I wanted to make a soap that was very gentle, nourishing, and exfoliating - something that could be used as a body soap, but was also made up of ingredients to be wonderful as a facial soap. On October 2nd, I did just that. My ingredients are as follows:

goat's milk
extra virgin olive oil
palm oil
coconut oil
jojoba oil
grapeseed oil
castor oil
shea butter
ground oatmeal
fragrance oil
whole oats for decoration
honey
trace of cinnamon

I kept the idea of a facial bar in mind when I selected my ingredients. I left out the palm kernel oil that I include in a lot of my recipes because I know that some people feel that it is drying. I added oils that are proven to be exceptional for face and skin for their ability to cleanse while being extremely gentle. I kept the coconut oil relatively low because it also tends to be drying, yet with all the nourishing oils in the soap, I didn't have to cut it back a lot. Besides, who doesn't like lather! I pulverized the oatmeal for a gentle exfoliant. I added honey and just a touch of cinnamon. All this I put into a goat's milk base. With both goat's milk AND honey, a lot of soaps turn a dark brown. So I experimented to see what I could do to control the heat and get a lighter color out of it. Success! With a combination of freezing the goat's milk, using an ice bath to combine the lye, letting the oils cool before blending them all together, and NOT insulating my mold, I wound up with a light-colored bar. I guess you could call it an off ivory. I pressed in oats on one side of the loaf while the soap was still soft just for aesthetics, cut into bars, stamped them, and now the bars are 'curing' in the cupboard.

I've already tested the soap for pH and it's good to go. Just needs a little more time to harden. I haven't actually used this soap yet. That's a first! So when it's ready to be used, I'll post and if you're interested, you can be among the first to test it out. Should be ready at the very end of this month.

I can tell you right now that the next time I make this, I might leave the oatmeal off the surface next time and reduce the fragrance a touch. I had already cut back on it but it seems pretty strong to me, especially if you're going to be using it on your face. Who knows though - when I use it, I might just like it that way.