) goat milk. I haven’t had any problems using it… OTOH, I do use only 100% frozen milk in ice cube trays, mostly because I want to use all milk to get rid of it.
My goats are still pregnant now, but I’ll try water/lye and fresh milk in oils next month when the first one has her babies and see if I have problems too!
Thanks, Jenny! That would be great!
I hesitate to ask, considering you all are using fresh goats milk (and that would be my preference), but without access to the fresh milk, what could I expect using canned milk? In the meantime, I will see if I can find a source for fresh milk. Thank you!
I have been using frozen goats, coconut and buttermilk. I love milk soaps. It is a pain to use this method and the soaps does have specks in it. I will try your method Amanda sounds great. Thanks for positing.
Hi. If your mixture turn bright orange it’s mean you burn your milk proteins, and it’s not good. Do not heat your oils and do not warm up after frozen milk-lye combination. Mix and freeze it. I found this method-recipe at one of Oregon suppliers website and it’s totally winner. Pasteurization will kill half of your milk vitamins and it has nothing to do with smells, colors or milk proteins. Raw milk is treasure, pasteurized milk more like powdered milk in water.
If your soap only smell bad you can recook it. Weight your soap, shred it and add a half weight of glycerin. Slowly melt it together in a pot or crock pot on a very low heat. Mix it together time to time. When it’s melts and blends you will have a base soap, it will be like melt and pure soap base, but natural and home made. Pretty often smell will be gone by that time, if not you can add more stronger fragrance or essential oil. Almond, jasmine, rosemary, peppermint, juniper, orange blossom work great as coverage for me. Good luck.
Where can I get more info on this process? I am a little confused in regards to the lye amounts. When I input recipe into lye calc, it gives me the amounts of water and lye.
Thanks for your help.
Hi Natasha, what exactly are your questions. You might get a different lye amount depending on what superfat percentage that you are using. The same goes for water/liquid amounts. If you would like to email more specific questions, I’d be glad to answer them. -Amanda
I love this method!! My soap comes out so beautiful this way. I am not a chemist but judging by the look of my soap, I feel that this method is much kinder to the milk and possibly retains more of the good properties. You are the BEST teacher EVER!!!
I used this method yesterday and made a 1 lb batch using whole milk. It turned orange like in your picture and it took a while after that to get to trace. I put it in the freezer right after I poured it then moved it to the fridge after 1.5 hours and left it there for the rest of the night.
I took it out this morning, then unmolded it tonight and cut it. It’s still about the same color as it was when I put it in the freezer – orange-ish. I would have thought it would begin turning tan-ish by now. Do you think there is something wrong?
Hey! I saw this post and was really in the mood to make another batch of soap, however I didn’t have goats milk on hand so I decided to just do a honey and oatmeal bar. I used my normal 3lb soap recipe (which always turns out a creamy white) with the addition of 5% natural beeswax, honey and oatmeal. 1tablespoon ppo. and a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon for the intire recipe. I scented it with Sweet orange essential oil, ravensara essential oil and a sandalwood/frankisence oil. 1 oz total. (Lye to water 1:2)
I was expecting my soap to come out a creamy tan due to the small addition of cinnamon, however it was a bright pumpkiny orange, much like how you described yours.
This was a cold process insulated, reached full gel.
I unmolded and cut at 24 hours, quite a firm bar, lovely smell.
It is a dark tan on the top but still quite orangey inside?
Any ideas why this occurred?
I thought the orange colour was a reaction of the milk and lye.
I just started doing this method, I found if you kept your temp really low like 80 degrees for both the oil and lye mixture your soap will not turn color but stay white. If I let it gel it may turn tan, it will stay white if I refrig and don’t gel. Thanks for the info and all you do amanda.
OK, I did it! I found a friend who furnished me with fresh (frozen) goat milk, and followed your directions. I poured some into a log mold that I hope will gel, some into a slab with “goat milk” imprinted on it, and about 8 round bars in a silicone mold, which I refrigerated to keep from gelling. I combined oils and lye at 84 degrees and added the lye slowly and incrementally . It did turn orange but never smelled burned or bad in any way. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out. Thank you so much. This may be my new favorite method!
I can’t wait to try this method. I love goat’s milk soap. OK, any kind of milk soap. I want to make some coconut milk soap pretty soon. I will have to use what I can get at the grocery store.
Used your milk in oil method today with your no palm recipe #1. It looked great going in the mold and it ended up gelling, even though I moved it to a cool spot in the house. Ah well, such is soap! I’m glad I read this milk in oil method because it makes things so much easier. Unfortunately, I’ve got 16oz of goat milk cubes in the freezer to still use. :/
Thanks for all the useful tips!!
I did melt my frozen one and did the recipe. Only difference? My soap never changed color and was totally amazing. Love love that recipe.
This process is a life saver. I’ve learned to use the Room Tem Process and with the milk in oil process used here, I use both ALL the time. One of the things I appreciate about soaping are the cardinal rules regarding lye, and then just about everything else, is creativity. Thank you so much for your creative blog.
Hi Amanda,
Thank you so much for this technique…so much easier, but although I prefer a full gel, i don’t prefer the tan look to the soap.
I tried the ” milk in oil method” two different ways by accident. The first batch i added the milk to the oils before the lye/water solution was added, and the second batch I added the milk after the lye/water solution was added to the oils. Both batches smelled great, the only difference was the color. Both batches went through a full gel phase. The first batch was tan and the second batch was a beautiful creamy white color. I think I may be on to something.
The discount on lye/liquid calculations sounds like a good idea. What impact will this have on soaps if using milk?
Valli