Savon de Marseille

Buy Savon de Marseille at the Bubble Store

My favourite is or was glycerine soap, until I stumbled across Savon de Marseille. I was as surprised as you probably will be when I tell you I stumbled across this little block of luxury in amazon.com! I was truly drawn to the romantic description of this lovely soap but I totally fell in love when I used it. Maybe it doesn’t lather as much as a gentle glycerine soap would but its moisturising qualities far outweigh this.

Although this wonderful soap has been made for over 700 years in France, it was in 1688 that Louis XIV made a law that would prevent anyone from using the name unless the soap was made in and around Marseille and made only from olive oil. Today the law still stands although it is a little more flexible in allowing other oils to be used.

This moisturising soap is made of a mixture of sea water from the Mediterranean sea, olive oil, sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide. The ingredients are mixed together in a large cauldron and heated for several days, being stirred constantly. The mixture is then poured into moulds and allowed to cool and set slightly before the bars are cut and stamped. The soap is then left to cure which takes about 4 - 6 weeks before it can be used on human skin.

Today there are two main varieties, olive oil and palm oil. The olive oil bars are green and the palm oil bars are white. You can also find these soaps with essential oils included, such as lavender.