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Famous French Personalities: Castile soap and Marseille soap
Marseille and castile soaps are quite popular and they are also quite similar. In fact, over the years the names have been used interchangeably. Marseille soap derives its name from the French city of Marseille, where it originated roughly 700 years ago! This soap is also extensively used in Italy (called "sapone di Marsiglia).
French law requires that any soap labelled "Marseille" contain at least 72% vegetable oils.
It is traditionally made by the mixing of sea water with olive oil and the ash from sea plants. These ingredients must be stirred continuously for several days. After approximately one week, the mixture is left to sit, then it is poured into moulds to set slightly. While the soap is still relatively soft, it is cut into bars, each weighing around 300 grams, although bars weighing as much as 40 kilograms are available! The bars of soap are then stamped and left to cure until dry, a process which takes a little over three weeks.
Castile soap is made entirely from vegetable oils; no animal fats are used in its manufacture. Strictly speaking, a true Castile soap should contain saponified olive oil only. However, today other ingredients are added. So a true Castile soap will always be "saponified 100% olive oil". It does not make a lot of suds, but it cleanses very well. One of my favorite uses for it? To wash off any pesticides from fresh fruit. I also use it for my laundry, though I do add a cup of vinegar to the wash; no problem, it gets the job done right! Some people with very oily skin report good results when they wash with it. Be careful: do not get it into your eyes, 'cause it will irritate them. As I mentioned earlier, most liquid soaps that claim they are Castile soaps are not made with 100% olive oil. They usually have coconut and/or palm oil. So don't get fooled into spending a lot of money on something that is not "real" Castile.
As previously mentioned, this soap contains saponified 100% olive oil.
It is very mild and gentle. You can use it on sensitive skin, including baby’s skin, but keep it away from the eyes. Don’t let its low sudsing deceive you! Castile soap will thoroughly cleanse your skin but will not strip it of its natural oils.
Castile soap. What is soap?
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