Coconut Milk Soap

Last week I made some Coconut Milk Soap using a recipe I hadn't tried before. I like to record my soapmaking successes and fails so that I can look back on them and see what works and what doesn't. This lot wasn't really a fail but wasn't the best soap I have made appearance wise. I usually use goat's milk when making a milk soap but had made one coconut milk batch previously so thought I would give it another try using a different recipe.

 Here are the ingredients I used:

800g Olive Oil

200g Coconut Oil

320g Coconut Milk (I used Ayam milk)

138g Lye

1/2 t Pink Lemonade Mica 

1/2 t Pansy Mica

31g Ginger and Green Tea Fragrance Oil 

I weighed the milk and froze it in ice cubes beforehand then when I was ready to make the soap I poured the caustic soda over the frozen milk so that it wouldn't heat up too quickly and burn. I use Ayam milk because I had read to use a milk that has the least amount of additives. 

 I had never tried the funnel pour method before so make a half hearted attempt which wasn't really all that successful. As I had used too much mica in my previous soaps I wanted to tone down the colours this time so didn't add as much mica. After a very light trace had formed I poured the mixture into three jugs and added mica to two of them and just before pouring added a third of the fragrance oil to each jug in case the mixture suddenly thickened.

Then I poured a little of each jug into the mould through a funnel which I was holding. If you do this method properly you can tape the funnel up so that your hands are free but I couldn't be bothered. LOL! 

I left the mould for five days before taking the soap out and even then it was quite soft and stuck to the cutter which spoiled the look. However, the result wasn't anything to write home about anyway and next time I will use more colour and perhaps not add fragrance oil which can tend to darken the soap. The soap will be fine to use and, at the end of the day will just go down the drain like the prettiest of soap but next time I will try to do a better job in case I want to give some away.

 There was enough soap to fill up a loaf mould and also four individual rose moulds which I think look better anyway. I just used the leftovers for the latter. The individual ones were ready to unmould after a few days. I had picked up a vomiting virus for the first few days of last week so definitely wasn't tempted to take any of the soap out of the moulds too early as I couldn't stay upright :-)

 

 I also made a batch of Quick and Easy 100% Coconut Oil Soap which I took out of the moulds after a few hours before I got sick.

Just a tip for those who are new to soapmaking and want to use silicone moulds for their soap. Put the mould on an old bread board or something that will support your mould as once you have added the soap it will be very hard to move it without spilling the soap. I found this out the hard way.

Now I need to dig out some warm clothes as a cold front is heading up here from down south where it is snowing in some areas. I really must learn how to use the reverse cycle aircon. I think that is what it is called. We really are dinosaurs aren't we? Ha ha! The builders are coming on Wednesday so I will ask them about it.