We use pure beeswax in our All Natural Goat Milk Soap because it gives a solidness that prolongs the life of the bar.

Sodium hydroxide is used to trigger the saponification of the ingredients. We like to say that we simply put the right ingredients together and then let them make the soap!  Mom mixes the sodium hydroxide with distilled water and goat’s milk.  At the same time we melt and mix a special blend of oils and beeswax together.  We use olive oil, palm oil, vegetable oil, vitamin E oil, and coconut oils to insure that our soap is full of good things as well as pleasant to use.   Olive oil moisturizes while providing protection against the harsh climate your skin must face every day.   Vitamin E is an antioxidant and natural preservative; we use coconut oil to create firm bars that really give you a great lather.

Everything needs to be cooled before anything can be mixed together and this requires a lot of stirring!!

Here you see us mixing all of the ingredients together…..

While Mom is busy mixing the oils, wax and sodium hydroxide , Pamela is going to add the essential oil.  We add these all natural, scented oils at the end to ensure that everything has been mixed well before hand.

These are our unique soap molds They are responsible for the delightful shapes we are able to offer to our customers.  Our most popular designs are the dogs, goats and roosters!

The molds laying out on the table, ready to be filled……

Here, Nathan is carefully pouring the liquid soap into measuring cups so that we may then carefully pour it into the molds.  Sometimes, no matter how careful we are, we end up pouring too much soap into the molds and then – our molds overfloweth.

Look at how carefully Pamela and Mom are filling the molds!!  We are thankful for their steady hands.

After the molds are completely filled, we place them on a table in our ’soap room’.  We use freezer paper between the layers and then cover the whole lot of them with an old comforter.  The heavy blanket keeps the heat in while the soap begins the process of curing.

Emily is our appointed record keeper and she reported that we produced 371 bars of soap that day! What a lot of work, but we had a very good time and now our inventory is on its way to being restocked.  According to Nathan’s records, we are half way to being completely stocked.  We are looking forward to another soap making day in the near future.

We appreciate hearing from you. Good-bye for now,

The Moores

— We also wanted to mention our new scent, Orange.  It is now able to be ordered through the website.  Try a bar today!

In cold process soapmaking, the method I use to make our goat milk soap bars, an acid and a base must be combined to produce soap. It is the reaction that occurs between the acid and base which forms soap. The acid is the oil, whether a neutral oil or a pure fatty acid. The base must be the sodium hydroxide, for fats and oils cannot be converted into soap without it. As the sodium hydroxide and the oils are combined together, the process of saponification occurs as the triglycerides of the oils break down into fatty acids  that react with the sodium ions of the base lye solution to create a whole new product – SOAP!

The proportion of sodium hydroxide to oils in a soap recipe affects how they react…and we use a discounted proportion of sodium hydroxide in order to produce a “superfatted” bar of soap – an extra mild, moisturizing soap. I will share more on what this means in the next blog post. For now, though, you can understand how our soap is made with sodium hydroxide yet contains no chemicals and is very mild and gentle!

The gentle cleansing and moisturizing properties of the oils used in Garland Goat Soaps make them ideal for baby's tender skin.

Palm oil is another important oil for use in a natural bar soap. A gentle cleanser and moisturizer, palm oil contributes to lasting hardness in a bar of soap. Unlike coconut oil, however, it will not cause the bar of soap to become brittle, so when these two types of oils are combined together, the resulting soap lasts a long time without becoming brittle and cracked. Palm Oil is rich in palmitic acid, vitamin E, vitamin K and magnesium and is considered to be a natural source of anti-oxidant.

Last but not least, Vitamin E oil completes the well-rounded selection of oils in Garland Goat Soap of Maine’s base soap recipes. Vitamin E oil is extremely emollient, and deeply moisturizing. Because of it’s make up, it does not saponify in the soapmaking process (in other words, it does not react with sodium hydroxide to make soap, but rather remains in it’s pure form as an unsaponified oil) and acts as a natural preservative in the soap.

Is your skin needing a lift? A bar of natural soap chock full of skin-nurishing oils, coupled with the special luxeries of goat milk, will give your skin just what it needs! Check out your options here.

