Thayers Witch Hazel – Rose Petal

“Hooray for Hazel”

I shortened the name of the soap a little to be reasonable—the full name is: “Since 1847 Thayers Natural Remedies Witch Hazel Aloe Vera Formula Body Bar Rose Petal.” I've seen this soap and other Thayers products at heath food stores forever (I mean, not since 1847—I'm not that old—but is that for real? 1847?!) but I can't remember if I've used any before this. Probably, but not since this soap project. I liked this soap a lot, actually, and will probably buy more. It had this beautiful pale beige and pink color—it seemed to change colors a bit, or maybe it wasn't uniform—mostly beige or light yellow with pink highlights—very pleasing to the eye. Not strong, fragrance-wise, but a slight, pleasant floral, rose smell. It was good on my skin, as far as I could tell—I liked to think that was the benefit of the witch hazel in the ingredients, and the aloe, as well. I used to always have a bottle of witch hazel around—it seemed to be good on insect bites—I'll have to get some again.

I decided to look up something about this company, just out of curiosity. They have a website, of course, but it's impressively no-nonsense—not interested in impressing you—maybe that's a strategy—anyway, its mostly informational. There's a lot there—including the company history—you can look it up for yourself. I'm going to do a little more reading another time—maybe the next time I buy a Thayers product. But anyway, the most fun thing, for me, anyway (I know, I'm weird) is there's a street address, both on the soap box and the website—it's in Easton, CT, which isn't really even a town. I looked it up, and naturally looked at the online map, and street-view, and it's pretty much a farm out in the middle of nowhere! There's like a regular mailbox out front, and an “Honor System Organic Farm Stand!” I mean it's not really in the middle of nowhere—essentially no where in Connecticut is—you get off the Merritt on Easton Turnpike, and zip right up there. But it's on one of those country roads you can probably feel good biking down, as long as there's not some farm dog trying to bite your heels. It almost made me feel like the whole thing is a ruse. But that's just because most companies seem to want to keep everything about them hidden, secret, or fictional. Maybe this is just a company that's right there, out in the open. I'll have to look into this further.

Soap Review No. 91

Cinnamon Rock Soap

“Beach Stone”

This soap comes wrapped in plastic like it's a muffin and the only label is a 2”x2” square with a tiny photo of beach stones and some micro-printing. There's the name and, then, directions: “Apply to your body and rinse off.” I suppose there are people out there who think it might work just by setting it next to you, and others who don't realize you're supposed to rinse it off... but still. Even without the suggestion of the beach rocks, that's the first thing you'd think of, holding this hand-size oval soap—it's the perfect intimation of a pretty exceptional (and big—8.82 oz.) beach stone—and a beautiful one, with tiger stripes of brown red, red-brown, and beige. The smell is next—and yes, no doubt, cinnamon. I don't really smell anything else, there, and it's somewhat subtle, but definitely cinnamon. I kind of expected to not like it, but I really love this soap. I searched for it for a time on the internet and I can't find it. It says “Handmade in Thailand” and there is a street address, email address, and phone number. The ingredients are in a language I don't recognize (except for the word “oil”). I'm almost feeling apprehensive I won't be able to find this soap again, now, because I like it enough to buy it again, but I can't find it for sale. That's okay, though, I guess—it will turn up or it won't. As the soap reduces down to a little oval, it starts to hollow out a bit, little cave-like openings form—just like it was an actual rock—maybe it is!

Soap Review No. 90

100% Laurel Halap – Soap

“Sea Jewel”

This is the last cube of Aleppo olive oil soap I have—so I'm ready to go out and look for more, because this style of soap has become close to my favorite. This one is odd because it doesn't seem to have a name (though there is, I believe, Arabic on the package, which I can't read) just a description: “100% Laurel Halap Soap”—so I guess the description is the name. It's also different than the others I used because this one is from Turkey. The entire packaging is this one, small square of paper that has five stars, a jar of olive oil, phone numbers of U.S. and Canadian distributors, a Turkish address, a gmail contact, date and expiration, and ingredients (97% Olive Oil – 3% Alkali) (though it also contains, apparently, Laurel oil). Then in a big all-caps text strip it says: “By Syrian Experience and Hands.”

People love this Aleppo olive oil soap, and I think all or most of it includes Laurel oil, as does this one. It's a lovely fragrance, one of my favorites. So I guess this soap is made by Syrian soap makers (they say) and it certainly has the same properties as the others I had. It's a brown, rough square, and then when you start using it, a beautiful green underneath. It's super hard and lasts forever. In the process of making it they stack it underground (I'm guessing because it's so hot there?) and age it for like a year. It should be the world's most pricey soap, but we can get it here in the West for cheaper than the chemical crap that comes from multi-national death factories. I don't know if there is any political (or soap-world political) significance of using this Turkish version. I'm not olfactory-ly sophisticated enough either, to tell a significant difference between this one and the last version I had that was from Aleppo. All I know is that I've been using this soap for a couple of months (off and on, of course) and it's still pretty substantial in size, and the scent is just so pleasing—really my favorite soap I have right now.

Also, this one floats, as did the Aleppo version I had last. I looked on the internet for the reason it floats, and the meaning of that—I couldn't find anything that didn't confuse me. It might be that no one, living or dead, knows—and it's beyond science. It might be mystical, or just one of those things. Or there might be a good answer, and I need to keep researching. Which I will do. I'll look for other versions, too. Shopping, researching, bathing, floating, smelling, washing, luxuriating, living, dying—all in a cube of soap.

