Teach Soap

I'm making a shampoo bar today and I wanted to use coconut milk to activate the lye. Any tips or suggestions?? Should I do a water/coconut milk mix or can I use straight coconut milk? Coconut milk is a new experience for me!! Thanks in advance for anyone's help.

I would do minimum water to dissolve the lye, then add the coconut milk at light trace.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Somewhere today I found a site that said to freeze the milk in a bag..flattened out. When it's frozen break it up and put in your lye container, pour the lye over the frozen milk. The lady says it works perfect and never burns. Wish I could find the site again for you.
I'm just a beginner but personally I think it would burn. Kathy miller pours hers in at light trace like soap buddy does. That's the way I'm going to do it too and then put it straight in the freezer so it can't heat up too much and burn that way. I want my bars to be as white as I can get them. I'll wish you luck if you'll wish me luck

Pouring the lye over frozen milk chunks has not worked for me. You have to do it REALLY slowly, so the milk doesn't scorch and by the time you are done the lye/milk solution is too cold to use.

If you want a lighter bar, don't let the soap gel. Put it in the fridge or the freezer. It will take longer to saponify; so depending on your recipe, you might need to leave the soap in the mold longer.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Soapbuddy is very knowledgable so I would certainly trust her info. (I'm still a newbie)
I did want to add to this topic though because I have made some coconut milk soap with the freezing method you mentioned. I got the idea from Anne Watson's Milk soapmaking book. I had some concerns while doing it, but the bars I made came out great in the end. I froze the coconut milk and then let it thaw just slightly into a kinda hard slushy. I very slowly added the lye to the coconut milk. I was doing this on my back porch in the middle of winter so maybe that helped keep it cool (?) lol. The mixture did turn slightly yellowish and it became a weird almost marshmallow like consistency which kinda freaked me out at first. Everything went fine when I added it to the oils. I added pink clay to my recipe and turned it a a pretty pink color so I cannot vouch for what color this may have turned the soap otherwise.
I just felt like sharing my experience with coconut milk to add to the convo. I would imagine that soapbuddy's method may be easier and better though. Like soapbuddy mentioned...I didnt let my soap gel. just wanted to share

You guys are all so wonderful. I'm going to try it today and we'll see how it goes. I will let you all know!!!