Is Breast Milk Soap Worth $120? - Here's What the Science Actually Says

[00:00:00]Okay, I found out something really, really surprising. There are some bars of soap out there that sell for more than $100. I mean, for just one bar. And you will ask me, what's so special about those bars? Well, they're made with breast milk soap. And because they're made with cumin breast milk soap, they are very expensive. And the marketing around those products is very, very attractive. Breast milk is filled with amazing nutrients from antibodies to human milk oligosaccharides. Today we are actually going to talk about is it actually working in the soap making environment. So of course breast milk is one of the most amazing biological fluids in nature. So the biology is solid but what happens to the chemistry?

[00:00:46]Because the science of soponification is all about chemistry. What happens to those remarkable nutrients that breast milk contains in a soap making environment? Today we're going to find out. Is it actually worth more than $100? If you have been following me for a while, I've been making soap with milk, coconut milk, goat milk, and I love using it. If you want to check how to make a soap with coconut milk, and beef tallow, check this link right here.

[00:01:12]And milk is very unique in soap making because milk contains certain fats and certain sugars and those fats react with sodium hydroxide which we will talk about in a moment to produce a soap. And milk in general in soap making leads to an amazing creamy and luxurious lather.

[00:01:33]So in combination with beef tallow is a match made in heaven. So today we're going to go through both sides of the story. the biology one, why is human breast milk so remarkable? And the chemistry one, what happens to those nutrients in a soap making environment?

[00:01:49]And then I'll leave it up to you to decide whether it's worth it or not. And for those of you who are new here, my name is Perry. I have a background in chemical engineering and biotechnology.

[00:01:58]And for the past 5 years, I've been working in the biotech industry, focusing on skincare ingredients. And I am obsessed with understanding formulation and the why behind things.

[00:02:07]My aim with this channel is to inspire you not only to copy recipes, but to also to design your own recipes and understand the why behind each ingredient you add. That's why I put together a free PDF that shows you how you can make six different skincare products with only seven ingredients.

[00:02:24]Because I've hear so many people telling me all the time, sending me emails telling me that, Perry, I just spend $1,000 $1,500 on oils and expensive fancy sounding oils and ingredients to make soap. And I always say the same thing. You don't need any of these. You just need four, five oils and you can make any soap you want. So, I put down this free PDF to show you that you don't need to spend thousands of dollars in ingredients that add no value to your soul. If you want this free PDF, comment, I want the system and I will send to you as soon as I see your comment. Now, let's get down to this video. So, let's start with the biology because this is the most uh important thing. And human breast milk is not just food. It's basically it's something that has been evolving for millions of years. And it's not just built to provide calories. It's a biological system that is built to protect and develop a newborn immune system. What makes breast milk so extraordinary? So we have different proteins like lactoerin that basically transports iron. We have IgA, lysosyme and different growth factors. Then we have human milk milk oligosaccharides otherwise known as HMOs. And these also HMOs are very unique for breast milk. So you cannot find them in for example cow's milk. Then we have of course living immune cells to protect and build the immune system of the newborn baby.

[00:03:56]Antibodies uh growth factors and last we have of course vitamins and fats.

[00:04:03]Remember milk always has fats inside just like cow's milk and some uh vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K and so on. So let's talk about soponification. What is soponification?

[00:04:18]Soponification is the chemical reaction that transforms oils into soap. So when we have a certain oil for example olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, beef tallow, these oils contain fatty acids, they contain certain fats and those fatty acids once they react with sodium hydroxide lie they produce soap and that's what you get right here. So when we say I made soap with coconut oil, your end product does not contain coconut oil. It contains the saponified version of coconut oil. That's quite an important difference. So all the fats that you have in milk react with light to produce the soponified version of those fat which is so let's talk a bit about pH and and pH is very very important here. So human skin has a pH of around 4.5 to 5.5.

[00:05:14]A finished bar of soap has a pH of 9 to 10 if everything is done correctly. And when you make soap, you combine your oils with your lie solution, sodium hydroxide, and your lie solution itself is pH14. This is the most extreme pH in nature, pH14.