Coconut oil is also an essential component of Garland Goat Soap. Coconut oil is obtained from copra, which is dried coconut meat. It provides many benefits to a natural bar soap!

Coconut oil creates a hard bar of soap with fluffy lather.

When used in the right proportion, coconut oil creates a good, hard bar of soap that won’t just “melt away” in your soap dish. It also contributes generous, fluffy lather for a squeaky clean feeling. More than that, though, coconut oil is an ideal skin-care oil! Because coconut oil’s molecules are small, they are easily absorbed into skin, making it the perfect moisturizer for dry or rough skin.

It helps protect your skin from the aging effects of free radicals.  It can help to keep the skin from developing liver spots, and other blemishes caused by aging and over exposure to sunlight.  When coconut oil is absorbed into the skin and connective tissues, it helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by working to keep connective tissues strong and supple. The oil is absorbed into cell structure of the skins connective tissues, limiting the damage excessive sun exposure can cause. Coconut oil will aid in exfoliating the outer layer of dead skin cells, making the skin smoother.

Coconut oil helps prevent aging in your skin!

Antiseptic fatty acids in coconut oil help to prevent fungal and bacterial infections in the skin to a certain extent when it is used in skin-care. Because of these qualities, coconut oil also helps in treating various skin problems including psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections. I consider it indispensable in my soap recipes!

There are all sorts of oils available for soapmakers to use. Some are commonplace, some exotic. Olive oil is one of the key oils I use in Garland Goat Soap. True, it’s rather expensive to use in large quantities, but it is extremely valuable for skin care. It helps promote a sooth, radiant completion, maintain the elasticity of the skin, heal dry, brittle nails, and soften cuticles. Olive oil performs these many functions due, in part, to the fact that it is a very good moisturizer because it attracts external moisture, holds that moisture close to the skin, and forms a breathable film to prevent the loss of the skin’s internal moisture.

Olive oil creates a superiour soap!

Unlike so many other substances used for this purpose, olive oil does not block the natural functions of the skin while performing this task. The skin is able to continue sweating, releasing sebum, and shedding dead skin cells, all necessary functions for maintaining healthy, vibrant skin. Olive oil is high in antioxidants, including vitamin E. Antioxidants are nutritional powerhouses that protect against age-accelerating free radicals. Thus, including olive oil in soap helps to protect against those damaging free radicals, as well as helping to slow aging signs such as fine lines and wrinkles. In soap, olive oil is a gentle and thorough cleanser. You might say that, as a natural soapmaking ingredient, olive oil is “worth its weight in gold!”

I got a shipment of soapmaking supplies in today, including  olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil, some of the major ingredients I use in my soap. I wonder how many people realize what oils in soap do – or not do – for their skin. When first experimenting with soap making, I followed a simple recipe that used primarily vegetable shortening as the oil (fat), with a smattering of olive oil. It was certainly a cheap option for producing soap…and it worked for the time being, but as I began to develope my soap recipes, I began to look into other oils that would provide complete care for the skin, from moisturizing to rejuvanting skin cells, from gently cleaning baby’s face to aiding mature skin types.

After all, oils are the primary components of a natural soap bar, composing approximately sixty-five percent of the ingredients of bar soap. It would make sense then, that the type and quality of oil used in the soap drastically effects how that soap works for your skin, for the essential nature of any soap is directly related to the oils within it. The oils used in soap affect both the physical nature of the soap bar (feel, texture, hardness, etc.) and the skin-care properties of the bar (moisturizing, softening, protecting, etc.) Too much of one oil can create a bar of soap that is hard to the point of being brittle and cracking. Too much of another type of oil will produce soap that is soft, sticky, and quickly melts away in the soap dish.

Some oils are ultra-moisturizing for the skin, yet will spoil in a natural bar of soap like ours (since we don’t use the often harmful chemical preservatives found in many commercial soap) unless used in the correct proportions. Other oils will leave a greasy film on the surface of the skin. It was important, than, that I used the right kind of oils in the right proportions to get just the perfect bar of soap! I also wanted to use oils that would compliment and enhance the qualities of goat milk in my soap. In the next blog, I’ll begin to look at the oils I did choose, and why I chose them. Right now, it’s time to go get that oil stored away!