Our Soap
The process
We make our soap using the traditional cold process method. We mix plant oils with goats milk and lye to transform the original ingredients into soap. Each batch of soap yields 5, 11, or 22 bars. We keep our batches small so we can offer a wide variety of scents and ensure you are receiving the highest quality soap. Our soaps cure for 4 weeks after production to harden the bar. This is why special orders have a 6 week lead time.
The scents
Our soaps are scented with essential oils or fragrance blends. We offer fragrance blends for our customers who prefer certain scents such as floral scents. It’s not possible to offer most floral scents using essential oils- you just can’t squeeze enough oil out of those darn flowers! All of our essential oils and fragrance blends are formulated specifically for topical use in soaps.
The color
All of our soaps are free of added colorants. The goats milk tints the soap a beige or golden color as the soap goes through the conversion from oils to soap. We could keep the soap a light cream color by putting it in the freezer, but we prefer to minimize the resource inputs during the soap making process whenever possible. We don’t want to use extra energy to keep the soap a light cream color. The darker color doesn’t have any impact on the soap’s effectiveness or moisturizing properties. Some essential oils and fragrances will impart a slight tinting. For example, lemongrass essential oil is a dark golden color which is reflected in the finished soap. Fragrances that include vanillin will impart a slight brown color. We also don’t add additional colorants like mica. Why add something extra that you don’t actually need!
The bars
All of our bars are cut by hand. The finished weight is 3-4 oz per bar. We chose this size and shape because it works well as hand soap or in the shower.
The guest soaps
All of the guest soap shapes are unique to Gorgeous Goat. My inspiration is first captured in modeling clay. Then, I make custom soap molds using a clay model. You won’t find these shapes anywhere else. The soap for the guest soaps is shredded, just like cheese and melted in a double boiler (indirect heat). The molten soap is poured into the molds, cooled, and then cured for at least 2 weeks to harden.
The benefits of goats milk
Goats milk offers unique, nourishing fatty acids, such a caproic acid, caprylic acid and capric acid. These fatty acids are named after their source, the goat. The scientific name for the domestic goat is Capra hircus. Goats milk also provides protein, B-vitamins, vitamin A, and choline.
Why lye
Customers often ask me why we use lye in our soap. Lye is the active ingredient that transforms the plant oils into soap. This is a process called “saponification.” Plant oils are made up of triglycerides, which are comprised of three fatty acids attached to a glycerol backbone. During saponification, the lye separates fatty acids from the glycerol. The fatty acids gain a “water loving” head when they are separated from the glycerol. They still retain their “oil loving” tail. The combination of the “water loving” head and the “oil loving” tail allows the saponified fatty acid to cleanse the skin. An added benefit of cold process saponification is the release of glycerol which is also called glycerine. Glycerine is an effective moisturizer. The lye is neutralized during saponification and is no longer caustic or dangerous.
