Honey or sugar

[Scented]

Those that use these additives, which do you prefer?

Sugar seems more economic, but honey, I think, gives a different feel? Anyone who has used both, have you seen a difference?

Granted, a better comparison should be made in another 2-3 weeks, because these honey batches are only 2 weeks old, but the one I tried lather pretty well. Not overly fond of all the browning I seem to be getting, but this is all about experiments.

Anyone ever use honey and sugar together? Curious what that would lend or take away, but not overly curious enough to try it me thinks.

[LovelyLathers]

I use both and like both depending on my recipe. I use honey with most of my oatmeal soaps, it seems to add more lather and mildness to them. I add about 2 teaspoons pp. I warm my honey so it incorporates easier at trace. I think it does make some soaps stickier and I have to leave them cure a little long by 2 weeks or so. I love honey in my soaps that I use goats milk in and any pureed fruits and veggies in like mango, carrots, applesauce, etc. I use sugar in soaps with any lard or tallow. For some reason the honey makes them not glide as nice, smells different to me also but then again my nose is shot from the FO's. I add both to some but i do not make it with any milks, or heater FO's. I see no difference in using both except I have to put them in the refrigerator so they will not over heat. I have not put the honey in my herbal soaps because I want to keep them vegan but have been thinking of experimenting with them also.

[Scented]

Thanks! I used 1 T of honey ppo. I don't notice it to be sticky, but the lather seems different compared to using straight sugar ... almost like less bubbles and foam, but this was just a two-week test and I was thrilled to have bubbles after having none on the day two test lol.

[LovelyLathers]

I use silk in all my soaps except herbal or ones I want to be vegan, do you? It could make a difference in the lather too. The sugar or honey in the soaps with silk makes for great "bubbly" lather! Are you getting more of a "lotiony" type lather? I also add salt to every recipe but that should not make a difference in the lather as I only use 1 Tbl pp.

[Scented]

Silk in every batch unless I forget, which is rare, because I have gobs of this stuff lol.

I have sodium lactate in there too.

I don't know how to describe the lather. It's less than my normal bar, but still get quite a bit of what I'd call a foamy lather. It almost feels dry as in IPP dry ... does that make sense?

[leisa2003]

I perfer sugar over honey. Honey seems to cut lather more-so then sugar.

[ChrisR]

I prefer sugar over the honey also. Since all my soaps are with fresh goat's milk and I don't like to gell them, the honey heats it up too much for me. I'll sometimes end up with partial gel even though I stick them in the freezer.

[Scented]

I prefer sugar over the honey also. Since all my soaps are with fresh goat's milk and I don't like to gell them, the honey heats it up too much for me. I'll sometimes end up with partial gel even though I stick them in the freezer.

Now that you brought it up, hoping you might be able to help me out here.

I've pulled water and added powdered goat's milk to it, but I seem to have problems when I mix milk with honey. Bear with me here please. I have two test batches with white on top and the rest is golden brown. Both are milk batches. The white isn't ash.

Both I had trouble mixing honey and milk together. Could this be common? In one batch I added honey and milk separately and got the same look. In another, I mix honey with water and then added the powder and could never get it to quit separating in the pyrex. By chance am I doing something wrong?

[ChrisR]

Scented I don't have a clue why yours is doing that. I've always used 100% fresh goat's milk, not powdered, and add my lye to that and add the warmed honey to the oils. I only did 2 batches and got partial gel on both, so I went back to using sugar. Sorry I can't help more!!

[Scented]

Thanks Chris! I had to ask lol!

[Meridith]

Now that you brought it up, hoping you might be able to help me out here.

I've pulled water and added powdered goat's milk to it, but I seem to have problems when I mix milk with honey. Bear with me here please. I have two test batches with white on top and the rest is golden brown. Both are milk batches. The white isn't ash.

Both I had trouble mixing honey and milk together. Could this be common? In one batch I added honey and milk separately and got the same look. In another, I mix honey with water and then added the powder and could never get it to quit separating in the pyrex. By chance am I doing something wrong?

I wonder if the white part could be due to that part cooling too fast while the other part managed to go into full gel and cool down at a more appropriate rate? Is the white part crumbly at all, although not lye heavy?

[Scented]

No it's not. Heck I even wish it were ash, but it's not. It doesn't rub off. It's a like a thin layer of white cream on top. It's wild.