Issue No. 20

Genuine Marseille soap is made by
artisans with the provenance, passion and
long-standing tradition in their blood to lay
claim to makers of genuine Marseilles
soap. A bar that contains 72% olive oil –
and once tried, you will always be loyal to
its soapy concoction.
Fer a Cheval, Marius Fabre, Savonnerie du
Midi, Le Serail and Pre de Provence
produce the ever popular green olive oil
soap bars. To earn the classification of
Marseille soap, it has to fulfil certain
criteria. It must be made in Marseille, in a
cauldron, have plant-based oils and be
fragrance free, no dyes, no preservatives.
Any chemicals, additives or mention of
allergens and you’ll just have an ordinary
soap. Many soap makers buy flaked soap,
soften the flakes through rollers and add
perfumes and colourants. The genuine
article is hard, homogenous. Its angular
imperfectness wears down slowly, the
special soapy lather lasts for about six
weeks even with daily use.
Using it for the first time was a revelation -
good for skin and for hair. My skin felt
clean, but not dry and it left my hair soft.
The area around Marseille provides all the
ingredients – olives, salt from the
Camargue and from the port, palm,
groundnut and whale oil to stabilize the
soap. Olive oil on its own produces a
sloppy soap, the other oils enable the soap
to clean, not break but still dissolve in
water. There's a five-step soap making
process and the genuine bars must have a
minimum olive oil content of 72%.
Using antique machinery, the soaps pass
through several stages. First there is
empatage, pasting all the ingredients
together in large cauldrons, like a witch’s
brew, until homogenous. The second stage,
cuisson et lavage, is the process of cooking
the soap and then washing out the salts. A
taste test is made, physically with the
tongue, and if too much “sting”, more water
is washed through. Washing removes
glycerol and fatty acids, leaving soap
behind.
Like boiled treacle, the soap is poured into
cooling vats to sit for 48 hours. It’s then
sliced into strips and put into miniature
blocks and cut using wire or traditional
soap cutting machines. The bars are then
stacked on wooden shelves to dry. They
range from 1000g to 100g blocks. For
Marius Fabre, Le Mistral wind passing
through the drying room allows the soaps
to dry slowly to avoid splitting. Their soaps
are cut and scraped to create a crisp edged
soap. The final touch is estampillage –
stamping the soaps with their trademark
names and proudly advertising the 72%
olive oil content. Marius Fabre hand stamp
their soaps before cutting. Le Serail use an
old stamping machine with four plates that
emboss and give the soap a softer shape
as the machine squeezes the soap in the
process. Once stamped, the soaps are
simply packaged, nothing fussy.
As with many artisan skills, it takes a long
apprenticeship to learn how to make soap.
Family run Marius Fabre was founded in
1900. Secrets kept and passed down the
generations. Le Serail was founded in 1949,
by Vincent Boetto. His grandson continues
the business. Producing soap is a passion
and not about time saving. It is the process
of creating, getting close to the product,
using your hands, the physicality of the
process that deems these soaps worthy of
their status. A commercial soap can be
made in just four hours, packed and
shipped within the day.
Marseille soap takes weeks, space is at a
premium, and because of this the price is
higher. But you will have an authentic
product and a supporting role in keeping
these traditions going and soft skin to boot.