Traditional Soap

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I am a great admirer of traditional soap.
To me traditional soap is a simple blend of oil, usually Olive oil and either Lye (Sodium hydroxide) or Soda Ash (Sodium carbonate), and water - preferably saltwater. With the additions of essential oils such as Laurel. This is made in a cauldron, using the hot process method rather than the cold process method.
I have no idea whether the definition of Castile soap which essentially is the above without the addition of essential oils is either a hot, cold process or both.

Traditional soap is produced around the Mediterranean. France produces Savon de Marseille. They are currently squabbling over the current definition as many manufacturers use modern methods of production using additives and a soap noodle base.


Aleppo and Nablus produce soaps of renown. Aleppo soap is now being produced in France, Jordan, Turkey and Tunisia.

Greece, Turkey, and Tunisia produce traditional soaps. Turkish Laurel soap is called Daphne soap which is similar to Aleppo Laurel soap.

Lebanon produces Baladi soap. Whilst Al Ghar soap is the term used across the Arab Middle East for Laurel traditional soap, including Aleppo and Baladi.

Jordan is producing soaps inspired by either the Aleppo and Nablus method due to the displacement of the soapmakers or family tradition.

Although triple milled soaps are great, they are a more refined soap with exquisite scents. Traditional soap maybe used for hand and face washing, bathing and showering, as a shampoo, as a washing detergent for clothes or as household cleaner. Which your great grandmother probably did.
 
I am a great admirer of traditional soap.
To me traditional soap is a simple blend of oil, usually Olive oil and either Lye (Sodium hydroxide) or Soda Ash (Sodium carbonate), and water - preferably saltwater. With the additions of essential oils such as Laurel. This is made in a cauldron, using the hot process method rather than the cold process method.
I have no idea whether the definition of Castile soap which essentially is the above without the addition of essential oils is either a hot, cold process or both.

Traditional soap is produced around the Mediterranean. France produces Savon de Marseille. They are currently squabbling over the current definition as many manufacturers use modern methods of production using additives and a soap noodle base.


Aleppo and Nablus produce soaps of renown. Aleppo soap is now being produced in France, Jordan, Turkey and Tunisia.

Greece, Turkey, and Tunisia produce traditional soaps. Turkish Laurel soap is called Daphne soap which is similar to Aleppo Laurel soap.

Lebanon produces Baladi soap. Whilst Al Ghar soap is the term used across the Arab Middle East for Laurel traditional soap, including Aleppo and Baladi.

Jordan is producing soaps inspired by either the Aleppo and Nablus method due to the displacement of the soapmakers or family tradition.

Although triple milled soaps are great, they are a more refined soap with exquisite scents. Traditional soap maybe used for hand and face washing, bathing and showering, as a shampoo, as a washing detergent for clothes or as household cleaner. Which your great grandmother probably did.
I love Aleppo soap (50% laurel oil) my last batch of soap came out of Aleppo, Syria, Make soap not war!
I also have the Turkish Dafhine soap but the laurel oil content is not as much, still a very good soap though and as you say these soaps can be used for all cleaning.
I hope to see soap making return to Aleppo one day but I have enough to be getting on with for a good while yet! :) P.
 
I love Aleppo soap (50% laurel oil) my last batch of soap came out of Aleppo, Syria, Make soap not war!
I also have the Turkish Dafhine soap but the laurel oil content is not as much, still a very good soap though and as you say these soaps can be used for all cleaning.
I hope to see soap making return to Aleppo one day but I have enough to be getting on with for a good while yet! :) P.
I have soap from both Aleppo and Nablus, good to see people supporting this ancient art :)
soap (2).jpg
 
I have a box of these:

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... each is a bit of a brick, so I usually cut them into slices short ways for use as hand soap and a larger piece, longways for the shower. That does expose the greener inside sooner, but I don't think it makes a massive difference to the soap. Mrs finds them a bit primitive but if I could find one with a rose scent, I think she'd be converted fully.

I've enjoyed Savon Noir du Hammam before, too, which is uncured and very gooey. One I got had a really strong orange scent to it, which was a bit like trying to wash with slippery shredless marmalade! I still have the dregs of that one, which I'll dig out and use today.

I've used these for bathing, rather than pre-shave. I did go through a period of using the SNdH prior to shaving, especially in the summer when I'm a bit more greasy under the skin as there's a philosophy that oil dissolves oil and the soap is indeed pretty oily. It saves from going from greasy to overly dry (after multiple lashings of Turkish cologne) to greasy again as the skin fights back.

Curiously, I'm not big on the stuff in winter. MWF bath soap (lovely lanolin ... baaaa!) is my soap for colder months.

Yeah! Lovely stuff!

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I really am a novice at this. I have always used Pears Soap as a pre-shave soap (I have medically sensitive skin - Psoriasis, so I have to be a little careful as to what I use); are the above mentioned soaps very much better? I have used pre-shave lotions but to me they are meant to act in the same way as a soap, ie get off the natural oils before a applying gel or shaving cream/soaps and then shaving. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Unfortunately, have to use Aqueous Cream to shower with, due to skin condition!
 
I really am a novice at this. I have always used Pears Soap as a pre-shave soap (I have medically sensitive skin - Psoriasis, so I have to be a little careful as to what I use); are the above mentioned soaps very much better? I have used pre-shave lotions but to me they are meant to act in the same way as a soap, ie get off the natural oils before a applying gel or shaving cream/soaps and then shaving. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Unfortunately, have to use Aqueous Cream to shower with, due to skin condition!
Aleppo soap is so good for your skin, it contains Olive oil and laurel oil and not a lot else, try some, the higher the laurel content the better it is for your skin, I use mainly 50% Laurel oil Aleppo soap, it costs a little more but it's great stuff for skin conditions . P.
 
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