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Marseille soap based on palm oil

I received a PM from one of the forum members here asking me to describe the differences between olive oil based and palm oil based Marseille soap. I wrote him a few paragraphs of what my findings were although I had never used the olive oil based soap (I mainly use the palm oil based) which I wanted to share with the community here so below you can find a cut'n paste of my reply to him together with some additions:

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While I haven't really used the olive oil based Marseille soap I do know that the palm oil based soap is the most PH neutral and is therefore best suited for people with very sensitive skin types. The palmoil based soap is very often recommended by dermatologists for people with very sensitive skin and it has been known to be well suited for younger children as well. Quite alot of laundry products in Europe are based on Marseille soap ingredients. In France the Marseille soap blocks are very often used in the kitchen and for doing laundry.

The palm oil based soap has a wonderful, light, fresh but classic scent which stays on your body throughout the day and even in the evenings you can still notice the soft presence of its scent on your body. The same will also apply to the olive oil based soap but I cannot speak out of experience. I have found that the light scent does not interfere with any cologne, after shave or scented deo that I use.

The gentle skin care of all Marseille soaps leave your skin as smooth, soft and moisturized as you could ever imagine.

I find the palm oil soap to initially lather up really well but the amount of lather decreases rather quickly if you're using it to wash your complete body. I have to use a block of soap at least 2 to 3 times if I want to wash my complete body properly, however seen the fact that even the standard sized blocks are rather big (I have an old 300grams block which I do not use but I have multiple 200 grams blocks in "Le Chat" rebranded form) which can easily last you 4 to 6 months per block (typically even longer) with a daily shower and a gentle face wash before going to bed.

I used to use different kinds of synthetical bath products but all of them left my skin twinkling a bit after I got out of the shower, when I stretched the skin on my body or when I was exercising, but this is completely gone with the Marseille soap. The majority of the non soap based bath products have very synthetic scents which don't even come close to Marseille soap scents. I cannot speak highly enough of this soap. My skin feels and looks better and combined with the soft, light, refreshing but classic scent is what keeps me from really trying out any other soaps based on natural ingredients.

These soaps can be ordered online via French Soaps, through a search on eBay or by companies who rebrand Marseille soap under their own name, like for example Le Chat.

Marseille soaps exist in different flavors:
- Blocks of olive or palm oil and crushed local French flowers such as Orange, Rose, Verbana or Lavender.
- Verbana and Lavender also exist in Liquid form.

You have blocks ranging from 200gr, 300gr, 600gr to 1kg and if you want, you can even go for a block of 40kg uncut olive oil based soap. This should last you a lifetime!

I didn't really go into the specifics on how this soap is created and how the different manufacturers are forced to use the same ingredients seen the fact that this info is easily available on the Internet on sites such as: Compagnie du Savon de Marseille and Marseille Soap.

Once I get to buy and try other flavors of this wonderful typical traditionally handmade soap I will either update this review accordingly, or post new ones.
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