Soap Review No. 89

Soap Fixx Co – Bucking Bronco

“Perce Howland”

This is a local (Milwaukee) soap maker and this soap is so pleasant and sane it brings up the big questions for me: first, why buy anything but local soap? Most likely there are several, if not a-very-lot of people making soap in your community, and if there isn't, it could be you. I was looking at this person's sites and pages, and it sounds like they make soap with a cold process, and which I believe is basically mixing lye and an oil, which undergoes a chemical reaction that makes soap—the cold process taking more time than one involving heat, which speeds things up. Is that right? I'll have to really read about it sometime. Then it's up to you, the soap maker, to decide the degree that you want to use ingredients that are vegan or not, organic, sustainable, and local. And then, what would be my favorite part, experimenting with fragrance. Anyway, you can find this (as well as other local soaps) at craft fairs and independent stores that sell locally made products. Isn't that where you want to shop, anyway? Yet, probably the majority of people buy the same uninspiring soap (made with heinous chemicals in overseas factories that bypass environmental regulations) (because they don't like changes and want to save a few cents) at stores that exploit labor, or worse, even, via Amazon—was there ever a more sadly ironic name for a company? I realize that, for my project, here, as impossible as it is to include everything, I'm checking out everything from Dial to the bathtub batch made one time on a whim by my next-door neighbor (Room 237) (that's entirely hypothetical, but I like the idea). Look, you can get by with no soap whatsoever. I like that idea, too. I'm a fan of fanatically austere—I've quit more things than makes sense to most people. Part of why I started trying all these soaps is so I could find my favorite of all time, and then maybe settle. But I see now that settling is not going to happen (until they settle my lifeless form into its grave), and this has been a case of the more you learn, the more you need to know, and the more you experience, the more hungry you are for more experience. I'm sure that eventually I'll have my favorites that I go back to (I already do), but I'm going to keep wanting to find more, and especially the local stuff. And who knows, this might eventually lead me to taking up making soap myself.

That said (at length over Saturday morning coffee), I don't have a lot to say about the fragrance side of this particular version of Soap Fixx Co bar soap called Bucking Bronco. The name might make me think of sports teams and automobiles (I'd rather not) or the movie The Misfits (1961)—which gives me a tremendous idea for my first line of soap (look, I've got to move to a bigger place before this gets started...) called “The Misfits,” named after the five main characters in this movie: Roslyn, Gay, Perce, Guido, and Isabelle—who are played by Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, and Thelma Ritter—and how I imagine them to smell, with their respective character's fragrances and sweat. If you have seen this movie, or care to watch it now, you'll see what I mean. This is such a good idea, I almost want to keep it to myself, but if someone reading this wants to steal it, please tell your friends that you got the idea here, and our love will be mutual. Anyway, this soap is fine and subtle, it's described as Citrus, Spice and Wood, and I can get that, but it doesn't hit you over the head. For those of you who want a gentle fragrance that is still outdoorsy, you might love this. They don't use palm oil. The ingredients listed, beside the sodium hydroxide and water, are olive, castor, and coconut oils, as well shea butter and fragrance oils. I'm going to try more from this company, by and by, but I've only got so many baths left on Earth, and I'm going to be thankful for every single one.

Soap Review No. 88

Asquith & Somerset – Winter Pine & Clove

“Essence of Voban”

I actually have a few large (they're always large) bars of this Asquith & Somerset soap, which you can find at TJ Maxx and Marshall's, sometimes, which I assume they buy in enormous bulk when it's overstocked somewhere. You can get some good quality stuff at those stores, as well as crapola bullshit—it's up to you to know the difference. I am assuming this soap actually does come from England (which doesn't mean good, necessarily, as Coldplay also comes from England). Oh, I see, it's “designed” in England, meaning nothing. It's made in Portugal, which doesn't necessarily mean good, even though my favorite writer and favorite liquor come from Portugal. And this is, again, one of those suitable for the half-bath in the pink, ceramic shell soapdish. On the packaging, there's a children's book illustration of a couple of cherubic rug-rats sledding. I expected a lot from this one, as “Winter Pine & Clove”—two of my favorite things. I mean, pine! And I love clove oil, cigarettes, and clove in food—I love it. The weird thing is, I would never smell this and say pine or clove—I just don't smell those at all. What I would say, offhand, is puke—though maybe that's being a little harsh. It does smell pukey, though, really pretty harsh, kind of sharp, like digestive acid. Or maybe it's that powder stuff they put on puke in grade school. Anyway, that's making it sound worse than it is. I've been using this soap for a month, and I keep kinda liking the fragrance (at least it's strong and bold), and I like how my hands smell after washing my hands with it—like a middle-aged man who works in sales. The ingredients list, however, is a little alienating, so we'll just gloss over that at present. Curious, now, about the other A&S varieties. Bummed this one doesn't transport me to a pine forest, smoking a Djarum.

Soap Review No. 87

Eiwit Zeep – Eggwhite Soap

“Death Do Us Part”

I allowed myself to buy a second egg of this soap (the first was a gift, after all!) for research purposes, because the first one was snow-white in color, and then I noticed, in the store, the same soap (or same box, anyway) and the soap was now yellow. I suppose depending on what light you're under you could say the one was off-white and this new one was pale yellow—and as I've used it, the yellow has faded, and it looks closer to white—but there is definitely a difference. Anyway, so I've been using this new version, and as far as I can tell, it's pretty much the same except for the color. Of course, that means asking myself to remember the fragrance, for comparison, which is kind of funny, since that is the elusive thing about it that has me so beguiled. But I'm going to say, yes, it is the same, because it gives me the same warm, evocative, nostalgic feeling every time I smell it. So this has been a successful test, I guess. And I still have yet to try out the Swedish version of this soap, which has different name, different ingredients, and is from a different country—so I'm expecting that to smell different as well—but we'll see.

