Plantes et Parfums - Savon de Marseille

a few years ago, i had the opportunity to visit the lovely coastal city of Marseille and traveled around the nearby Provence region in France. other than beautifully scenic photos and amazing memories, one of the unique souvenirs that came back with me in my luggage was this cubic block of Savon de Marseille which i had purchased from Plantes et Parfums.

Savon de Marseille (French for "Marseille soap") is a traditional hard soap produced in the Marseille region for hundreds of years. historically, the original Savon de Marseille is olive-green and made with at least 72% olive oil, though today there are other varieties made with other vegetable oils such as palm oil or a mixture of palm and coconut oil, and they now come in other colours and scents such as purple lavender.

i chose the original olive oil for my block of Savon de Marseille, and loved the strong but fresh natural scent of olive oil which wafted up through the wrapping and added a sense of cleanness to my luggage.

i was relatively frugal with my 400g (14.1oz) block, sub-dividing it into eight cubes with a knife after opening it, and wrapping the unused cubes to store them safely before use. the soap was firm but easy to cut, and each smaller cube was able to last me about a month. two of the cubes found a place by the bathroom and kitchen sinks, as a gentle yet effective soap for hand-washing; the remainder of the cubes were relegated to the laundry area for the clothes that needed to be washed by hand.

as a hand-washing soap, this has a smooth and soft texture with little lather, and was extremely effective at cleaning oil and grime from sticky hands. the scent of pure olive oil was strong but refreshing when using the soap, and the same scent lingered briefly on my hands after use as well.

i also found this very useful for doing the laundry - sometimes, frequent hand-washing of clothes with mainstream detergents can irritate my skin or cause me worry over accidentally ruining delicate items, but this one worked wonders in the cleaning department without any such problems. it was thorough in removing dirt yet was easy to rinse off, and the subtle scent of olive oil was more pleasant and less intrusive than the smells of mainstream detergents that tend to hang around for a while after they've performed their duty.

all things considered, the Savon de Marseille is a soap that's functional, beautiful and packed with history and culture. i'm really glad to have discovered and reaped the benefits of this one after my trip to its lovely city.

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this review is of a soap that i had purchased at regular price with my own money. i wasn’t asked to review this as a condition of receipt and didn’t receive any incentives for writing this. i’m not affiliated with Plantes et Parfums and as always, all opinions remain my own.

Plantes et Parfums' website can be found here. prices are usually EUR 6.50 for a 400g (14.1oz) cubic block of Savon de Marseille.

all information correct at time of publishing.