So a good few weeks ago, when I was running around town exploring sustainable shops in Dublin, I picked up a MASSIVE block of soap from Industry&Co. To be 100% honest, the only reason I bought it was because it was different, looked good and the packaging was cute. It had "Marseille Soap" and a whole other bunch of french things written on it and even though I've no problem understanding french, I never really pay it any attention here because it's usually random stuff english companies write to look fancy. Turns out I was VERY wrong!
I was skyping with my mom that evening and showing her everything I got during my excursion, when she said something along the lines of "Marseille Soap ? But that's for clothes Lauri!". That would explain the massive size... Blame it on my soap ignorance, but I had no idea Marseille Soap was a thing! I started researching and not only is it good for clothes, it has SO. MANY. USES. At least according to the internet claims.
SO WHAT IS MARSEILLE SOAP?
It's a traditional soap made from vegetable oil that has been made in the Marseille region for about 600 years. Ah! It's traditionnally made by mixing sea water, olive oil and alkaline chemicals, although now some are made with other vegetable oils. However, it must contain 72% oil, and that's stamped on the cube. One really good thing about it, apart from everything I will write about below, is that olive oil soaps in general don't melt as fast in the shower, so they last longer! I can personally vouch for that as I've been using the same olive oil soap for months!
AS A SKIN CLEANSER
One of the first claims I saw when researching is that Marseille Soap is a great skin cleanser! I was pretty intrigued because my skin is incredibly difficult with cleansers and most of them break me out. I was already breaking out from another product I tried, but I decided to be bold and try using it as a cleanser for a whole week. Every evening (I don't cleanse in the morning) I would yet my hands, rub the soap in between them and then apply it to my face using my hands. I then remove it with a warm wet cloth.
DID IT WORK? Yes! While I won't say it did wonders for my skin, it didn't break me out and left my face feeling clean. I tried using it to remove makeup, and it worked for the face but I would avoid using it for the eyes... it stings. I would also follow it by using a moisturizer as it didn't leave my skin particularly hydrated.
AS A DELICATE LAUNDRY DETERGENT
I have a few items of clothing that I can only wash by hand (Like cashmere, merino wool or silk). I've been using a detergent made for delicate fabrics, but I decided to try the soap. I just wet the clothes I meant to wash (Be careful not to mix colours!) and then rubbed the soap in, focusing on the more important areas of the garments. While doing this the water gets soapy so the garment gets a bit of a soak as well. When I'm done I make sure to rinse well, and I hang or lay flat to dry.
DID IT WORK? Yes! I'm never a fan of hand washing things, but at least now I know I don't need a special soap or liquid just for that. My jumpers came back clean and fresh and I had no skin reactions afterwards. One ore point for Marseille Soap!
AS A STAIN REMOVER
I was super intrigued by this claim as I've heard of stain remover bars but I have yet to try one! The instructions are as follow: wet the soap and rub it on the stain until the fabric is saturated with soap. Then, let it soak in water for about 30 minutes and proceed to wash as usual. I decided to test this on 2 different items: makeup rounds and a white t-shirt. Ever since switching to reusable makeup rounds (which are awesome by the way!), I find that they sometimes get stained in the process, specifically by lipstick and mascara. I did as instructed and let them to soak for about an hour. In the meantime as I was cooking, clumsy me spilled some tomato sauce on the white T-shirt I was wearing, so I decided to test it out and repeated the process.
DID IT WORK? I'm sad to report that no. The fabric felt really soft but all the items I trying to clean came back the same as they would've been after a regular wash. I did get tips from other people saying it works better if you wet the fabric first and then scrub vigorously, so I will definitely try this again and keep you posted!
OTHER OPTIONS : I know that there are a lot of stain removing bars out there so I definitely want to try one, does anyone have suggestions?
AS A TOOTHPASTE
The only thing that came to my mind when thinking of this claim was old ladies in TV shows saying they'll wash the kids' tongues with soap if they keep on swearing! I figured this was an easy claim to test though, I was totally game to try. I decided to use Marseille Soap as a toothpaste for a week! The process felt a bit strange as it was so different to using regular toothpaste. I would wet my toothbrush, rub it on my soap chip (I cut out a piece of my giant bloc for this for hygiene reasons) and proceeded to brush as normal. And rinse, rinse like never before!
DID IT WORK? Yes! My mouth felt surprisingly clean and my teeth very soft (is that a thing?) But.... it tastes absolutely awful. It feels a bit strange as it's definitely not as thick as normal toothpaste and bubbles up, but the taste killed it. To be honest I couldn't go a week. So if you're game yeah you can try, but for me it wasn't worth it.
OTHER OPTIONS: There are loads of natural toothpastes out there! Some come in tubes like regular toothpastes, and some come in glass or tin pots for zero waste. Tablets also exists which can be handy for traveling but not very economic in the long run.
