These days, many health and beauty-conscious Americans are making their own bath soaps. The most famous type of bath soap that they make is milk soap because of its soothing effect to the skin.

In making your own milk soap, you can use other liquids other than water for your lye solution. The most popular alternative to water is goat’s milk. Goat’s milk can make a rich and creamy soap that moisturizes the skin. Others use coconut milk for the milk soap because it also produces a rich lather while some soap makers use cow’s milk or buttermilk. All of these alternatives are good for keeping the skin moisturized.

You should be extra careful when making your own milk soap because different liquids can aggressively react with lye. In addition, a foul odor is produced as lye burns up the milk sugars. However, the foul odor does not stay in the final milk soap product.

You can follow the steps below to lessen the burning of milk sugars and chemical reaction:

1. Always wear protective gears like goggles, apron, long sleeve shirt and gloves.
2. Place a large bowl in your sink that is filled with ice.
3. Put your purchased lye in the bowl and slowly pour in 1/3 of your milk that is in liquid form and then the other 2/3 in frozen, icy form.
4. Using a wooden spoon with a very long handle, continuously stir the milk soap base but be cautious with the reaction that will occur.
5. During the chemical reaction of the lye and milk, the soap base may produce a lot of bubbles causing the mixture to tip over the bowl.
6. Wait for the reaction to stop.
7. After the reaction is done, again continuously stir the milk soap base until the milk and lye reaches trace.
8. Wait for it to cool down then you can add the essential oils and fragrances.
9. Pour the soap base in the molds and then let it set under room temperature.
10. Let it cure for three to five days and then you can remove them from the molds.
11. For best results let the soap dry out completely for another week. The soap’s color will turn into golden amber after it is completely dried.

The above procedure in making milk soap is the same if you intend to use plain water as the catalyst. Either way, you should be very careful. It is best to make your milk soap when there are no children or pets around to avoid risks of accidents.