Based on a natural recipe known for several millennia, Marseille soap (also known as Traditonal Savon de Marseille) is renowned for its degreasing and antiseptic qualities, as well as for its numerous benefits, whether for the skin or the body or hair care. Used as a soap for body or household product, Marseille soap owes part of its properties to its pH. 

The pH scale is graduated from 0 to 14, and allows to measure the acidity or alkalinity of a solution

• Less than 7: the solution is acidic
• Equal to 7 : the solution is neutral
• More than 7 : the solution is alkaline

Many household products, hygiene and care products and foods are acidic or alkaline:

• Lemon juice: pH=2.5
• Tomatoes: pH=4.5
• Pure water: pH=7
• Marseille soap: pH=10
• Bleach: pH=11

The pH is measured on a logarithmic scale with a factor of 10, which means that for each unit lost or gained, the acidity or alkalinity is multiplied by 10: a product with a pH 11 is 10 times more alkaline than a Marseille soap with a pH 10!

An alkaline solution has disinfectant properties. Marseille soap is known to be an excellent antiseptic and a natural disinfectant.
Composed essentially of natural vegetable oils and soda, the real Marseille soap banishes additives (preservatives, coloring agents, perfumes, animal fats). The benefits that are recognized to him are numerous:

• It can be used on all skins;
• It can be used on the body, the face, the hair ;
• It can clean the epidermis in depth ;
• It can help to degrease and regulate the production of excess sebum ;
• It is often recommended to people facing certain skin conditions (acne, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis...) ;
• It is hypoallergenic, because it does not contain potentially irritating or allergenic ingredients.

A normal skin has a slightly acidic pH, between 5 and 5.5. Although this may seem counter-intuitive at first, the regular use of a soap with a pH close to 10 has in fact many benefits. Indeed, Marseille soap contributes to the preservation of your skin's health, nourishes and purifies your epidermis, and helps to regulate the production of sebum: a skin with an unbalanced pH is the consequence of an unhealthy skin, and not the opposite! Moreover, Marseille soap is used under water. It is thus strongly diluted, then completely eliminated during the rinsing.

The alkaline character of Marseille soap makes it an excellent household product, both degreasing and disinfecting. You can use Marseille soap flakes  to make your own laundry detergent, or floor cleaner. You can use the soap for washing up or as a multi-surface cleaner.

Soaps with a neutral pH are marketed today, and are praised for their benefits. But should we choose a soap with a pH of 7 (neutral) over a Marseille soap with a pH close to or above 10?

The first meaning of the term, as you can find it in many dictionaries, is based on its alkaline character: Product obtained by the action of an alkali on a fatty substance, and used for cleaning and bleaching (Larousse).
A neutral pH soap is often composed of synthetic surfactants, mostly from the petrochemical industry. It can therefore contain irritating, allergenic ingredients or ingredients that are questionable in terms of their long-term health consequences. 

However, you can find in the shops proper natural soaps that are pH neutral, although these products are rare.

Neutral pH soaps may be degreasing and nourishing, but they do not have the same antibacterial properties. They also do not offer the same versatility as Marseille soap, and cannot be used as household products, for washing the floor or clothes.

Since the mid 1800's, Fer a Cheval and La Corvette have been perpetuating the know-how of master soap makers. At French Soaps we offer genuine, original and authentic Marseille soap made with vegetable oils, cooked in a cauldron in accordance with age-old manufacturing processes from these two historic (EPV) savonneries. 

We visit and speak regularly to them. Their owners and teams are constantly innovating, respecting traditions and using natural ingredients, as they always have, whilst working on systems and infrastructure to use less water, less heat and improve their environmental footprint from this perspective. 

More recent innovations feature liquid Marseille soaps, suitable for daily use and properly made soap that is then expertly fragranced. Not technically proper Marseille Soap, but 100% properly made fragranced soap!

You can learn more by visiting these two Savonneries in Marseille, they both offer bookable tours. In the UK you are welcome to visit our warehouse to see the product, or shop our extensive range of this most versatile of soaps. 

As ever, if you have further questions and would like any help finding the most suitable product or size for you then give us a call, 01423 803080.

For now, if you only buy one product, buy this, it's the only product you actually need.