I need to get on my soap box for a minute. ;-) I often get frustrated at the gigantic difference in goat milk soap, that the general public knows nothing about. So I am going to 'enlighten' you all, aren't you lucky? snicker snicker. So first off, my goat milk soap is made from goat milk that I personally milked. This is important. Safe and clean handling of the milk is the first step in quality soap.
Now I would say well over 90% of the goat milk you see out there, either in stores or online is made from what we call a melt and pour goat milk soap base. (this is true for most soaps actually) This means they buy a huge block of pre made goat milk soap and just melt it down and pour it into their own molds, add a scent and BOOM, they're done. However, ALL of these bases are made with canned or store bought goat milk which has been homogenized, pasteurized, canned, cooked and basically made non nutritional from all the processing. All the great natural enzymes, and triglycerides I talked about in the why goat milk page become pretty much null and void. Even most handmade goat milk soap use canned goat milk as very few soap makers have access to fresh clean goat milk.
And thats not to mention all the extra preservatives these soap supply companies add to the melt and pour soaps to get them to have a forever shelf life. And I really really think theres a vast difference! Sometimes I am SO tempted to take the easy way out and just get the base and sell it as my own goat milk soap because its cheaper and way way way easier! In fact The Helper and I spent quite a bit of time this fall discussing doing this very thing, but in the end I did not want to sacrifice quality just to save money and time. I am proud of my soap and the fact that I use my very own recipe that we've perfected over the years. Making soap is very time consuming, and involves many variables that have to be just right. I have spent years now perfecting the "art" of soap making and have thrown away many many batches to get it right.
However, I take great pride in the fact that my soap is MADE FROM SCRATCH right here in my home using the finest, most natural ingredients you can get. I am very fussy about making it as natural and healthy as possible. I use organic fresh oils like coconut, olive and palm oils. I add dried calendula for its many skin healing properties. I add my milk at trace so that it does not come into direct contact with the Lye, which I also am just guessing would kill a lot of those enzymes. Now you can read anything you want on the internet to support any idea in the world, but these assumptions are all made using what we used before the internet, good common sense. Although my husband would argue with you on the good common sense. He think anyone that would buy a $5 coffee has none, but what does he know anyway.
So my point here is really about supporting the small goat milk farmer and soap maker. (shameless I know) And making sure that the soap you are buying is not made from some huge, rich, gigantic soap company (regardless who is selling it) but is made from scratch using actual fresh goat milk. Ask your seller, wether its from etsy or from a store, if its made from scratch (also called cold process method). Buy from the crazy goat lady who actually uses her own goat milk that has not been altered from its natural state in any way. Buy from small businesses and so the crazy goat lady can have a $5 latte every once in awhile. snort. eye roll. Buy local. Buy fresh. Buy clean. Buy natural. Buy ethical. Just buy. And buy.
Let me leave you with this quote
"the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten"
