Savon de Marseille

I like the S de M olive oil block but prefer the S de M palm oil block.

I recently received the Savon 1000g olive block and the smaller 600g hard milled olive block, both from Amazon.

Packaging: As basic as it gets - just wrapped in plain newsprint and shipped in a cardboard box without any cushioning.

Scent: There is no added fragrance, so the scent is the natural note of the soap itself and nothing more.

Price: $20 for 1000 grams (35.25 oz) of bar soap. Not as cheap as Ivory in bulk, but much easier on the skin and cheaper than the premium bars being sold at Whole Food's.

Quality: Outstanding quality - just olive oil, marine ash and salt water.

Lather: About average for this type of soap; not a huge lather producer, but it doesn't need to be one.

Efficacy: Fine for what it does.

Moisturizing: There are more moisturizing soaps out there, with a lot more stuff added to them. This soap is great for what it is.

Shaving soap: Poor - see below.

Overall verdict: A winner in my book. I plan to buy more when my current supply runs out.

The 1000g was very easy to cut into 6 pieces with a chef's knife using moderate pressure - just like slicing a large block of dense cheddar cheese. The pieces retained their shape and there were no little bits falling off after being portioned out. Nice lather and very light soap scent - no added fragrance at all. Haven't tried using for shaving yet. Truly a WONDERFUL soap for sensitive skin.

The 600g hard milled block was also fairly easy to cut with a chef's knife, but it fractured into pieces, some of them too small to put back together. Same thing when I tried using a hack saw. The fractured pieces followed the internal structure of the soap, which was very convoluted but slickery smooth, not rough. The big pieces can easily be glued back together simply by wetting them and pressing the pieces against one another. Nice lather and very light soap scent. Unsuitable for shaving as it delivers a thin lather that rapidly falls apart and becomes too dry to use. So far I'm very pleased with the hard milled soap, but I'll leave it in one piece next time. Also a WONDERFUL soap for sensitive skin.

Contains honest, all natural ingredients. Very nice for the skin. Somewhat economical in 1000g block. Unscented or extrememly mild scent. Long lasting.