Patanjali – Haldi – Chandan Kanti

“Dependable Friend”

I am not sure of the name of this soap—I have just typed the English version of the words as they appear on the package—it's an Ayurvedic soap from India, which I bought at India Bazaar for $1.99. Patanjali is a giant consumer goods company, so you might imagine this soap is quite common, though it's the first time I've seen it. There are pictures of some twigs and leaves on the package, presumably the ingredients! This is an orange brown, oval cake of soap, and it smells kind of medicinal—kind of reminds me of Cinthol in smell, and a sandalwood soap in color. It's not particularly pleasant, but gives you the sense that it's going to do its job in a no-nonsense, muscular way.

Much later now, as it's running out, now just a small nub. It's actually kind of grown on me, this soap. That orange color is a color I don't associate with anything but soap, right? It's kind of a brown-orange, not looking like any kind of food that I can think of. The scent is still a bit harsh and medicinal, or cleaning product-like, but really very pleasant. I think that a weird phenomenon about soap is that it will grow on you, in the course of using a bar of it—as long as it doesn't go the other way, and repel you. Very few have done that, actually—that is the odd case, when one starts to repel you, but when that happens, it's really kind of a profound thing. But in this case, the soap has definitely grown on me. I like it! I'll miss it!

Soap Review No. 34