For the sake of this project (continuously trying new soap), I have to sometimes ask myself when it's okay to go back and revisit a favorite—both to see if the soap has changed, and if I've changed—and I will do that, from time to time. I did that once in the past with Chandrika, and put an addendum on the review, but seeing how I don't expect that people are going to go back a read old reviews (addendum or not!) (and I'm lucky if anyone is reading any of this at all!), I think, now, and in the future, if I revisit some soap, I'll just put up a new entry. Speaking of my favorites, and my ghost-readers, are you interested in what my top ten are, so far? So here it is (rough, and off the top of my head) as of the beginning of 2020: 1. Chandrika. 2. Eiwit Zeep. 3. Caswell-Massey Jockey Club. 4. Chami Laurel Soap. 5. Pacha Pines & Needles 6. Barr-Co. Willow. 7. 100% Laurel Halap. 8. Soap Shop Honeysuckle Gardenia. 9. Caswell-Massey Newport. 10. Pré de Provence Cashmere Woods. It's interesting to me that two of those, the Soap Shop and the Barr-Co., feature gardenia, which makes me think I should make a beeline toward my next gardenia soap, and perhaps gardenia flowers, for that matter.

But anyway, this Eiwit Zeep has a strong position at number two, which makes me think that I should try once more to nail down the fragrance. I just don't know. I mean, it's not so different than baby powder, I guess, yet it is. There is the quality of something you might find in your grandma's bathroom, yet maybe not. I wish I had a lot of money to set up an olfactory research facility and I could pay acute smell experts to come in and take surveys—but no chance of that ever happening. That gives me an idea, though—maybe I could invite over volunteers to continuously smell and take surveys of whatever soap I happen to have going at present (I usually have about 10 at a time). I'll have to come up with some kind of good survey form. I'm going to do that! Okay, then, once more I'll try to describe the smell of this one (of course, it's not just the smell—when you use it, it feels pretty magical). “Clean” comes to mind—but no. And perhaps, “Soap”—but that's a little general? That smell! If I ever find the soul that fits that glass slipper, it'll be like, hell yes! It's okay, baby, I'll attend this month's PTA meeting. (That's a comic metaphor called getting waaaay fucking far ahead of yourself.)

Soap Review No. 86

Fern & Nettle – Geranium + Calendula

“Can of Geraniums”

Once, a few years back, I got a little obsessed with geraniums—not to the point where I really did anything, like grow them, or even learned anything about them—I just thought a lot about them—kind of in a different way—not taking them for granted. When I was a little kid my parents had geraniums in the built-in flower bed in the front of the house, so I guess I considered them the most boring flowers of all time—also, because they didn't have a striking fragrance, like the roses they had around to the side, and the lilacs out back. So, now again, I just looked up something about geraniums and saw the phrase “often confused with” (regarding the confusion with pelargonium) and stopped myself right there, at that particular rabbit-hole warning. I've spent entire days that way—starting with an interest, and then that phrase—so at this point, if I'm going to learn anything about these flowers—maybe any flowers—it's got to be from a person. Almost the same experience with calendula, just now—something about marigolds—okay, I'm rushing out to breakfast (not literally, that's an expression). I've had some calendula soap in the past, I think? There is some medicinal value, maybe, good for your skin.

I bought this soap at a craft fair—you can find it around Milwaukee—Fern & Nettle is a local company, handmade skincare products. It's a simple, rough, rectangular, beige bar with a very subtle fragrance. I suppose I picked this one, among the many options, because that geranium obsession came back into my mind. And now I've used my first-ever geranium soap. There is a fragrance, though almost not there, and I'd never be able to identify it—but I'd call it floral. If you're someone who is afraid of perfumes and likes a light touch, you might love this soap. I love it, actually—sometimes I'm in that mood. It feels soft and trustworthy. The ingredients are organic palm, coconut, and olive oils and goat milk, as well as calendula flowers and essential oil of geranium. This is someone's favorite soap, I'm sure, and I'm happy with it. Of course, I can't settle, and most of the time I'm in the mood for something that spins my head around, even if occasionally that means not being able to outrun it.

Soap Review No. 85

Sudamala Seasalt Soap

“Bali Beachfront Mystery”

This simple, off-white bar of soap comes in an odd, ornate, silver tin box, too flimsy for any other use except maybe to bury a deceased pet mouse or small gerbil. There's a simple round tag attached with minimal information, the name, and then: “Handmade in Bali, Indonesia.” I looked up Sudamala, and got tired of searching beyond a resort by that name, in Bali. There is a company address, literally too small to read, and the minimal ingredients, coconut oil being the first one, then some other oil I never heard of (oh, I looked it up, and it's African palm oil), and a few other things, glycerin, and sea salt. There is no fragrance to speak of. No added fragrance. Some people—a lot of people—prefer products with no added fragrance, and I can understand that—particularly with things like lotions and detergents, but with soap, it's one of my chief pleasures in life. I won't be insensitive and say it's a mental thing, because when people infer that my wheat gluten intolerance is a mental thing, or a fad, or a choice, it really irritates me—seeing how I was there, and I was the one who almost died. So I respect sensitivity to fragrance. I wonder if people who are highly sensitive to fragrance can detect the subtle fragrance inherent in anything—nothing is totally fragrance-free. This soap, for instance, it does have a very particular smell (as with other fragrance-free soaps), and I'm guessing it's the smell of the coconut and palm oil. It's slightly unpleasant to me—or is at first—but as I use the soap, I start to appreciate it more and more just for what it is, and ultimately I really kind of love it. Every time I use this soap, I like to just take it in. It reminds me of a place, maybe just cleaned, and I can feel the space, it's a little bit mysterious. Or maybe it's a person—and all people, if you take the time to look, are mysterious—each one with their own tragic agenda, and magic tricks for keeping it all afloat.

