Thursday, May 8, 2008

Beauty Benefits of Goats Milk Based Soaps and Skin Care Products

Milk based soaps have recently been rediscovered, largely due to the current research on milk proteins that is teaching consumers about the way skin benefits from contact with whey protein and lactic acid. Lactic acid helps smooth skin by exfoliation, and milk also contains Vitamins A and D, whose benefits include giving skin strength and suppleness. Many milk based soaps are made of goat's milk, which has the same ph as human skin. Goats produce a high fat, creamy milk that's easily digested because its molecules are smaller than those of cow's milk.

People allergic to cow's milk often drink goat's milk instead because of the protein profile of goat's milk, which more closely resembles that of human milk, and which makes goat milk easier to digest. The other upside of using goats' milk in all kind of products is the fact that goats are more easily farmed than cows or sheep: they forage on all kinds of feed, are resistant to injury and disease and are providers of wool, meat and milk.

How is goat’s milk soap made?

But you can't make soap from milk alone. Other ingredients could include natural oils from seeds, nuts, and vegetables, such as soybeans or coconuts. Soap has two main ingredients; lye and fat. When lye combines with a fat, chemical interaction hardens the oils, creating a bar of hard soap. When our great-grandmothers made their all natural soap, they used wood ashes and lard: the ashes were soaked in water, which leached out lye. Cooking lard with lye created soap. Original lye soaps were unscented and very harsh. They were also used for scrubbing laundry and floors, so their harshness helped pioneers get their clothes and homes—as well as their families—clean.

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