How to Make Breast Milk Soap (With OR Without Lye)

An easy-to-follow tutorial on how to make breast milk soap. Making your own soap is a great way to use up any extra milk you might have.

Here you'll find two different methods (melt and pour/ cold process) to make breast milk soap. The first is perfect for beginners that want to make soap without lye, the second is for more experienced soap makers.

Both are a great way to make beautiful soaps using your own milk as a fresh ingredient. And you can customize them both to your heart's desire with essential oils, honey and oatmeal.

Jump to:

• Breast Milk Soap Benefits
• Melt and Pour Soap vs. Cold Process Soap
• How to Store Melt and Pour Breastmilk Soap
• How to Add Oatmeal
• Melt and Pour Soap Recipe
• Cold Process Soap Recipe
• How to Add Breast Milk to Any Soap Recipe
• Melt & Pour Breast Milk Soap

Breast Milk Soap Benefits

Human breast milk is amazing - some even refer to it as liquid gold! It's the perfect first food, but It's also beneficial for baby's sensitive skin and a number of skin conditions.

You might have heard of breast milk’s powerful immunological properties, but there are many more beneficial components found in breast milk. Things like proteins, amino acids, prebiotics, enzymes, antibodies, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals... the list goes on and there are still things that haven't been studied yet.

Breast milk soap is very nourishing and gentle on the skin since it contains many skin-loving components of breast milk, like fatty acids, enzymes, vitamins and minerals.

"Just put some breast milk on it" is probably the number one advice among nursing moms. With good reason: breast milk has been shown to be effective in treating infant eczema, can help alleviate pink eye, dry skin, diaper rash, cradle cap and acne and can even reduce the risk of small cuts getting infected (Source: Medela)

Melt and Pour Soap vs. Cold Process Soap

Now, let me be very clear: you need lye to make soap! Real soap is created when lye (sodium hydroxide) and fat are mixed together, the resulting chemical reaction will turn both ingredients into soap.

The difference is that with a melt and pour soap base the soap making process (or the handling of lye) has already been done for you. With cold process soap you're truly making soap from scratch. Both are a great way to make your own soap using natural ingredients.

For the purpose of making soap from breast milk, both methods have very distinct pros and cons, however:

Melt and Pour: The advantage of this method is that you can add your breast milk straight to the melted soap base. The milk will not undergo any chemical changes and will retain most of it's beneficial properties. That also means that you will have a shorter shelf life and is best stored in the fridge.

Cold Process: With this soap making method the breast milk is added to the lye and undergoes the process of saponification (lye and fat turning to soap). Sadly, the milk will change too and loose most of it's skin-loving properties. BUT it will still result in a gentle and creamy soap.

Nobody really knows which beneficial milk molecules make it through the soap making process and how many. But there are lots of folks that report great skin benefits of handmade goat milk soap, for example. So, some of it must remain in the finished soap. Cold process soap has a shelf life of at least 6 months (if stored away from humidity and sunlight) even with the addition of breast milk.

How to Store Melt and Pour Breastmilk Soap

I recommend storing your soap bars in a small zip lock bag in the fridge. If you know you won't be using your soap any time soon, I suggest storing it in the freezer. Once a soap bar is in use make sure it dries completely between uses in a well-draining soap dish. I like to use smaller silicone molds, so that the soap bars can be used up faster.

If you notice the soap turning a darker color or smelling off, please discard.

How to Add Oatmeal

Oatmeal is great to use in handmade soap. It's very soothing and nourishing for dry skin conditions, like eczema and psoriasis. In order for the oatmeal to deliver all of it's skin-loving properties it needs to be ground up. You can easily do that with a coffee grinder or small blender.

If you're a beginning soap maker or simply not comfortable working with lye. Then this no lye breast milk tutorial is great for you!

Melt and Pour Soap Recipe

Equipment needed:

• Pyrex Measuring Cup
• Sharp Knife
• Digital Kitchen Scale
• Whisk
• Microwave or Double Boiler/ Water Bath
• Meat Thermometer (optional)
• Sunflower Soap Mold or Teddy Bear Mold
• Rubbing Alcohol in Spray Bottle

Ingredients for 4 sunflower or 12 teddy bear soaps:

• 200g / 7oz Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base or Shea Butter Soap Base
• 150 ml Breast Milk (room temperature)
• ½ teaspoon Honey (optional)
• 1 tablespoon ground oatmeal (optional)
• 15 drops Chamomile Essential Oil or lavender essential oil (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cut the soap base into small chunks and measure out 200g