Soap Review No. 84

Sunrise Showers – Lilac

“Norma Desmond”

I only recently discovered Sunrise Showers Soap, a local company with a very handmade looking label—in a kind of style that makes me think of one of those odd restaurants run by individuals who design their own menus to reflect their busy mental sensibility. I mean, it's not that extreme—it's nice, kind of homemade. This is more or less Milwaukee soap—their address is a little outside of town. I can list the ingredients, as they are minimal: olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil, castor oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, ground sandalwood, lilac fragrance oil, and sea salt. Sounds like you could eat it! They make a point of “No Palm Oil”—and I'll have to admit my ignorance on this issue. I looked it up, and a lot of companies and environmental minded people are avoiding palm oil products because of the palm oil industry's bad agricultural practices and destroying of rain forests. So I'll be more aware of this from now on. I realize it might look like, with all my soap reviews, that I'm a culprit, but I have to point out that I use all the soap I buy—down to the end; I'm not a soap reviewing conglomerate. I don't use any more soap than the average guy—I just use a different soap every time, and I write about every one. But in the future, I'll pay more attention. The soap also says it's “Gunk-Free”—and I have no idea what that means—I don't think it refers to Gunk, the band. Maybe it means it's free of what I often refer to as “chemical-y bullshit.” I'll guess that's what it means. Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. Anyway, it seems to be! (free of chemical-y bullshit—see ingredients list, above).

I was really excited to get a lilac soap because lilac is one of my favorite flowers—when I was growing up, my parents had lilac bushes in the back yard. I've always loved that smell. Then later in life, I used to use Lilac Vegetal aftershave, which seems like a product from a century ago. I think I might go back to it, too, if I can still find any—I think it's still out there. This soap has a just beautiful appearance, with a white or cream color swirled with a deep and varied purple-brown. The light color is smooth and the dark color is rough textured. It's exciting, pleasing soap to handle. The lilac smell is unmistakable, not at all subtle—a pretty strong lilac smell. There is no mistaking it. The weird thing, though, is that I found it almost repulsive at first—the smell was kind of cloying and overwhelming to the point of being unpleasant. But I kept with it, and I got used to it, and the smell maybe mellowed a little, I'm not sure. Anyway, over time, I had no trouble using it and even got to enjoy it—but always in an odd way where it kept pushing me away, then drawing me back in, then rejecting me again. I've known people like that. I love it, but I could never love it.

Soap Review No. 83

LUX – Magical Spell

“Untuk Lama”

This LUX soap is very much a factory made soap, with a sculpted form and smooth, uniform purple appearance, and a really pleasant floral smell—it reminds me of some kind of candy. I bet more than a few little kids have taken a bite out of this one! There are just tons of words and details on the package—looking at the fine print, this particular product is apparently from Singapore. LUX is owned by Unilever, I guess, a giant company, whose logo is very hippie looking “U”—but for fun, I looked up their HQ on London, and to no one's surprise, it's a frightening sci-fi looking building. This soap is okay, and I like that it's purple. If I had to buy factory made soap with a chemically bullshit ingredient list that just keeps going into the sunset, sure, I'd buy this one—it looks and smells as friendly as superior customer service.

The most mysterious thing is the packaging—it's all black and purple, with LUX in metallic gold. There's a really dark picture of some kind of scary-looking orchid-like flower. It says “Fine Fragrance,” and then there's a little trademarked perfume bottle image—like we're supposed to believe they really put some kind of $100 an ounce perfume in their cheap soap! Ha! “Magical Spell” is in script letters—can't go wrong there. Then it says: “For a long lasting, enchanting fragrance.” Why not. Then it says: “Untuk keharuman mewah yang tahan lama”—I don't know what that means, but I'm hoping it's good clean fun. Under that, it says: “Dengan Fragrance Pearls of Exotic and Essential Oils.” More nonsense! Anyway, I've always shied away from purple, but lately I've embraced it. I don't know if you can say I've become a purple guy, but why not! Maybe I'll name my band: Untuk keharuman mewah yang tahan lama, while I'm at it! Though probably shorten it, a bit, because that's a plateful.

Soap Review No. 82

La Florentina – Limone Lavanda

“Emonslay Avenderlay”

This is another of those huge, white, elegant looking fancy soaps—and I've said this before, but it's the best way to describe it—it's one you would imagine your grandma or aunt putting in the downstairs “half bathroom,” for the imposing look and nice fragrance—almost assuming that no one's even going to use it. At 10.5 ounces, you have to be in pretty good shape just to pick it up. And the fresh, unused bar is so elegantly sculpted, with with the name and ornate seal, and lots of curlicues and design—on back, too—you might feel guilty getting it wet, opting instead to use the disposable hand pump soap on the other side of the sink in the half-bath. Of course, me, I immediately took it into the bathtub and felt like a rich person with money to burn. It wasn't expensive, though, because I bought it at TJ Maxx, and the ingredient list, if you're allergic to strange, unknowable and possibly heinous chemicals, might keep you up worrying about rashes. I get more skin irritation into fall and winter because of the dryness, so it's always hard for me to know, but I kind of suspected this one—but since it's impossible to nail down what gives you skin itchiness, I can't really accuse it. It does have some good stuff in there, olive oil, shea butter, glycerin, and it's a nice feel and lather. The fragrance, though, is the best part.

