MommaBear's Goat Milk Soap
Jennifer Bearden, Chief Executive Goatherd and CPO
Frequently Asked Questions
What is so special about your soap? | Why goat milk soap? | How is your soap made? | Where can I buy your soap?
Do you make custom soaps? |
Do you make custom soaps? |
What is so special about your soap?
I am personally and very much involved in each step of my handcrafted soap production from start to finish. Understanding that each specific oil or fat lends its own unique properties to soap, the chemist in me thrives on researching and developing every formula so each type of soap has its own unique properties. Based on the soap descriptions, you can choose what type of soap is needed for a particular use, and what is best for your skin type.
I don’t carry just one or two soap bases with different scents and/or additives. My soaps are made in small batches, usually 5 pounds or less, using quality oils, fats, botanicals, and other natural ingredients that are purchased locally and produced in the USA where possible.
The gardener in me loves growing and harvesting the herbs that I incorporate into my soaps. When in season, I also roam the back acre in search of wild botanicals such jewelweed and chamomile so their beneficial properties can be added to my soaps as well. The scents that I choose to use are quality essential oils or 100% natural fragrance oils. I have recently discovered natural pigments and have found that many customers enjoy a splash of color in their soaps as well. Is using quality oils, pure essential oils, and natural colorings more expensive? Yes, but I am sure that you will agree that the result is worth it.
The majority of my soaps are also poured into molds with lifelike animals, beautiful florals, intricate designs, and just-for-fun shapes. The plain bars are dressed up with a hand stamped design suited to the type of soap. Sure, this is more labor intensive for me, but I adore pretty soaps and, judging from my customer's responses, they do too.
Perhaps what makes my soaps the most special, however, is that they are made with the farm fresh raw milk that the farmer in me obtains daily from my herd of dairy goats. Unless otherwise noted, all of my soaps contain at least 30% goat milk, some more.
I am personally and very much involved in each step of my handcrafted soap production from start to finish. Understanding that each specific oil or fat lends its own unique properties to soap, the chemist in me thrives on researching and developing every formula so each type of soap has its own unique properties. Based on the soap descriptions, you can choose what type of soap is needed for a particular use, and what is best for your skin type.
I don’t carry just one or two soap bases with different scents and/or additives. My soaps are made in small batches, usually 5 pounds or less, using quality oils, fats, botanicals, and other natural ingredients that are purchased locally and produced in the USA where possible.
The gardener in me loves growing and harvesting the herbs that I incorporate into my soaps. When in season, I also roam the back acre in search of wild botanicals such jewelweed and chamomile so their beneficial properties can be added to my soaps as well. The scents that I choose to use are quality essential oils or 100% natural fragrance oils. I have recently discovered natural pigments and have found that many customers enjoy a splash of color in their soaps as well. Is using quality oils, pure essential oils, and natural colorings more expensive? Yes, but I am sure that you will agree that the result is worth it.
The majority of my soaps are also poured into molds with lifelike animals, beautiful florals, intricate designs, and just-for-fun shapes. The plain bars are dressed up with a hand stamped design suited to the type of soap. Sure, this is more labor intensive for me, but I adore pretty soaps and, judging from my customer's responses, they do too.
Perhaps what makes my soaps the most special, however, is that they are made with the farm fresh raw milk that the farmer in me obtains daily from my herd of dairy goats. Unless otherwise noted, all of my soaps contain at least 30% goat milk, some more.
Why goat milk soap?
The simple answer is that natural goat milk soap has many beneficial properties for your skin.
The simple answer is that natural goat milk soap has many beneficial properties for your skin.
- Goat's milk is rich in calcium, phosphorus, potassium, protein, and essential vitamins A, C, B1, B6, B12, and E, which are all readily absorbed into the skin. Vitamin A is especially abundant in the milk and helps repair damage of all types to skin. A and E are anti-aging nutrients, as they help reduce age spots, lines, stretch marks, wrinkles, and other skin aging symptoms. Vitamin C is known to assist in the restoration of collagen, a protein which keeps your skin supple, smooth, and youthful. A, C, and E are also effective antioxidants. The B vitamins help maintain overall skin health.
- Goat's milk is the only milk that contains a compound called capric-caprylic triglyceride (CCT), a natural moisturizer used extensively in cosmetics. This emollient quickly penetrates the skin and forms a thin layer of moisture that makes your skin feel smooth and supple. CCT can be extracted from fractionated coconut oil but it is found naturally in goat milk.
