Dettol – Original

“Lysol Circus Peanut”

This is a warm brown, almost orange, peanut shaped bar of soap from India that has a harsh smell that reminds me of a disinfectant such as Lysol. I guess it's peanut shaped—you know the peanut in the shell?—though flattened. Actually, it kind of resembles those “Circus Peanuts”—do those even still exist? (I know I can still taste them, and feel that weird texture in my mouth.) What it really reminds me of, in shape and color, is a big Circus Peanut that someone stepped on.

Anyway, this soap feels pretty hardcore in the disinfectant department, and kind of has a gritty quality, like a sandalwood soap. Its packaging says that it is “protection against a wide range of unseen germs” (are there ever “seen” germs?), and is recommended by NIMA, which I guess is an Indian medical association. A website says Dettol contains pine oil and other things like chemicals I don't want to type the names of—one of which is toxic to ingest—so not a good soap to wash the kids' mouths out with (if there are any among you that don't now consider that child abuse).

Soap Review No. 6