AS A SHAVING SOAP
I've been using bar soap to shave for months now, so I didn't have many doubts about this working. The logistics are pretty simple : rub the soap on your leg/desired shaving area and... shave! And rinse afterwards. I tried it for a week even though it didn't differ much from my regular routine.
DID IT WORK? Surprise surprise, YES! Actually, I WAS surprised because it worked even better than my regular soaps. I believe vegetable oil soaps are a it thicker when they melt and so it felt very rich on my skin and my legs still felt super moisturized afterwards.
AS A JEWELRY CLEANER/POLISH
I was intrigued by this, because I always felt like my mom would buy these jewelry cleaning kits, use them once, and then they would expire months later after being forgotten in the cupboard. All you have to go is rub a wet brush on the soap and start gently cleaning the jewelry.
DID IT WORK? Yes!...I think. I didn't really have any DIRTY jewelry so it was a bit difficult for me to say. I did clean one of my rings and found it quite shiny afterwards so it seems to have worked. One thing to note is that silver tends to oxidize or turn darker on me in some places, which can be fixed by buffing with a special cloth, but this trick didn't fix it!
AS A LEATHER CLEANER
This will not be a surprise if you've read last week's post about Tips to Fix your Shoes, but Marseille soap can act as a leather cleaner. If you have leather pieces that are getting a bit dirty or dull looking, you can clean them by rubbing a damp cloth with Marseille soap over it. Use gentle circular motions, and once the first step is done, do it again with a damp cloth and no soap. It's also important to dry the leather item with a dry towel or cloth because leaving water in contact with leather isn't good.
DID IT WORK? Yes! It works really great actually. I tried other natural options when I was working on my shoe blog post, and this one is the only one that worked!
AS A MAKEUP BRUSH CLEANER
The hassle of cleaning makeup brushes is something I think every beauty lover agrees on. It's also something no one does as often as they should. There are loads of options and methods as to do this, and apparently Marseille Soap is one of them! I usually use a Beauty Blender Solid to clean my makeup brushes so the prospect of using a bar of soap to do it didn't feel scary at all. Here's what I did : I installed all my dirty brushes next to the kitchen sink and put the soap on a plate. My process is the same for each brush, I start by wetting it under the sink and I rub it on the soap. Once it's well saturated, I run it under the water again to rinse until the water is clear again. Repeat the process until all brushes are clean.
DID IT WORK? Yes, yes and YES! I was so so surprised by how efficient this ended up being and once I'm finished with my pricey BeautyBlender Solid, this is all I will use to clean my brushes. I didn't have to work hard at all when it came to brushes and the process worked for my makeup sponges as well, although it did take a bit more time. All my brushes are now clean and ready to use again!
OTHER CLAIMS I COULDN'T TEST MYSELF
There are heaps more claims to test out regarding this soap, but I don't have the right context to test them out. Here are a few examples:
- Easing night cramps (by placing in under the covers near your feet at night)
- Moth repellent for clothes
- Bug repellent for plants
- Antiseptic (good for cleaning wounds)
5 comments
This is adorable. I love how you included the backstory! That was so much fun for me to read 🙂 And I am super impressed with all the ways you can use Marseille soap!!! Such a renaissance soap.
I would be really interested in testing the cleaning uses – bathroom, sink and floor. I am thinking about replacing our several cleaning bottles by just the soap to reduce plastic, but part of me thinks that if it was so easy, everyone would do it? So I am suspicious maybe it doesn’t clean so well.
Hi there Bara,
I had my doubts you but last year (September 2020 to be precise), I gave Marseille soap a go for cleaning my high gloss kitchen cabinets and for cleaning the bathroom and I was super astonished at how well it cleans! I literally use nothing but this to clean my hob, oven, glass door, bathroom flush and sink, kitchen cabinets! I use a normal sponge, wet it a bit and slide it on top of the soap bar and then start scrubbing whatever I want to, except for high gloss cabinets I use a soft sponge. Then to clean it up I simply wipe it away twice with a regular slab sponge. This thing really works!
i wash up dishes with the soap. works very well
Hi, so I’m wondering do you list what brand of products you use I’m new to this site… like in regards to the black soap you said the black soap you’re cleaning with is not the same as regular black soap.. well I’ve only ever seen like black African soap in the stores so can you tell me what brand you use and what’s the difference between the two?
I know that you say vinegar can be used on everything except for a marble and I forget the other right now, but I just really with my experience of using vinegar through the years and having read on it it’s just not really good for surfaces…so I’m wondering do you have any other Multi Purpose Cleaner?
And then for your clothes re: washing soap, I’d love to try the bar soap washing soda baking soda recipe, but what brands do you use I’ve never bought Washing Soda before?
And when you show using soap nuts to do the laundry I worked with soap nuts before, but you don’t show how many to put in the bag and what if you don’t have one of those little bags? What would you place them in? A garment bag? How many times can you reuse them? Do they work in top-loading machines that don’t agitate?
Thanks!!