some thoughts on aleppo soap

There is a guy who sells aleppo soap on ebay. I decided to buy some. 10 big 8 oz soaps for 20 dollars plus 10 dollars shipping is not a bad deal at all. i tried the soap for a few weeks and here is what I think. There is nothing special about this soap what so ever. It doesn't lather at all. i've tried different olive oil soaps in the past and aleppo doesn't lather at all unless you cut the soap into smaller pieces and that is impossible as I tried it. you'd be better off buying the smaller 4.4 oz aleppo soaps as the big 8 oz buys are very hard to lather . The bar is very hard and you probably will have a hard time cutting a small piece of the soap off. the soap STINKS beyond belief! it smells like 10 year old rotten cheese. this is by far the worst olive oil soap I've smelled in my life. i tried it for shaving and it wasn't good at all. i returned the 10 big soaps for a refund. the soap didn't moisturize my face at all like some other have claimed. i've had much better luck with papoutsanis greek olive oil soap than this. it is 10 times better than aleppo soap and smells more like olive oil rather than rotten cheese.

I also tried Aleppo soap in the past, and I must confirm your claims about the smell. It smells terrible, like rancid lard or something like that. It may be good for skin, I've no doubt, but it that terrible smell I just can't stand it.

Lusitano said:

I also tried Aleppo soap in the past, and I must confirm your claims about the smell. It smells terrible, like rancid lard or something like that. It may be good for skin, I've no doubt, but it that terrible smell I just can't stand it.

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some say it smells like cardboard, but my opinion is it smells like rotten milk or cheese. it smells nothing like olive oil soap. it's a smell you can't get over either.

jonwilson said:

some say it smells like cardboard, but my opinion is it smells like rotten milk or cheese. it smells nothing like olive oil soap. it's a smell you can't get over either.

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That's because it's not olive oil anymore. The oil has been saponified. And the use of bay laurel may help to make the smell worst, I don't know. I like bay laurel in food

I am attaching photo's of my Aleppo Soap:

Photo 1 - My various Aleppo Soaps taken a while ago
Photo 2 - The different types that I use as Shampoo and body bar
Photo 3 - The Old Ghar soaps, I will at sometime try to shave with one after cutting it in half. My girlfriend uses Old Ghar as a body bar and believes that it really makes her skin soft
Photo 4 - Other types of Aleppo soap, the one will the label I will use as a body bar.

I do not have any issues with the soaps in Photo 2 apart from the cardboard smell and that the square ones can become slimy for a better word at the end of their life and they really lather!

Old Ghar soap sells for €5.00 here.

Sabre said:

I am attaching photo's of my Aleppo Soap:

Photo 1 - My various Aleppo Soaps taken a while ago
Photo 2 - The different types that I use as Shampoo and body bar
Photo 3 - The Old Ghar soaps, I will at sometime try to shave with one after cutting it in half. My girlfriend uses Old Ghar as a body bar and believes that it really makes her skin soft
Photo 4 - Other types of Aleppo soap, the one will the label I will use as a body bar.

I do not have any issues with the soaps in Photo 2 apart from the cardboard smell and that the square ones can become slimy for a better word at the end of their life and they really lather!

Old Ghar soap sells for €5.00 here.

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i got the old ghar soaps. i tried cutting one in half and it was dam near impossible. i tried a saw as well and still couldn't card it. those soaps are dam hard!

I haven't actually used an Old Ghar, although I have bought a few, as I have bought so many of the un-aged green ones which tend to to have a higher concentration of Laurel Oil. As you can see from my photos and I also have attached a commercial photo there are many different types of Aleppo Soap with different concentrations of Laurel Oil. Was your Old Ghar soap bright green within as in many online photos?

Sabre said:

I haven't actually used an Old Ghar, although I have bought a few, as I have bought so many of the un-aged green ones which tend to to have a higher concentration of Laurel Oil. As you can see from my photos and I also have attached a commercial photo there are many different types of Aleppo Soap with different concentrations of Laurel Oil. Was your Old Ghar soap bright green within as in many online photos?

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i bought my aleppo soap from here sabre.

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-BARS-SYRIAN-...aultDomain_0&hash=item5641626eaa#ht_778wt_934

that picture is the soap i got. i don't know about the 4.4 oz aleppo soaps, but the big ones smell pretty bad. i believe the smaller ones are green and the bigger ones are brown or some say gold.

just incase some are interested in aleppo soap, check here. this guy sells 10 big 8 oz aleppo soaps for 20 dollars and 48 4.4 oz aleppo soaps for 35.00.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=aleppo+soap

I found sites where you can buy Aleppo
http://aleppogold.com/index1.html
http://www.lifeandhome.co.uk/html/category.php/id/81/lah/olive_oil_soaps___skincare.html