- Natural goat milk soap retains all of the original glycerin, a cleanser and moisturizer that is formed as part of the saponification process. Most commercial soaps have had the natural glycerin extracted and sold to the highest bidder, with harsh, artificial ingredients added back in the soap to replace it. These harsh soap ingredients are more drying to the skin, and then the cosmetic industry can sell you back the glycerin in a variety of forms to repair the damage.
- Goat's milk soap naturally contains lactic acid, an alpha hydroxy acid, which has been used for centuries as a beauty product as it facilitates exfoliation of the dead skin cells and promotes rejuvenation. Cleopatra may not have understood the whole chemical process and why milk baths were good for her, but she knew they made her feel good and produced beautiful skin!
How is your soap made?
I’ve never considered myself much of an artist, but science has always fascinated me. Creating handcrafted soap is both an art and a science. It requires a lot of discipline, meticulous documentation, and creativity. I am also finally able to see a practical application of all those years of school science projects! There are two methods of making soap: hot process and cold process, both of which use lye. More on lye later. The hot process involves "cooking" the soap and is what most people remember their grandma or great grandma doing in a big cast iron kettle out back with lard from their hogs and rainwater leached through hard wood ash. My soaps are made using the cold process, as the only heating involved is to melt the fats and bring the oils up to their optimum working temperature, usually around 110° to 115° F.
In cold process soap making, the lye is added to the liquid, in my case milk, which naturally generates heat as well. This milky-lye solution is added to the melted fats and oils. Mixing and stirring starts and quickens the saponification process. The faster it’s stirred, the faster it thickens. When the mixture gets to the consistency of thin pancake batter, it is poured into the appropriate molds and allowed to harden for a few days. The soaps are then removed from the molds, but the lye is still too strong and can cause a burning sensation if used too soon. They are set out to cure for another 4 to 6 weeks to allow the lye to fully transform the fats into a mild, usable soap.
Now, a bit about lye. Some folks get nervous when thinking about lye. True, it is a caustic substance that can do some damage if mishandled, but the simple fact is that soap cannot be made without lye. True soap is the chemical reaction between fats and an alkali; in my case, the lye I use is sodium hydroxide (also known as caustic soda.) Some soapmakers use potassium hydroxide, another form of lye used to make soft or liquid soaps. Lye has a bad reputation because grandma’s soap was sometimes harsh and drying because it didn’t contain enough oils to completely neutralize all the lye. It was great for the laundry, but a gentle facial bar it was not! Fortunately, today’s soapmakers have an advantage that grandma didn’t; lye calculators. Grandma had to rely on a feather or an egg to determine the strength of her wood ash leachings; sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Using a lye calculator tells the soapmaker exactly how much lye is needed to saponify a particular type of oil, and to adjust the concentration so that all lye is neutralized. The concentration of lye to fats is what determines the relative "strength" of a soap. I make a range of soaps with different lye to fat ratios, from the No-Nonsense Lye soap which has a high ratio of lye to fat and is very drying and is a good hand or laundry soap, to the Deluxe Milk Bath which has a high fat to lye concentration and is an extra moisturizing and gentle bath soap. And everything in between.
I try to use sustainable, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. For example, my harvesting and gathering of herbs, both cultivated and wild, I mentioned earlier. I also obtain tallow from a local longhorn cattle ranch where the cattle are respected and roam in grassy fields, which is the primary ingredient in my Longhorn Soap. Not only does this save me gas and shrinks my carbon footprint, but it helps my fellow farmers and neighboring businesses.
If you want to know more about the soap making process, I do offer hands-on classes at the farm. Contact me for further information.
I’ve never considered myself much of an artist, but science has always fascinated me. Creating handcrafted soap is both an art and a science. It requires a lot of discipline, meticulous documentation, and creativity. I am also finally able to see a practical application of all those years of school science projects! There are two methods of making soap: hot process and cold process, both of which use lye. More on lye later. The hot process involves "cooking" the soap and is what most people remember their grandma or great grandma doing in a big cast iron kettle out back with lard from their hogs and rainwater leached through hard wood ash. My soaps are made using the cold process, as the only heating involved is to melt the fats and bring the oils up to their optimum working temperature, usually around 110° to 115° F.
