# honey soap



## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Do you add the honey to the oils, milk and lye, or at trace? How much honey per pound of oils do you recommend using?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

The smallest squirt into the oils you feel comfortable doing, for label appeal an don't feel like you are decieveing your customers. Honey adds nothing to your soap, it overheats, it can make a perfectly normal soap lava in your container. There is no need to put in ounces or cups of honey into your soap. Vicki


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I use a heaping tablespoon in a 120 oz batch. I heat it and add it to a small amount of warm milk so it dissolves nicely. If you add your lye to all your milk hold a little out for this and add it after your lye/milk has been added to the oils. Though I know most take care so it doesn't overheat it never has on me and I will even insulate my mold in the winter months.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

I add one ounce per lb of oils. No overheating. I add at very thin trace.


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Ok thanks! I had forgotten about it having a tendency to over heat. What about honeycomb? I now have a local supplier for that. I'm hoping it will scent the soap a bit. How much should I use and it's added to the melting oils, correct?


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

You will not get any appreciable scent from honey (or honeycomb) in your soap. Honeycomb is beeswax (plus honey). Soapcalc includes beeswax in its list of oils/butters/fats, so I would plug it in there. I wouldn't imagine that you would want very much, and you would want to melt it, probably separately from your oils and then add it once it's melted because beeswax has such a high melting temp compared to just about everything else. Maybe someone on here who has used beeswax in soap will chime in.


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

I do one teaspoon per # of oils and mix it with a little bit of very warm water to get it to dissolve, also after everything has been mixed really good. Mine heats up. I don't think soap smells like honey though. I use the Honey Bee fo (formerly SS now First Choice) and love it. It is in the shower now and it lingers on your skin too- yum!


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

Honey has both humectant and antimicrobial properties. Because of the former, if you add too much to your soap, it can cause it to feel tacky as it pulls moisture into the soap. However, for the same reason (humectant properties), it's a wonderful moisturizer. One of the soaps I make has honey in it, 1 ounce to a 6 lb batch, and I mix it in a bit of warmed milk before adding it to the soap at trace. It does heat up the soap a bit but doesn't seem to cause a problem with discoloration or seizing.


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

I had read that about the humectant and antimicrobial properties. I will probably start with an ounce and see how it turns out. Thanks everyone!

Jennifer that FO sounds wonderful!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

So do you really think any of those properties make it through the lye  It's good marketing, but don't go ruining your batch, or your molds on overheating soap. I put both honey and honeycomb (melt it first) into my honeycomb soap, mostly because it is sold by those who sell honey....but it also will melt the bubble wrap that makes the honeycomb pattern on the soap, that I use as a liner unless I elevate it and put a fan on it. Vicki


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Does saponification affect the qualities in oils and butters as well?


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Yes. Not the qualities that we know they give to finished soap (ie, the type or quantity of bubbles, the hardness or softness of the soap, etc) but other than that, yes, it would. Even if the qualities are provided by unsaponifiables (things in the oil that do not get turned into soap) instead of the various fatty acids (that do get turned into soap), I would definitely think that the extremes of temperature and pH would have an effect.


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Well that stinks :? I was really excited about my avocado and almond oil bar.

Makes me wonder about the milk....


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

"Makes me wonder about the milk...."

Exactly! Although if you ask people who use your goat milk soap if they can feel a difference between it and a plain bar of handcrafted soap, they'll tell you they can.

Both avocado and almond oil will give you an excellent bar of soap, so don't get disappointed about that. These oils are very moisturizing and good for your skin.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I have added up to 1/4 cup of honey per 7 pounds of oils with no problems. This is just for my plain OMH bar with no scent. For soaps that I add honey to with scent, I add less. Everything goes under a fan, but in the winter, when I was insulating, I got just a little over heating, no big volcanos or holes in the center of the soap.


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