This soap comes in a box that may have cost more than the soap to produce. It's so big and substantial, you might save it for other use, like burying a small pet. It's got multi-colored printing, a drawing of some lemons and some lavender. There's a fancy company logo and other printing in metallic silver. It's from Italy, and it says “Limone Lavanda” on the front, which I assume is Italian, then on one side of the box it says “Citron Lavande,” is that French? And somewhere else: “Zitrone Lavendel”—I don't know what that is, but I'm going to use that as a character name sometime! And then on the other side, Lemon Lavender, which kind of spells it out in plain English. The first thing you smell is the lemon, and it's kind of intoxicating. I wouldn't want to use a citrus soap every day, but I wouldn't mind always having one around. But then you smell the lavender underneath the lemon, and it's really pretty magical. I love lavender, but it's the most common of all soap fragrances, at least I feel like I see it more than anything else, so I've been kind of avoiding it lately, just for variety's sake. But this combination of lavender with citrus, and in particular bold lemon, it really works. They kind of hit a home run, here, with the fragrance. This is like Reese's Peanut Butter Cup level divine combination alchemy.

Soap Review No. 81

Deciji Sapun

“All Out of Tears”

This small bar of soap cost me about $1.50 at one of the little storefront groceries on Milwaukee's south or west side (can't remember exactly where I bought it!) but it has loomed fairly large in my soap empire due to its mysterious stature. I mean, I'm sure it's not really mysterious, it's just the language barrier, but I'm not even sure where it's from or what it's supposed to be all about. Oh, yeah, and the fragrance is a conundrum, too, maybe the real mystery here. It's right in front of me, but I can't describe it. The only word I come up with is “medicinal”—it's slightly medicinal, but what does that mean? Does that mean it reminds me of pHisoHex® (that doctor soap my mom always had a green plastic bottle of when I was a kid)? I'm not sure, because it's been a half-century since I smelled that stuff, so I guess I'm at a bit of a loss regarding the fragrance.

There is some info on one side of the packaging, in three languages, but none of them are English—and I don't know what the languages are. On the other side there is an ingredients list, also not in English, but partially understandable (you know—aqua. parfum, tallowate, glycerin), and partially not—chemistry language—so that's not anything I understand much of either. When I look up the words on the packaging on the internet, I see some listings—and looking at a few, I have determined this is a medicated baby soap from Serbia. That is something, I guess, and maybe all I need to know. Oh... I didn't describe the picture on the glossy paper packaging, which is the most striking thing. It's a kind of dated looking illustration, like something from an old children's book, in a red oval, of a pink skinned baby sitting in wooden washtub with soapy water running over the sides. The baby's head is all covered in white suds, so it looks like one of those old powdered wigs. The baby looks pretty happy, really—far from tears, perhaps conspiratorial. There's also a green clover with the letter “M” in it. If that doesn't stand for “Mystery fragrance,” I'm at a loss. I'm going to try to smell it once more... nothing. It's like no other soap I have, yet it reminds me of something, somewhere, sometime—from far and long, I guess, ago.

Soap Review No. 80

The Soap Shop – Honeysuckle Gardenia Soap

“Interstellar: The Soap”

I obtained a sample size of this soap, a gift from friends, which I then identified by pictures on The Soap Shop website—and my own nose. It's a cute little swirly green and white bar with a lovely floral fragrance. I'm writing a review here and now because it's small and won't last long—because I'm compelled to use it—and I just wrote about the other Soap Shop soap they gave me—much appreciated! By the way, I'm not mentioning the friends by name because they went out to Colorado and brought back a boatload of edibles—but also, for me, who does not partake, some soap! Actually... they didn't go out there for the weed, but rather for the beauty of the land, and they brought back art and soap and no weed—weirdos, huh? I'm still not naming them.

Should I move to Colorado? I remember a time, way back, before Coors beer was pasteurized, you couldn't get it east of the Mississippi, so people in Ohio would occasionally take an all-night road-trip, Interstate to St. Louis (or maybe even a pilgrimage all the way to the “colorful” state) and come back with a trunk-load of Coors “Banquet” beer. If you tell a young person—who has grown up with craft beers, maybe never sampling the swill that is Coors Light, but knowing the horror of the “Silver Bullet” advertising—if you tell them this story, they will laugh, and absolutely not believe you. Why would they?—it's absurd. But history is important, because when the government starts spending money to build gas chambers, yes, that might be a red flag. Not to get too grim, but anyway, should I move to Colorado? This company, The Soap Shop, is from Idaho Springs, Colorado—where's that? I looked it up—it's a tourist town up in the mountains west of Denver, exciting to me because it's on US Route 6 (have I told you about my Route 6 project yet?), which is also, there, US Route 40 (which I've spent a lot of time on), as well as the dreaded Interstate 70 (there are only so many mountain passes, so the routes often double up). If I moved there, I'd have to work in retail, I suppose—and could I even get a job in a little shop selling beads or whatnot? Could I deal with it? What do you hear in that town?—the gurgle of Clear Creek or the drone of the Interstate? Did the creek run with blood during the Gold Rush? Were the Native Americans who healed with the local hot spring waters screwed out of everything for the sake of Europeans who just wanted add a few years to their lives for some additional raping and pillaging before ascending to Heaven?

