What is the difference between white and green Marseille soap?
There are actually two kinds of Marseille soap:
The green soap is made from olive oil and coconut oil. It gets its green colour from its rich olive oil content. This soap is recommended in the bathroom for cleansing the body and the face.
The white soap is made from palm oil (extracted from the oil palm fruit) and coconut oil (extracted from coconuts). This soap is traditionally used for the laundry.
The natural white colour of Marseille soap comes from the vegetable oils in it. At Marius Fabre, we use no colourings, fragrances or chemical additives.
What does the 72% stamp mean?
One of the features of Marseille soap is that it is composed of 72% vegetable oils (hence the 72% stamp) and 28% humidity. The more it dries, the more water evaporates and its oil content increases.
Is the olive oil used pure olive oil?
To be more precise, it’s the oil made from olive pomace. The milled pulp and stones of the olives after the first cold press. It is the first cold press that produces the oil we cook with. The second press produces olive-pomace oil, darker in colour.
Why use coconut oil?
Coconut oil makes a good lather. Without it, there would be very little lather.
Why use palm oil?
It has been used ever since the 18th century to make Marseille soap. In those days, it came from the French colonies, shipped to mainland France via Marseille port.
Its pureness and gentleness gives the soap used for skincare and in the laundry a creamy colour.
In soap cubes and toilet soaps, it is combined with coconut oil for lather.
Today, 80% of the world’s palm oil is used in the food industry. The growing demand for palm oil for the food industry has led to the multiplication of palm groves. Soap-making only uses a tiny fraction of palm oil production and needs a lot less land to grow the palms. Palm growers are supported in their efforts by organisations like WWF and RSPO as they struggle to protect the environment while growing palms.
Does saponification produce glycerin?
It produces soap and glycerin, which is then eliminated.
Why does the liquid soap sometimes set?
At very low temperatures, liquid soap naturally forms crystals: — proof it is made with vegetable oils only.
The crystallising process is entirely reversible and in no way deteriorates the quality of the soap.
What is the difference between soft black soap for the body and liquid black soap?
The "1001bains" black soap in tins is for use in the bathroom, for exfoliation and for shaving. Enriched with glycerin, it moisturises the skin better, adding to the nourishing effect of the olive oil.
The liquid black soap or in paste in our "LAVOIR" and "NATURE" ranges is a multi-purpose cleaner for use in the home, washing animals or even on plants to prevent greenfly and scale insects.
What's the difference with Aleppo soap?
Aleppo soap is made in Aleppo in Syria. It is made in the same way as Marseille soap, i.e. cauldron-cooking vegetable oils using olive oil and at the end of the cooking phase, adding bay laurel oil. There is no bay laurel oil in Marseille soap.
Why “Marius Fabre Jeune...”
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were two "Fabre" soap factories in Salon-de-Provence and the post often got mixed up. Marius was the younger of the two Fabres so he added “Jeune” (young) to the name of his company.
Why several brands?
It was a marketing strategy used by the soap makers to widen their customer base. (Large groups of companies like L’Oréal and Renault also use this strategy...).