Hurley's Goat Products
Specializing in Hand-Made Goat Milk Soaps
Sheffield, Iowa, USA

1. Why should I use your handcrafted goat milk soap vs. commercial soaps?
   Simply, hand-made soaps are more moisturizing and nourishing than commercial soaps. Why? All the glycerin is still inside hand-made soaps whereas it is extracted from commercial soaps for resale to other beauty industries. But since glycerin is the ingredient in soaps that makes them moisturizing, commercial soaps dry your skin more than hand-made soaps. In addition to this feature, goat milk contains many natural vitamins and minerals that infuse into your skin when you use the soap and promote many beneficial properties. Thus, your skin ends up moisturized and 'fed' instead of dried and stripped of important nutrients.
   
   In addition to their nurishing power, handmade soaps are often more hypoallergenic than commercial soaps. Both Holly and Tori had problems using store-bought soaps due to the chemicals inside whereas the goat milk soaps are easy on sensitive skin and don't react harshly with those that have allergies.
   
   
2. I have very hard/very soft water. Will your soap work in it?
   We have had lots of reports from people with both very hard and very soft water and they all report that it works just fine in all types of water quality.
   
   
3. Is there lye in hand-made soap?
   Contrary to what most people think, there is NO lye in hand-made soaps! Although lye is used in the making of hand-made soaps, by the time the soap is finished, the lye, fats, and oil have been converted (saponification) into saponified oils, fats, and glycerin. You end up with a soap that is gentle on your skin and extremely moisturizing.
   
   
4. What's saponification?
   Saponification is a chemical reaction that converts the raw ingredients (lye, goat's milk, oils) into the oils, fats, and glycerine in soap. For a technical description, check out this Wikipedia article.
   
   
5. What's the big deal about glycerine?
   Glycerin attracts water molecules -- it causes water to hang around wherever it is. In fact, you may notice that your hand-made soap sometimes will get small beads of water on it -- that's ok! It just means it has a high glycerine content and is attracting water. Now, you can probably guess what happens when you use high-glycerine soap on your skin -- your skin attracts water instead of losing it, leaving you feel softer! Most commercial soaps don't contain glycerine (they remove it and sell it to other industries) so they are more drying than hand-made soaps.
   
   
6. Why does my soap look like it is sweating?
   Glycerine is a humectant; it attracts water. Since hand-made goat's milk soap contains large amounts of glycerine, your soap may attract water so much that it forms tiny beads and 'sweats'. Don't worry...this is normal! It just means you have a great quality soap!