Zum Bar – Clove-Mint

“Clovering”

I see this Zum Bar soap in stores a lot—there are usually a lot of varieties, and you really notice it because the soap's packaging is minimal—there is just a band around each bar—and there are usually some bright colors, and the soaps have this distinctive ridged shape. I think the odd shape kind of annoyed me—not that there's anything wrong with it—it's actually easy to handle—but I'm not crazy about it, aesthetically. The one word that sold me on this particular variety is “clove”—I just love clove, it's one of my favorite flavors, spices, and smells (and remember clove cigarettes?—I enjoyed those things, even though we knew, way before they told us, that it was like smoking fiberglass). This soap was no disappointment—the clove and mint blend nicely, and I never got tired of washing with with this scent—I'd often use it for my face. I made it last. There's an extensive website—it's a company called Indigo Wild , in Kansas City—and all pertinent info is also on this minimal band of paper packaging. It says “Goat's Milk Soap,” and the size is 3 oz—not huge, but a nice size. It claims to be made by hand in small batches using a cold-processed method. I don't know enough about soap-making to know if that's a good thing, but they say it is. It's free of detergents and synthetic fragrances—the ingredients are all natural things, including goat's milk—it almost sounds edible. “Mineral pigments “is listed, so I'm guessing that's where the really intense and beautiful green, cream, and orange-brown swirls of color come from. I really don't know why I resisted this soap for so long—maybe it seems too perfect—the colors too well-defined and beautiful, the shape too unique, too many interesting varieties, and its description sounding too good to be true. But if this one's any indication, I'm the one who's wrong, and I'll definitely buy more, eventually—Zum won me over, for now.

Soap Review No. 77