Talk to me about soap, the French kind

[whatausername]

Why is it revered by some? I look at it every so often but they fragrance is always very high in the ingredients lists which puts me off. I have sensitive skin. Is it indeed the bee's knees?

@Beaconsfield

please tell me more about the muscle cramping thing & soap! Im
being woken by cramp most nights at the moment, it's driving me nuts.

@newtb "My aunt used to use Roger & Gallet soap in carnation, used to smell lovely. They don't do that 'flavour' any more."

I love carnation scented things. Floris Malmaison was lovely! But it seems to have gone completely out of fashion. 😢

Ocado sell some Le petit Olivier products. I really like the shower gels, and the extra mild lavender soap.

This. Marseille soap was originally intended as laundry soap (hence square blocks) and is rough and harsh.

The commercial bar soap I would recommend is the Italian Nesti Dante.

There's a lot of fake savon de Marseille around.

All the old carnation scented products cannot be made/sold anymore because of the EU/UK legal limits on eugenol, the part of the carnation scent that smells of clove. Eugenol is a skin irritant that can (rarely) cause sensitivity. That is why Malmaison and other carnation scents are no longer produced.

The other scent material that naturally contains a large proportion of eugenol is rose - it is the part of a rose smell that has the spicy depth. All modern rose scents are emasculated as a result in order to comply with this cosmetic regulation. It is a great shame...

I buy Neste Dante and the French soap from Lidl when it's available. The honeysuckle one is lovely. They had their French week recently so there might still be some knocking around.

We always have Roger & Gallet here. DH has Jean Marie Farinha and I have Rose. I love it, it doesn’t get that ‘soapy’ smell.

The soap and cramp thing - I have no idea really but I used to put used soap under the bedsheets at foot level to help prevent cramp. I assumed it worked because it keeps your feet moving to avoid the soap.

Off topic but the quinine in a small can of tonic water drunk before bed will help with cramp. Fevertree doesn't have much sugar and no artificial sweetners.

Back to soap - Nesti Dante, the big Italian bars, are amazing and last for ages.

You should store soap for at least a year for it to harden then it lasts longer. Personally a big fan of Italian soaps but perhaps because I live in France.

@Haffiana wow-thank you for that! I've been wondering for ages-it's good to know why. Such a shame though-it's a lovely smell....😢

Do you use these in the shower? My current favourite is the green pears soap because it just smells clean and fresh but I sometimes wonder if proper soap is drying?

I try to choose soap without palm oil in but it's tricky to find. There was a lovely australian one made with coconut oil

Do you use these in the shower? My current favourite is the green pears soap because it just smells clean and fresh but I sometimes wonder if proper soap is drying?

Some people say soap is drying, but I find the opposite. I don't need to moisturise after a shower since I stopped using shower gel. Dd got some (nice, Body Shop) shower gel for Christmas and she said it made her skin really dry so she went back to the soap. Shower gel has all sorts of weird, long-named ingredients that are surely not all necessary to clean you!

@Fairislefandango that's strange, I keep thinking my arms are dry. My legs are always dry! I'd love to find a genuinely moisturising soap that negates the need for lotion afterwards!

I don't know if it's necessarily that the soap is that moisturising. It's more that it seems to maintain the balance of your skin. Before I switched to soap, my skin felt either moisturised (if I'd put moisturiser on, I could feel that on my skin) or a bit dry. Since switching to soap my skin feels 'neutral'. Neither moisturised nor in need of moisturising iyswim. Just natural. That might not be the case for everyone though. I've never had especially dry skin.

I was in T K Maxx yesterday and came home with a 6 pack of nesti dante romantica soap. DH was heard to say we have enough soap in the house! I love going to T K Maxx and finding lovely scents I do love almond soap from there.

The nesti Dante fig and almond bar soap is lovely!

@Thecatisboss Should have smuggled it in inside your handbag! 😄

Ditto, look on the reduced counter in TKM, who cares if the wrapping is a bit torn if it’s not for a present. Stick it in your knocker drawer to dry out then enjoy. They sometimes have Roger and Gallet soap there if you are lucky. I like the Marseille ones too, especially the one called ‘fanny’ which makes me smile .

I found exactly the same. When I used shower gel my skin would be so dry it itched if I didn't moisturise everyday.
Now I use soap I no longer have that problem. I use body lotion very occasionally if I can be bothered.

@madeinmanc lol 😆 husband knows what to expect if I go to T K Maxx!

I far prefer soap to shower gel I feel cleaner when I use soap.

My dad before covid "you'll never need all that soap and hand washes you keep buying"

Dad after covid < tumbleweed >

I managed to keep myself, dad and work with hand wash until stuff was back in stock again

I buy the cubes from FrenchSoaps.co.Uk
next day delivery and from the UK so no extra costs.