As I mixed up several batches of this Milk and Honey soap, I was considering the different ingredients I was adding and what they contributed to the soap. Honey lays down a clear, protective film that helps skin maintain moisture. It hydrates and soothes the skin and is thought to be slightly antiseptic and bacteriostatic. It does all of this without being greasy, even contributing astringint value. Propolis is antibacterial, reduces inflammation, and stimulates the immune system.

To quote one description: “Two natural treasures in one bar of soap help repair sores, fight acne, soothe chapping, and balance uneven or oily skin.

Bee products—honey, propolis, pollen and wax—meet goat milk to clean up the toughest skin problems you can muster.

Honey cleanses dirt and impurities while smoothing wrinkles by increasing your skin’s elasticity. Propolis—a mixture of the essential oils, pollen, and wax bees harvest from plants—nourishes dry, itchy skin. Pollen, rich in enzymes and vitamins, contains the complete family of amino acids. It promotes new skin cell growth while scrubbing away built-up dead cells without stripping the skin of its natural protection.

Milk & Honey’s beeswax base is the all-natural “carrier” for other ingredients that leaves your skin feeling soft and clean.

Raw goat milk is rich in enzymes beneficial to your skin, and five natural, skin-replenishing oils balance and moisturize. This abundance of revitalizing components is topped off with a touch of sweet orange essential oil for an agreeable, bright aroma.”

Our Milk and Honey Soap has proved to work great for our customers, as noted by what these customers had to say:

This is the best facial soap bar I have tried. I use it at night time to wash off the days dirt and make up (with no moisturizer afterward since I have somewhat oily skin), and by morning time my face is smooth and clean. I love how it lathers up, and the sweet smell makes is so pleasant to use. I have stopped using the expensive clinique and estee lauder products completely since this has worked out much better in every way. It does last a long time, too. I recommend it to friends whenever I get the chance.

This soap is great. I have problem skin and have never used a soap. Actually I’ve used the same cleanser on my skin for years and just didn’t like how my skin was looking lately (lifeless and dry). I tried this soap thinking it wouldn’t make much of a difference and WOW! I was able to stop using the medication on my skin that I had used for years. My skin looks great and glowing.

Try it out for yourself! To find it, click HERE.

To superfat soap is to leave unsaponified oils in the final bars for the mildest soap. Unsaponified oils do not form compounds with the other soapmaking components but, instead, remain in their original form in the bar as emollient ingredients.

The percentage of sodium hydroxide in a soap formula is carefully calculated according to the degree of saponification desired. (Remember, saponification is the process whereby the oil molecules and sodium hydroxides molecules mix to form the new substance — soap.) When enough sodium hydroxide is used to supply all of the fatty acids with sodium hydroxide mates, the soap is considered fully saponified. No discount is taken from the percentage of sodium hydroxide required for complete saponification. This fully saponified soap does not contain excess oils. By using less sodium hydroxide than is required for a complete saponification, however, fat and oil molecules run out of lye mates. The excess oil remains in the final bar of soap as a soothing moisturizer. This milder soap is called a superfatted soap — a soap provided with excess fat and oil to make it more moisturizing.

Nearly all bath soaps clean, but the degree of saponification determines how gently or how harshly they do their jobs. An excess of sodium hydroxide not only can strip the skin of dirt and excess oils, but it can take away important natural oils as well. People with dry skin are especially affected by the strip-clean. When emollient fats and oils are added to soap as superfatting ingredients, they lay a hydrophobic film on the skin’s surface that softens the skin by holding in internal moisture.

So by superfatting our goat milk soap, we are providing our skin with a milder, gentler, and more moisturizing skin-care experience!

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.