Sorry, I got off on a bit of a negative tack there—I mean, no reason to pick on a cute little Colorado town (I love towns that are named names of States that they aren't in, just because it confuses the terminally confused)—when really, our whole country is equally heinous and haunted, and so is the rest of the world. Which is why you need to occasionally make a point to block out the screaming horror of the past (doesn't mean you don't care) by taking a bath and getting lost in the transformation of fragrance. I truly believe smell equals interstellar travel. There is danger (certain brands of canned soup, when microwaved, can send you down the chute to Hell), but it's worth it, even if you escape for a mere 15 minutes. This soap immediately transported me, not sure where, but after a few journeys, I read something about it—their website (which has a lot of info, nice stuff to read, and positive messages, by the way) says it is fragrance oil of Honeysuckle and Gardenia I'm enjoying. Then I remembered one of my favorite soaps in the past couple of years—this one called Willow—which I read was scented with Gardenia—so now it's all coming together. What is this mysterious Gardenia? I will have to do more research. Where can I go to be around flowers? Is there a greenhouse, or have they all been taken over for growing marijuana? Could I get a job at a flower shop again? So many questions and possibilities have arisen—see, it's not just soap. Please don't limit yourself to that factory-made Walmart bullshit—it doesn't really even cost anymore to use interesting soap—and it might change your life.

Soap Review No. 79

The Soap Shop – Miner's Gold

“Waiting for Eureka”

This soap has lasted me awhile, for one, because it's good quality and dense, but also because I've been making it last, not using it all the time, because I'm so intrigued with the fragrance. I can't nail it down. It's outside my experience, it's not part of my olfactory vocabulary. Not that I'm an expert, by any means, but I have been trying a lot of soap. I wonder if the sense of smell can be learned, developed—well, of course it can—but I wonder how much it's an inherent thing. This one isn't subtle, it's pretty strong. I'm fascinated with it because it initially strikes me as repellent, but I keep going back and enjoying it. If I had to guess, I'd say it was “earthy”—which is harder for me to get a handle on than certain floral fragrances. It's not subtle in appearance, either, as it's made to resemble a rock taken out of a mine, with veins of gold running through it, and little chunks of gold here and there. It's really pretty ingenious, the way they made this visually. The gold parts are really pretty metallic looking—it's almost alarming to use it—and the veins running through are present throughout the diminishing of the bar. I even really like the color that's not not the gold part—it's a very deep gray, but it's very slightly sparkly, too, like a nice auto paint job—it's very beautiful, actually.

The soap came with the most minimal packaging, which I'm all for, but there is not much info there. The Soap Shop does have a good website, though, so I'm going to look there to see if I can match up any of the ingredients to my experience. Besides organic coconut, palm, olive, and castor oils, it says the gold chunks are glycerin, and there's also bamboo charcoal and gold mica—maybe this is where the sparkles come from? As far as fragrance, there are oils of oakmoss, lavender, blood orange, marjoram, and fir needle. I really have no idea what any of those smell like, except lavender—and mixing all that together? I'd have to find each of those and isolate them, take in each fragrance, to try to figure out how it works in this soap. I'm just not that dedicated, at this point. Some day I'd like to have a fragrance laboratory! Soon we'll have google-smells, but right now, I'll rely on words. Fir needle, I can imagine, and lavender I know. Marjoram is an herb, and is an aphrodisiac (just read that, I had no idea). Oakmoss is a fungal lichen whose fragrance is a strong, wet, earthy, mossy aroma—forest floor scent (I like that). Also, I just read that it's one of the bass notes in Chanel No. 19, which is my favorite perfume. Blood Orange is an English singer, fond of hats. Okay, that all helps, a little. Still, I swear the smell reminds me of something else exactly, or really close, but I'm not going to be able to figure out what. It probably doesn't really, anyway. I think it's just pretty unique. And right now it occupies that strange and unsettling space that's on the fence between never wanting to smell it again and falling in love with it.

Soap Review No. 78

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

Anatolia Daphne – Olive Oil Soap

“Dawn of the Dead”

Out of the fancy box, this soap is a big, beige, rough-hewn rectangle, as if cut from a block, odorless, colorless, unadorned. It's 5.7 oz, so average size I guess. I was given this as a gift; I've never seen it in a store. It comes in this nice, slide-open cardboard box—which seems handmade—it's a nice box—I've seen wristwatches and expensive perfume come in boxes this nice. It seems like it could have been expensive, but looking online, it's not. There's a lot of info on the box—it says traditional, handmade, 100% natural, and there's contact and product details, and ingredients, which are: “Olive Oil, Soap Base, Vegetable Oil, Water.” I don't know... that's not specific enough for me. Soap Base. There is a website, a pretty nice one, which includes other Anatolia Daphne products.

