What is African black soap?
In our house, we actually call it magic soap. Black soap is an extraordinary product and it works small wonders on skin problems. A lot of claims have been made but we really encourage you to try it for yourself 🙂
What is African Black Soap? Dark, soft and earthy, African black soap brings a new level of natural goodness to your bathroom. It looks a little bit like fruit cake! Unique to West Africa, our black soap is handcrafted by women in Ghana. This amazing soap is made to a recipe that has remain unchanged for hundreds of years. It’s lather is creamy and gentle and it is particularly kind to dry skin. It makes a particularly good facial soap for problem skin. Unlike mass produced soap, black soap is made by hand, using ingredients that are produced freely in the area that it is made in. For this reason, black soap recipes can vary from town to town. What they all have in common is one magic ingredient – nutritious, creamy shea butter. Shea butter gives this soap it’s rich and creamy feel and leaves the skin feeling soft and smooth. Authentic black soaps usually have around a 50% shea butter content.
How is black soap made?
Before the advent of sodium hydroxide our ancestors relied on potash – a caustic mixture of water and ash. Black soap is still made in this way, using roasted cocoa pods and plantain potash. It is this process that gives black soap it’s famous chocolate brown colour and slightly smoky aroma. Our black soap is a buttery fusion of virgin shea butter, sustainable palm oil and coconut oil. It is one of the few truly natural soaps that you can buy, crafted with only natural ingredients from start to finish. You won’t find any colourings, additives or perfumes here!
How do I use my black soap?
Black soap is naturally soft and crumbly, so you might like to slice a small piece from the bar as and when you need to use it, rather than allowing the whole bar to get soggy! (Black soap likes to absorb water) You can use your soap from top to toe, as a body, hand and facial soap. Black soap is kind and gentle, it really has something to offer everyone. It may even be used on children and babies. Unhappy skin seems to respond very positively to this traditional soap, so if your skin is feeling unsettled or prone to breakouts, make this your next bar!
Have you tried our liquid version? We simply use organic rosewater to turn this soap into a wonderfully creamy liquid in a handy pump bottle. Even better, liquid black soap is less messy to use and is perfect for the shower or the sink.
Will this soap help my acne, eczema or psoriasis?
Our customers say yes! As long as your skin is not cut or broken, you can use this soap on any problem skin types to good effect. We’ve had so many positive results for acne and dry skin problems. (We think the secret of this soap is a high content of creamy shea butter)
We hope you fall in love with this soap as much as we have.
Lindsey x
*We recommend avoiding the use of soap on broken skin, on skin recovering from chemical peels or surgery.