Thread: Goats Milk Soap and the falling lather

While wandering around a local farmers market I found a shop that makes and sells Goats milk soap. So I wandered over and asked if they make shave soap………to my surprise she didn’t miss a beat and directed me to a line of pucks on the other end of the table. She had 3 scents at that time, a lavender (not really my thing), a Bay (bay leaf, similar to a bay rum), and an orange cedar-wood (I fell I love). I picked up a puck of the orange cedar-wood thinking if it lathers then I can come back and get more, and if it doesn’t then oh well.



Now here comes my trouble. As I said I fell in love with the smell of the Orange Cedar-wood, and I decided that I would do whatever it takes to get a good lather and shave with this soap. On my first attempt I was just loading my brush when my wife came in and kicked me out. So I took the soap to the kitchen to build my lather. It was amazing, thick creamy white wonderful lather. But then I had to wait for my wife to relinquish control of the bathroom……. And so the lather sat in the kitchen for a few minutes. When I went back to get it what I found was a soupy mess. I tried to whip it back up, I added glycerin, I added some shave cream that always works for me, I whipped it more, I tried putting it on my face. Nothing worked it was dead, I was sad. The worst part is that when I put it on my face it dried up. So I rinsed it, whipped up something else and shaved, determined to give it another go in a few days.

My next shave came and I was determined to make this soap work. So I took care and prepared everything, got my brush and the soap soaking in hot water, took a really hot shower cleaned and prepped my face really well. Got out of the shower and built my lather. With the same results as before, a thick creamy wonderful lather that smelled even better. Then disaster struck……. I had forgotten to strop my razor. As I am still new this does take a few minutes. When I came back I once again found my wonderful lather had turned into that same soupy mess. I tried yet again to recover it, I reloaded my brush from the puck, I added glycerin, I added another cream. None of it worked. So once again with tail between my legs and head hung low I rinsed it down the drain and used a different cream.

So now I am wondering what is going wrong? None of my other creams and soaps will lather and then fall. They will dry out, but it almost seems like this is getting to much water. I have followed the steps in the library on how to build lather from soap. But nothing seems to work. It is too wet in my bowl and to dry on my face.

Has anyone else ever had this problem? What did you do to fix it? Any help will be appreciated. This has become personal. I want to shave with this soap.

I have a couple of artisan soaps and I think that term means "some times you have to be an artisan to make a lather with it" It sounds like your giving up in the middle of the process. Maybe put your additives in before your lather is built and then use it right away. That would be where I start in trying to figure out what is going on.

If you search, you may find a few old threads on this subject. I use Goat's milk soap in the shower, so naturally I was interested in getting some Goat's milk shave soap. I tired a few and had similar results. I even worked with vendor for a while to try to get something usable. No luck. Now, the regular bar soap is great, it just falls flat for shaving. After talking to few soap makers here on the boards, I was told it's the Goat's milk itself. I'm not sure what the ratio is, but my understanding is shave soap would need less Goat's milk than traditional bath soap.

Originally Posted by zib

If you search, you may find a few old threads on this subject. I use Goat's milk soap in the shower, so naturally I was interested in getting some Goat's milk shave soap. I tired a few and had similar results. I even worked with vendor for a while to try to get something usable. No luck. Now, the regular bar soap is great, it just falls flat for shaving. After talking to few soap makers here on the boards, I was told it's the Goat's milk itself. I'm not sure what the ratio is, but my understanding is shave soap would need less Goat's milk than traditional bath soap.

You are correct, I make all my soap with a little goats milk. I use a goats milk glycerine base with pure glycerine in a 1 to 3 ratio. I also add other stuff but you can over-use the goats milk.

The problem is not the goats milk per se, it's that the formula is not good for shaving soap. From the ingredient list, it appears to be a typical bath soap that's been repurposed as a shaving soap by adding a little clay. It has too many conditioning oils (olive, almond, jojoba) and not enough oils high in stearic acid to get a lasting or dense lather. The only thing that the goat's milk would add is a little extra fat and some label appeal.

So is there anything I can try to get this soap to work? I know getting it on my face faster will help, but I'm worried about it setting until I'm ready for a second or third pass. Should I do more glycerin? Or is there something else that would work better?

I had similar problems with goat milk soap. I got a mug for Xmas half full of soap. I built the lather, brushed it in and it died and dried on my face before I got half way done with the shave. Tried a couple more time with same results. I took the soap out of the mug and sliced it into half inch pucks and now use it to wash my face and beard in my pre-shave routine. Works great as moisturizing soap but not for shaving.

So just a quick question about the milk. Would this be typical of all milks or just the goats milk?

InNae