Every bar of Rowandale soap starts the same way — with a goat.
Not a factory. Not a conveyor belt. A goat. Specifically, one of our 22 adult does out on our little farm in Colden, NY, who gives us the fresh milk that makes everything we do possible.
We get asked all the time: what actually goes into your soap? So we thought it was time to pull back the curtain.
It Starts at Milking Time
Fresh goat milk is the heart of every Rowandale bar. We use milk from our own herd — the same goats you might meet on a therapy visit — because we know exactly what they eat, how they're treated, and how fresh that milk is. That matters. Goat milk is rich in lactic acid, vitamins A and D, and natural fats that make it genuinely nourishing for skin, not just a marketing claim.
Cold Process Soap Making
We use the cold process method, which means we never apply external heat during saponification (the chemical reaction that turns oils and lye into soap). This preserves the beneficial properties of our ingredients — the goat milk, the tallow, the honey, the essential oils — rather than cooking them away.
Here's a simplified version of what happens:
- We combine lye with our fresh goat milk (frozen first, to keep the milk from scorching)
- We blend that with a carefully measured mix of oils — including tallow rendered from pasture-raised animals, which gives the bar its creamy lather and long-lasting hardness
- We add our botanicals: lavender buds, dead sea salt, honey, and natural fragrance oil blends chosen for both scent and skin benefit
- We pour into molds and the waiting begins!
The amount of milk is non negotiable. It's what gives our soap its creaminess, its gentle pH, and its long shelf life.
Small Batches, on Purpose
We make soap in small batches because we want to know every bar. We're not trying to be the biggest soap company — we're trying to make the best bar we can, with ingredients we trust, on a farm we love.
When you use a Rowandale bar, you're holding something that was made by hand, in a small kitchen, by people who also feed the goats every morning.
That's the whole idea.