The production address is Hatay, which is a Turkish province that borders on Syria. It's not far from Aleppo, actually, where the last olive oil soap I used is from. It's on the eastern Mediterranean coast which is, of course, a good region for olives, and olive oil, and olive oil soap. I could start reading about the history and politics of this little area, but I'd be here all day and probably still not understand anything. Of course, recently, there is the news of war from the Turkey and Syria border. I tried to read about that, and was mostly confused. It's not easy to understand, and I imagine, not necessarily agreed upon by those with knowledge on the conflict. I'll likely become more informed about all this, as war rages and the politics churn, but I don't pretend I'll become expert about the intricacies, subtleties, and implications of the history and politics. This got me thinking about how what you see on the news is the bad stuff—I know this is obvious, but you forget that. You see news about a region where there is conflict and you think it's it's 100% war zone, death and destruction. But there are people there going on with their everyday lives as much as possible. How much is business as usual and how much is disrupted or tragic, it's hard to tell. Of course the news goes where the action is, where the tragic stuff is. I'm not saying the news should just drop in on an area at random—of course it goes where the dire stories lie. But maybe for every news story about a distressing situation in a particular area, you owe it to yourself to check out something positive about the place. I guess this is where traveling comes in, and people who travel a lot definitely have a more balanced perspective of the world. I know I have not traveled nearly enough, and the little traveling I have done, I mean out of this country, has been really valuable to my perspective.

Back to the soap—it's a nice, no-nonsense soap, and has that olive oil quality, nice on your skin. It's totally uniform, but there were a couple little black specs in it here and there, which just made if feel more legit as handmade soap. I took a picture of one of the specs and would have liked to put it under a microscope. I suppose it was just some part of a plant or a piece of something. There is supposedly no fragrance in this soap, but it does have a smell— I tried to describe it—can't really—it's gentle and pleasant—I guess it's the fragrance of the olive oil. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was laurel oil, like the last olive oil soap. But that's not listed in the ingredients, and if it's there, it's really subtle. One more thing—and the biggest mystery of all. The olive oil soap form Aleppo floated... which I only knew because I read that, and then tested it. I don't know why. I thought maybe because of the olive oil composition, but I have no idea. But I decided I should test every soap from now on to see if it floats or sinks. Most sink. This one, I'm sad to say, sinks. So maybe there goes my olive oil theory? I don't know. I probably won't mention it, in the future, unless a soap actually floats.

Soap Review No. 76

Hemani – Turmeric Soap

“No Fun”

This is a common brand (Hemani) of Ayurvedic soap, that you might see in a local Indian food store. This bar cost only $1.49, but it's also very small (2.65 oz.) and didn't last very long. I used it a lot, because I felt like my skin liked it, and Turmeric is known to have all kinds of medicinal benefits—I'm not sure about on your skin, but I trust no one's eating this. I've written over 70 soap reviews now, and I haven't yet, I don't think, talked about how you probably shouldn't eat soap? Turmeric is the bright orange spice often used in curry, in its root form, dried and ground, but it's not the most flavorful or fragrant thing out there. I read about some instances of artificial coloring agents being used in some Turmeric products; you're not supposed to do that, but as we know corporations and individuals do stuff they're not supposed to do at a mind-numbing rate. The ingredients here are simple, and include Turmeric, also common chemicals such as EDTA, also perfume—a little surprising since there is very little fragrance at all, and I assumed it was just the soap make-up (Sodium Palmate and Sodium Palm Kernelate) and the Turmeric, which is described as having mustard like fragrance. What this soap reminds me of, smell-wise, is some other soap, but I can't remember what. It's not a totally pleasant smell, it's a little harsh, a little metallic, bordering on acrid, even. Not too unpleasant to use, by a long way, but in no way what I'd call lovely, or even very soothing. When it comes down to it, I have to admit, my main interest in soap is the fragrance. I think I've made that clear, but unless a soap makes me break out, I'm not going to be against it, even if it's skin-drying. My real passion is for fragrance, and what I'm crazy about is smell that takes me other places, brings back memories, or somehow inspires a feeling of well-being. This soap has none of that, and it's just really not much fun.

Soap Review No. 75

Nagchampa – Banana Soap

“Snorky”

This small bar of soap wasn't anything like the big, weirdly shaped bar of Nagchampa soap I used earlier, which was more a sandalwood soap. This one is pale yellow and has a very slight fragrance. Maybe that's good, in a way, because actual banana can have a pretty intense smell, especially when ripening—it's one of those that balances on the fine line between delicious and disgusting. So this is just a hint of banana. To be honest, I'm not sure the hint isn't in the word Banana, engraved on the bar in a very cool font, or the pale yellow color, or the attractive box. I'm wondering if maybe it's been sitting around for awhile—well, I bought it awhile back, and it's been sitting around here, and who knows how long it was in the store or on the long road from India? I wonder if I should pay more attention to the date when a soap is manufactured? Anyway, it cost only a few dollars, and is pretty small. It's vegetarian, I guess—“Free from Animal Fats”—among the ingredients is palm, rice, and coconut oils, and glycerine. It's a really pleasant, good on your skin soap, so if you're in a store and see a box, hell yes, pick it up! If you're wondering, the nickname I gave this soap, “Snorky,” isn't because that's what Al Capone wanted to be called, instead of Scarface, but because it's the name of the elephant keyboard player in the Banana Splits band—he's kind of my favorite.

Soap Review No. 74

Duke Cannon Supply Co. – Big Ass Beer Soap

“John Wayne's Butt”

The Duke Cannon Supply Co. offers a lot of similar products that are meant to appeal to a retro appreciation of manly values and tastes, and they do a pretty thorough job of covering all the bases, both evoking nostalgia and poking fun at contemporary tastes. To what degree it's tongue-in-cheek, somewhat ironic, is not totally evident, which I guess is good marketing, since “all-in-fun” is more universally appealing than “angry and disgruntled.” And while it's not exactly unique to name your product “Big Ass” something, it still feels a little bit bold. At 10 ounces, this huge block of soap is impressive to hold on to. Their website is a lot of fun, and so is the box, which includes a photo of the top of a beer can on one end, and in the fine print, a rant against craft beer. That the soap is made with beer as one of the ingredients allows a marketing tie-in with Old Milwaukee beer, which adds to the regular guy, real man thing. I do love the Old Milwaukee logo, and the idea of it, though when I did drink beer, I remember it being on the low end of the spectrum as far as swill-factor went, but I drank my share because it was cheap.

