What is Black Soap?: #BossWriter Beauty

What is Black Soap?: #BossWriter Beauty

@gcdenwiddie (1)

One of my goals for the year is to use more natural skin care products and home remedies to take care of my skin. I have oily skin, and overall, I think my skin looks nice. I’d like to even my neck more, but ultimately, I like my face. lol.

One of the main motivations behind this goal is I want to develop a skin care regimen that is healthy and natural as I move towards my mid-twenties.

Thus, one natural product that I’m really fascinated by is black soap. Black soap is also called African black soap, dudu-osun, anago soap, or alata simenan. In this article, I’ll highlight some other benefits of black soap, such as how is black soap made, the benefits of black soap, the differences between real and fake black soap, and how to use it.

How Is Black Soap Made?

Black soap is typically made in Ghana, West Africa from secret recipes of women in the community. The various recipes among the communities and tribes of women result in the different manifestations of black soap. The soap is made from the ash of locally harvested plants and barks such as palm tree leaves, shea tree bark, plantain leaves, and cocoa pods.

The first step in the process of making black soap is to dry the leaves and bark in the sun. Then the leaves and bark are roasted in a pot or kettle at an even, constant temperature which ensures the color, texture, and smell, of the soap.

After this step, water and oils, like coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil are added to the mixture and stirred for at least one day. Then the soap is left to cure for at least two weeks.

Benefits of Black Soap

The benefits of what black soap can do for your skin are numerous.

Black soap can

  • Even out dark spots and eliminate blemishes,
  • Exfoliate the skin and thin fine lines, and
  • Assist with eczema and razor bumps.

The ash in black soap is used to heal cuts. The high shea butter contents gives UV protections, and the plantain skin gives the soap Vitamin A&E, and iron. However, if you’re sensitive to caffeine, definitely, try it out first on a small portion of skin so you won’t break out due to the cocoa pods used in the soap.

For and extra feel-good benefit, purchase black soap that is that is fair trade.

Now depending on your skin type, black soap may or may not do all this miracle working  for you. Some users report dry skin in the initial stages until your skin adjusts to using black soap. As a result of the skin drying out, sometimes breakouts make occur..Now, when I first used black soap, I had a small breakout, but it wasn’t horrible. It lasted a few days, and then went away.

I’m not an expert, and can’t guarantee that this will or won’t happen to you. Just be prepared in case it does.

Real Black Soap Vs Fake Black Soap

Now there are various disputes about what black soap actually is, but from my research, real black soap is crumbly and you can physically see the different elements of the soap. It also has an earthy smell, unless essentials oils are added to it.

Some companies that claim they are using black soap, often use fragrance and artificial ingredients to make the black soap actually black, but technically, black soap is more brown than black.

If you’re in doubt about whether your soap is actual black soap or not, read the ingredients in the label to see if the ingredients are natural enough for you.

How To Use Black Soap

When you use black soap, you’ll want to lather the soap in your hands or towel, and then use it on your body to avoid being cut or scratched by the various elements in the soap. That may sound dangerous, but trust me, it’s not. If you lather it first by hand, then apply to your body, you’ll be good.

Also, avoid getting black soap in your eyes. I did, and it’s not a pleasant feeling

If I buy a big block of it, I’ll break it into small balls of black soap to use as I wish. If you keep the black soap in water or near water it will not last as long, (remember, it crumbly) so try to store it in a dry, cool place.

One of these soap containers should be helpful to use it when you store it. Click here

At one point, I was so obsessed that I made my own hand soap from it by simply putting some in a hand soap dispenser with water, and shaking it up. Next time, I’ll try to thicken the mixture, but I’ll be sure to report my results.

Black Soap Reviews

There are lots of black soap products online, and I’m going to review three black soap brands to let you know my thoughts and impressions.

If you’re on the fence about using black soap, I say it’s definitely worth a try. If it works for you, great! You’ll be pleased. If not, just stop using it.

Stay tuned for the the #BossWriter black soap reviews!

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G.C. Denwiddie is authorpreneur who writes and helps authors make 'writing and dollars synonymous." Sign up to the #BossWriter Daily Writing Challenge: http://bosswriter.me/index.php/daily-writing-challenge/. Thanks for reading!
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