[00:05:35]And it's the most costic pH out there, meaning that it's highly reactive and also very dangerous if it drops on your skin. The reason why pH is important is because proteins are very susceptible in a high pH environment. So proteins, imagine a protein is basically a 3D structure, a very nicely folded 3D structure of amino acids. In a high temperature or in a high pH environment, this protein basically denatures meaning that it basically gets completely destroyed. At the same time, we have enzymes. Enzymes are also proteins and those get completely inactivated at high pH. Living cells like the living immune cells that we saw before, those cannot survive at pH14. So everything is killed at pH14. And damage is permanent.

[00:06:25]Meaning that just because a protein is completely denatured, it doesn't mean that it can get back to being a working active protein again. It's destroyed.

[00:06:35]Game is over. So let's see what happens to all of the ingredients. So lactopherin gets destroyed. Lysosyme also gets destroyed. Uh secrettory IgA growth factors living immune cells they all get destroyed. Then the vitamins.

[00:06:51]Vitamins are very sensitive compounds sensitive to pH and temperature those get also completely degraded and uh basically they you don't get any positive effect of the vitamins. And then we have HMOs. Perhaps the only thing that survives here is saponification. Uh but here's the thing with HMOs, the human milk oligosaccharides. Human milk oligosaccharides is basically sugars and those sugars feed your gut bacteria and this is how they have a positive effect in you. They feed the gut bacteria and they block pathogens. If they are just on the skin, they don't do anything.

[00:07:28]They have to go into the bloodstream into your intestines. You basically have to drink the milk, not put it on your skin. Remember a soap is a rinse off product. It stays on the skin for a few seconds and those few seconds are not enough for the sugars to penetrate your skin and go into your intestine. So basically there is no effect of the HMOs in and then we also have milk fats just like we have in coconut milk or cow's milk and those react with lie to become soap. So uh this basically it's the typical soponification reaction. Even if something of all of these compounds whether it's vitamins or proteins or sugars, even if something survives, then what? Then you have something that stays on your skin for 20 to 60 seconds and then it's washed off completely. So again, this is not a lot of time for these ingredients to be active. I guess if it was a hand cream or a face cream, I don't think it's it makes any sense to make a face cream with human breast milk. But what I want to say is that in those products like a face cream or hand cream, those have a more acidic pH close to the one that we have on our skin. And there you don't have any degradation.

[00:08:44]You don't have any harsh conditions.

[00:08:46]Your ingredients are preserved. You don't have any chemical reaction. And you also put it on your skin and you leave it on your skin. So, it's a leave on product and then you have a lot of time for all of the ingredients to penetrate your skin and actually do their work. So, here's my honest assessment of uh human breast milk soap.

[00:09:04]The fresh breast milk is phenomenal. The biology is solid, is remarkable, and I don't need to uh tell you this. You already know that. But what the chemistry does, the chemistry completely destroys all of the nutrients that are in there. So only the human milk oligosaccharides are remaining but those do not penetrate the skin so have basically no effect on your skin. There are no published clinical data for the positive effect of human breast milk.

[00:09:37]There is some anecdotal references out there that it might help with eczema or some skin diseases but personally I am not very convinced based on the science behind it. And that's exactly what I want to pass here. Every time you look at an important ingredient, an expensive ingredient, think does this ingredient actually survive aonification. If it yes, then that's good because it means it has a positive effect. And also, does it have any benefit since the contact to the skin is only for a few seconds. So again, soponification and making soap is completely different than other skincare products. Um so you should always take that into consideration and realizing that what matters most in soap is the fatty acid profile. So soap only cares about fat. Soponification cares about fatty acids. That's the number one most important thing you should look at in your ingredients in your oils in order to choose the right oil for your soap.

[00:10:39]More information about this can be found inside my free PDF about how to make six completely skincare products with only seven ingredients. I love this system because it shows you that you don't need a hundreds different ingredients and spend thousands of money oils that have no value to you. Also, if you want more recipes like that, I have an ebook that contains 15 tested recipes. It has changed the soap and skincare journey of more than 350 people so far. So, I would love to hear what you have to say about it. Let me know down in the comments below what do you think. Is breast milk soap worth it? Yes or no? Thank you so much for watching this video all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you guys next