I made about 50 lbs. of soap in the past few days, starting to build up inventory as I complete my transition into making my own soaps instead of hiring someone to do it for me.
I made 25 lbs. of my regular Amber-scented sheep's milk soap. Then for a little variety, I made some unscented sheep's milk soap, and some pure castille soap. All of my soaps are technically castille soap, since they are made with 100% olive oil, with sheep's milk and essential oils added. But pure castille soap has only 3 ingredients: olive oil, water, and lye. All olive-oil based soaps are known to be exceptionally mild and gentle to the skin, although they don't make lots of lather. Personally, I love how much softer and smoother my skin feels after using my sheep's milk soap.
Anyway, I was interested to see how the new varieties turned out. I had suspected---but didn't know for sure---that without the dark-colored essential oils added, my sheep's milk soap would be an entirely different color. And I was right. The scented sheep's milk soap is a rich brown color, while the unscented version is a beautiful pale cream that is barely distinguishable from the one-shade-lighter pure castille.
Here's what they look like. On the left is the amber-scented sheep's milk soap. In the center is the unscented sheep's milk soap. And on the right is the pure, unscented castille soap.
All these new soaps need at least a couple of weeks to cure, then they will be available for sale on my website and Etsy.
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6 comments:
Very nice soaps, I think I would like to compare them to goatsmilk soap. I will keep an eye on etsy.
I love castille soap, too. I make it and use it for a shampoo bar. It doesn't dry my hair out. Goat's milk soap is probably a lot like sheep's milk? People tell me that they love the goat's milk soap that I make. How are you going to package them?
Thanks Heidi. If you want to try some of the amber scented sheeps milk soap, you can just email me (nchase@aol.com) and let me know how many you want. I have a few of those that are cured and ready. The others will take a few weeks to cure.
Odiie: Do you do anything different to the soap to make it a shampoo bar, or just use a regular bar of castille? I'm interested in trying that.
I think sheep's milk soap is probably quite similar to goat's milk soap, although from what I've read it is supposedly even milder and healthier, because sheep's milk is higher in milk solids, butterfat, vitamins and minerals than goat's milk.
Sheep don't give nearly as much milk as good dairy goats do though, so it's a bit more time consuming to collect the same amount!
Oops, I forgot to answer your other question, Odiie. For packaging, the soaps will have labels similar to these: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umzkIn5DCek/TAqqD6Q6njI/AAAAAAAACwI/5cUzAbB2SDU/s1600/Soap+with+labels.JPG
I like your packaging.
My castille is just 100% olive oil. Sometimes I grate it up and add a nettle, rosemary and sage tea, dissolve the soap and use it like regular shampoo.
Sheep's milk soap sounds richer and more nourishing than the goat's milk soaps. I never milked my Icelandics, though I knew you could. I've sold off my flock and just have Angora goats now.
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