In cold process soap making, the lye is added to the liquid, in my case milk, which naturally generates heat as well. This milky-lye solution is added to the melted fats and oils. Mixing and stirring starts and quickens the saponification process. The faster it’s stirred, the faster it thickens. When the mixture gets to the consistency of thin pancake batter, it is poured into the appropriate molds and allowed to harden for a few days. The soaps are then removed from the molds, but the lye is still too strong and can cause a burning sensation if used too soon. They are set out to cure for another 4 to 6 weeks to allow the lye to fully transform the fats into a mild, usable soap.
Now, a bit about lye. Some folks get nervous when thinking about lye. True, it is a caustic substance that can do some damage if mishandled, but the simple fact is that soap cannot be made without lye. True soap is the chemical reaction between fats and an alkali; in my case, the lye I use is sodium hydroxide (also known as caustic soda.) Some soapmakers use potassium hydroxide, another form of lye used to make soft or liquid soaps. Lye has a bad reputation because grandma’s soap was sometimes harsh and drying because it didn’t contain enough oils to completely neutralize all the lye. It was great for the laundry, but a gentle facial bar it was not! Fortunately, today’s soapmakers have an advantage that grandma didn’t; lye calculators. Grandma had to rely on a feather or an egg to determine the strength of her wood ash leachings; sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Using a lye calculator tells the soapmaker exactly how much lye is needed to saponify a particular type of oil, and to adjust the concentration so that all lye is neutralized. The concentration of lye to fats is what determines the relative "strength" of a soap. I make a range of soaps with different lye to fat ratios, from the No-Nonsense Lye soap which has a high ratio of lye to fat and is very drying and is a good hand or laundry soap, to the Deluxe Milk Bath which has a high fat to lye concentration and is an extra moisturizing and gentle bath soap. And everything in between.
I try to use sustainable, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. For example, my harvesting and gathering of herbs, both cultivated and wild, I mentioned earlier. I also obtain tallow from a local longhorn cattle ranch where the cattle are respected and roam in grassy fields, which is the primary ingredient in my Longhorn Soap. Not only does this save me gas and shrinks my carbon footprint, but it helps my fellow farmers and neighboring businesses.
If you want to know more about the soap making process, I do offer hands-on classes at the farm. Contact me for further information.
Where can I buy your soap? Do you ship?
You can buy our soap in a variety of ways. If you are in the Southern Illinois/Metro East area, you can contact us to arrange for local pickup. You can also visit us at any of the Farmers Markets that we sell at to see, touch, smell, and buy our soap. You can also purchase soaps by contacting us with your order, or visit us online at our store and we will ship them anywhere in the US for a flat rate for the entire order. We can accept payments via Paypal, or via credit cards through Square Up. For larger orders or to ask about wholesale arrangements, please contact us.
You can buy our soap in a variety of ways. If you are in the Southern Illinois/Metro East area, you can contact us to arrange for local pickup. You can also visit us at any of the Farmers Markets that we sell at to see, touch, smell, and buy our soap. You can also purchase soaps by contacting us with your order, or visit us online at our store and we will ship them anywhere in the US for a flat rate for the entire order. We can accept payments via Paypal, or via credit cards through Square Up. For larger orders or to ask about wholesale arrangements, please contact us.
Do you make custom soaps?
Yes! Since I make the soaps by hand in small batches, special orders are not a problem. Batches can be as small as 6 bars of soap. Whether you have allergies or just a personal preference for a specific formula or mold, we will do our best to meet your needs. Do you want a set of matching soaps for your garden club or bridal party, stamped with your name? We can do that. Do you want lavender scent, with no coconut oil, in a sleeping goat mold? No problem. Just ask.
Note: Custom soaps can take 4 to 6 weeks from order to delivery, due to the curing time required, so please allow plenty of time for your order.
If you have a special request for a specific scent, ingredient, or mold, contact us for a quote.
Yes! Since I make the soaps by hand in small batches, special orders are not a problem. Batches can be as small as 6 bars of soap. Whether you have allergies or just a personal preference for a specific formula or mold, we will do our best to meet your needs. Do you want a set of matching soaps for your garden club or bridal party, stamped with your name? We can do that. Do you want lavender scent, with no coconut oil, in a sleeping goat mold? No problem. Just ask.
Note: Custom soaps can take 4 to 6 weeks from order to delivery, due to the curing time required, so please allow plenty of time for your order.
If you have a special request for a specific scent, ingredient, or mold, contact us for a quote.
What is so special about your soap? | Why goat milk soap? | How is your soap made? | Where can I buy your soap?
Do you make custom soaps? |
Do you make custom soaps? |
Questions? Contact Us.