Oddly, there are no ingredients listed on the box, though I did find them on the website. Not surprisingly, some chemical-y bullshit, but I'm sure they would find my interest in ingredients not manly, and any possible concern with personal or environmental health to be against their credo. Or at least the values of the “Duke Cannon” character they are portraying. I'm guessing that a lot of this soap is given as a gift and then never leaves the box—I've found that your average person is freaked out about trying new things, soap included. I wonder if it should be considered a manly value, to boldly try new, weird food, or new unusual soap? Anyway, to their credit, I found the light tan color lovely and the large letter “D” indented in the soap compelling. It felt soft and sudsy, and didn't make me break out (rarely a concern, but always a plus in its absence). My greatest focus was on the soap's fragrance and how that made me feel over the bar's fairly lengthy life. My obsession with fragrance, I'm sure, is decidedly not a manly endeavor.

At first, the smell nauseated me a little bit—not extremely, not terribly—but it was definitely on the unpleasant side. But as I used it (and I realize this has become a common theme) either the fragrance mellowed out a little or maybe I just got used to it. It definitely grew on me, and while I'm not totally in love with it, I like it a lot, like a man friend who is a little inappropriate at times. I guess part of the appeal is that I can't really nail down the smell. It reminds me of something, it's nostalgic, kind of retro, I guess, and really does evoke, to some degree, a working-man, or door-to-door salesman smell. There's probably something out there it matches up with exactly, but I just can't figure it out. Let me try one last time: OK, it brings back some childhood memory, like a soap my parents used or some aftershave my father had. I admit, Duke Cannon really pulled it off. I suppose not wanting you to think it will be like bathing with stale beer, their marketing claims a “Woodsy, Sandalwood Scent,” which strikes me as a little... artistic. If you were really dead-set on a retro man's soap, why not Kirk's Castile or Fels-Naptha?—two hardcore cleansing soaps I remember from childhood (which I have yet to review, here). Well, because that's not the point really—the point is humor and nostalgia—which this soap does have, in spades.

Soap Review No. 73

Chami Soap – Laurel Soap

“Laurel Gray”

At first, this doesn't seem like soap at all, because it's such a rough-hewn, hard-edged, uneven, square brick, and it's even uneven in color—green, brown, tan, parts of it pretty light, and parts of it very dark (my “tagline” Laurel Gray doesn't refer to the color, but the character played by Gloria Grahame in In a Lonely Place (1950)). It's so brick-like you'd think you might pave a patio with it—certainly not use it to wash. Stamped on the top is the logo, which is a kind of heart-shaped indentation, and inside that, indented writing, Arabic, I guess, and then at the bottom of the heart, four small, very distinct stars. There are also four black stars on the simple, white, 2 ½ inch square, paper label, under where it says Chami Soap. Under that is says: Laurel Soap, then: Specification: 90% Olive's Oil – 7% Laurel's Oil – 3% Alkali. All caps in a box, then: Made in Syria, and under that, smaller: Syria – Aleppo – Rkak St – Manara Building. Then the date of the product and expiration, and that's it. There it is, right down to the building. This soap is the real thing, but it cost me like nothing, under $2, I believe, at the Holyland Grocery and Bakery on S. 27th and Ramsey. That's a great store. I'm not sure of the weight—it's not big, but it is a square shape, most efficient for soap wear. The other weird thing is that it floats—I don't know why, but it does. And it lasts forever—I started this bar months ago—and granted, I use 9 different bars of soap at a time—it's still going strong—a little, two-tone, green jewel, still soapy and full of fragrance.

Because of the civil war there that went on for years, when I think of Syria I think of bombs and destruction, but now maybe things are coming around? Aleppo is an old, old city, and must be one of the most interesting places in the world. Maybe some day everyone will be able to freely visit everywhere, and we'll all realize no matter what our problems, interests, or beliefs, we're all a bunch of hairless bugs, dropped into the horror and beauty of nature, here for just a moment, but each with the potential of individual reinvention and the creation of poetry. The only real enemies are those who want to amass all the resources while others go hungry—but no matter how much gold you have in your cave, I say at the moment I bathe with this soap I'm as rich as the richest person on Earth. I would love to visit the soap-makers. I'm going by what I read on the shaky-web, but this soap might be made by the old process, boiling the ingredients in a vat, then pouring it on a big floor, evened off to the thickness of the soap, and cut into squares after it cools and hardens. Then the squares are stamped with the logo, gathered up and stacked where they dry for months and months. Olive oil soap like this has a really nice texture, smooth and lush—I imagine it's very good for your skin. This particular one has an intense fragrance—not super strong, but very distinctive—part of it is the olive oil, and similar to all the olive oil soap I've used. But also there's a lovely, slightly floral smell, and I guess that must be the laurel oil. I really like it. This is just one of my favorite soaps, for sure, and if I ever end this quest to try all bar soap known to man and settle on a dozen or so in my house, I think this will be one. Using it seems to do something positive to my brain—I don't know if it's the fragrance (aromatherapy), or something in the soap itself (biological), or if there is something else—mystical, magical, even.

Soap Review No. 72