2. Melt the soap base in the microwave on 20 second burst stirring in between each burst or melt on medium heat in a double boiler or water bath

3. Let the soap base cool down to about 130℉/ 55℃ in order not to scorch the milk

4. Add breastmilk and stir

5. Whisk in honey and oatmeal (if using) until there are no more clumps

6. Add essential oil and stir

7. Place soap mold on cutting board (not pictured) and pour soap into mold

8. Spritz the top with rubbing alcohol to minimize air bubbles and sweating of the soap

9. Place soap in the fridge for a few hours. Let the soap cool down and harden

10. Then unmold

11. Store in Ziplock bag in the fridge until ready to use

Cold Process Soap Recipe

I know what you're thinking now: Will all these wonderful enzymes, antibodies and the magic pixie dust make it through the soap making process? The answer is: no, they will probably not make it through the "lye monster". Cold process soap undergoes a serious chemical process when oils are being mixed with lye that creates a PH environment where microbes (good and bad) can't live.

The good news is: breast milk is still a great additive in soap, think cows or goats milk on steroids. It contains more fats and sugars than regular milk which contributes to a smooth creamy abundant lather. And it also has lots of vitamins (A,C,D and E) that are great for your skin.

This soap recipe is another variation of a Bastille soap. Meaning a soap that is made with 75% or more of olive oil, but not a Castille soap which contains 100% olive oil. As I mentioned in my Baby Bastille Soap Tutorial, I'm not a big fan of Castille soap - the lather feels slimy to me and I have no patience for the long cure time 😉

To give this soap a nice bubbly lather and hardness boost I added coconut oil at 20%. Coconut oil sometimes feels drying to some folks, but the high percentage of olive oil and breast milk in this recipe make this soap feel creamy and gentle.

How to Add Breast Milk to Any Soap Recipe

In this tutorial I provide a soap recipe for you, but if you'd like to use breast milk (or any kind of milk) in another recipe you can. Simply follow the same steps that I will outline here.

For this recipe we're going to replace the entire water content of the soap with breast milk. In order to do that we'll have to take some extra steps in order for the milk not to scorch when mixed in with the lye. You know when the milk starts to scorch when it turns a yellow color and gives off a strong ammonia smell.

1. Freeze milk in an ice cube tray

2. Place frozen milk cubes in a medium sized container (plastic or stainless steal)

3. Place container in an ice bath

4. Measure lye into a small container

4. Little by little add lye to the frozen milk while continuously stirring. The more time you take with this the less the chance of scorching.

5. After the breast milk is completely melted stir for another minute to make sure the lye is completely dissolved

If this is the first time making cold process soap with lye, I suggest you go back and read up on lye safety, recommended equipment and try my beginner's tutorial.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, meaning at no extra cost to you will I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Equipment needed:

• Ice cube tray
• 3 medium sized containers (one of them can be glass (pyrex) the others plastic or stainless steel)
• One small plastic cup (to measure lye)
• One plastic spoon
• Spatula
• Immersion blender
• Accurate digital kitchen scale
• Sunflower single cavity soap mold

Ingredients for 6 Soaps weighing 3 oz / 85 g each:

This recipe is superfatted at 5% and uses a lye concentration of 38%.

• Breast Milk: 2.85 oz / 81 g
• Lye: 1.75 oz / 50 g
• Olive Oil: 10.16 oz / 288 g
• Coconut Oil: 2.54 oz / 72 g
• Chamomile Essential Oil: 11 g

Instructions:

1. Freeze milk in an ice cube tray
2. Place frozen milk cubes in a medium sized container (plastic or stainless steal)
3. Place container in an ice bath
4. Little by little add lye to the frozen milk while continuously stirring. The more time you take with this the less the chance of scorching.
5. Stir for another 5 minutes to make sure all the lye is properly dissolved and set aside to cool
6. Melt coconut oil over low heat in a water bath or on short bursts in the microwave
7. Add olive oil
8. Add essential oil
9. Place soap mold on a cutting board
10. When lye solution and oils have cooled so they're not hot to the touch, add the lye solution to oils
11. Stick blend until medium trace (light pudding consistency) is achieved
12. Fill soap batter into the mold cavities
13. Tap cutting board with soap mold on the counter to release air bubbles
14. Place soap in freezer overnight
15. Leave out at room temperature for 24 hours and unmold
16. Cure for 6 weeks
17. Enjoy!