In my next few postings I would like to write about a few individual soap bases, their origins and why they are good for your skin. With that said, there could only be one soap to begin with and that is Aleppo Soap, from the Syrian city of Aleppo. The earliest account of Aleppo Soap came from 8th century writings, but there are accounts of a "soap like substance" dating back to 2000 BC from ancient Babylon. Soap products have been with us for a long time! The original recipe for Aleppo Soap was olive oil, sweet bay oil, which is oil that comes from bay leaves and is also called laurel oil, water and sodium hydroxide. It is often referred to as "Syria's green gold".
This wonderful soap made it's way along the Silk Road and and finally to Europe. It found a soap making home in Castile, Spain, which had ample amounts of olive oil, one of the key ingredients in Aleppo Soap. Due to the fact that the Castilian's did not have large quantities of laurel oil they made their soap of pure olive oil. This new variation of Aleppo Soap produced pure white soap that was an effective cleaning product and highly prized. Hence Castile soap.
Today Castile soap is often mixed with other oils, but still has the most important ingredient, olive oil. Castile soap is gentle for all skin types, including sensitive and dry skin. Castile soap can open pours allowing for a deeper cleaning. It is just wonderful on the skin!
Join me for my next post when I will be writing about oatmeal soap and it's origins. Please visit my shop for a variety of Castile soaps along with oatmeal and honey soap bases! Hope you enjoyed reading this brief history, until next time!
Gina
Pouring melted soap into molds.
No comments:
Post a Comment