Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘natural soap’

Product Monday – Buttermilk Goat Milk Soap

Posted in Products, tagged , , , on September 5, 2011| 7 Comments »

Milk soaps are so rich!

As I looked at the newly cured simple Buttermilk soap in the studio, I thought about how I used to trek to a town an hour away to replenish my personal stock of natural soaps, purchased from a herb shop.  The bars were generally un-evenly cut, laying unwrapped on a very old and primitive butcher block table.  The deal was to pick up 5 bars, place them in a brown paper lunch sack, receive the 6th bar free.

I was in love.  And I knew I was taking something wonderful home with that rustic purchase.

If I had seen Buttermilk soap on that table I would have bought a bar.  No doubt!

Why Buttermilk soap? It is mild, pure, and great for the skin.  With a thick type of lather, similar to a shaving soap.  I wouldn’t hesitate to use this (colorant and fragrance free) soap on sensitive skin, or for a child.

Buttermilk soap (made from scratch from goat milk buttermilk, started with a buttermilk culture of cow milk), available now in our online soap store!

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and feel the goodness!

Read Full Post »

Product Monday – Annie’s Facial Soap Doing Double Duty

Posted in Products, Skin and Hair Care, tagged , , , , on April 11, 2011| 6 Comments »

One of the joys of being a soap-maker is trying out the soaps that we make.  If I had no restraint at all I would have 50 bars of soap in my bathroom, seriously! But, being that I/we try to keep costs down we use one bar at a time, down to the sliver.

Six months ago I announced the Geranium Rose Ylang Ylang goat milk facial soap here.  Recently the soap was tried as both as an all-over bath bar, and a shampoo bar.  The results were – wow!  Kaolin rose clay seems to work wonderfully in the hair.  It lathered so beautifully, and left the hair with bounce.  That is what I love about natural shampoo bars, they do not add ingredients that coat the hair shaft.  Lather, rinse, lather again…get the deep clean, with nothing left behind but hair (especially great for fine/thin hair).

Thumbs up once more for this lightly scented bar.  It smells clean but doesn’t overly scent the hair, nor the skin.  Gentle…multi purposed! Now it needs a new description, soon to come.

Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Product Questions – Uniformity Between Batches of Soap

Posted in AGH Business News, Products, tagged , , , on January 23, 2010| 10 Comments »

Lilac Goat Milk Soap

Today I am covering a valued question from a customer.

The soap that I normally purchase from Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps smells slightly different than the soap I purchased in the past.  Did the recipe change?

Essential oils are natural.  An essential oil can differ for various reasons.  Factors that play into variances in essential oils are:  the plant crop, the manufacturer (and distillation method), the region/climate the plant is harvested in, and the harvest practices. 

Essential oils, like a good perfume, can age somewhat in the bottle.  With good storage practices, essential oils can actually strengthen with time.

The creation of a natural soap requires careful measuring and tracking.  Each recipe is followed to a “t,” using an electronic scale that weighs the ingredients to the tenth of an ounce.  Even with careful measurements there are additional factors that can affect the soap from batch to batch. 

  • Season – humidity and temperature play a role in the soapmakers crafting practices.   A difference in room temperature can greatly affect the first 12-24 hours of soap, changing the insulation needs, which could greatly affect the hardness and scent of the soap.
  • Milk – varies from season to season.  Have you heard the term “grass fed beef”? I can attest to grass fed milk.  It is sweeter.  Sweeter equates to more sugar in the soap recipe, which in turn affects the entire stability of a batch of soap. 
  • Age – of the actual soap bar itself.  The curing process  (4-6 weeks) not only allows the soap to become more mild, it also gives the soap time to harden (the moisture content in the soap drops drastically).  I personally prefer an older bar of goat milk soap, especially one of my all natural soaps (some soaps contain man-made fragrances). 

So…to wrap this up, with all of the careful intentions in place,  natural soap can differ slightly from batch to batch!

I love questions, please keep them coming!

Read Full Post »