Why are some soaps described as natural, others as triple milled, and others as superfatted? What makes Savon de Marseille different from Aleppo soap? Does artisan mean better? And what exactly is a cold-process soap?
Soap has been made for centuries, yet the language used to describe it is often confusing. Some terms refer to ingredients. Others describe manufacturing methods, heritage, geography or marketing. Many are useful, but few tell the whole story on their own.
Understanding these common terms makes it easier to compare products and choose a soap that suits your skin, your home and your personal preferences.
What Does "Natural" Soap Mean?
Natural is one of the most common words used in the soap industry, yet it is also one of the least precise.
There is no single universal definition of natural soap. Different brands, certification bodies and manufacturers may use the term in different ways.
For some, natural refers to plant-derived ingredients. For others, it describes the absence of certain synthetic additives. Some use it to mean biodegradable, while others simply use it to suggest a more traditional approach to formulation.
This is one reason we rarely rely on the word natural alone.
A soap can contain naturally derived ingredients and still be heavily processed. Equally, a traditional soap may contain a small number of modern ingredients whilst remaining fundamentally rooted in centuries-old soapmaking methods.
In many cases, we find the word traditional more useful than natural.
Traditional soaps such as Savon de Marseille and Aleppo Soap are defined by established manufacturing methods, proven ingredients and generations of soapmaking expertise. Rather than focusing on whether every ingredient can be described as natural, we prefer to understand why each ingredient has been included and what purpose it serves within the finished soap.
For this reason, ingredient transparency, manufacturing methods and the reputation of the maker often tell us far more than a single word on the front of the packaging.
What Is Triple Milled Soap?
Triple milling is a manufacturing process rather than an ingredient.
After the soap has been made, it is repeatedly refined and compressed through a series of rollers before being shaped into bars. This process removes excess air, creates a more uniform texture and produces a harder, denser soap.
Many of the traditional French toilet soaps found in Provence and Marseille are produced using some form of milling.
Is Triple Milling Important?
A well-milled soap bar will often:
- Last longer
- Feel smoother in use
- Wear more evenly
- Hold fragrance consistently throughout the bar
- Resist becoming soft or mushy
Triple milling says nothing about the ingredients themselves. A triple milled soap may be simple or complex, fragranced or fragrance-free, natural or conventional.
While triple milling is often associated with premium soaps, it does not automatically make a soap better than one produced using a different manufacturing method. Other processes can produce soaps of equivalent quality, with performance depending on the overall formulation, ingredients and craftsmanship rather than the milling process alone.
It describes how the soap has been refined, not what it contains.
What Does Superfatted or Surgras Mean?
A superfatted soap contains more oils than are required for the saponification process.
In practical terms, this means that a small proportion of oils remain within the finished bar rather than being completely converted into soap. Soapmakers often use this technique to create a richer and more conditioning soap with a milder feel on the skin.
At first glance, this can seem contradictory. Many people assume that a richer soap containing additional oils would be more cleansing or leave a heavier residue on the skin. In reality, the opposite is often true.
Soap cleans by binding to oils and dirt so they can be rinsed away with water. If every oil in the recipe is converted into soap, the finished bar may have a stronger cleansing action. By leaving a small proportion of oils unsaponified, the soapmaker slightly reduces the overall cleansing strength of the bar while increasing its conditioning qualities. The result is often a soap that feels gentler and less drying during regular use.
This is why a superfatted soap can be both richer and milder at the same time. The additional oils are not there to make the soap more powerful; they are included to help balance the cleansing action and improve skin comfort.
This is particularly common in artisan and cold-process soapmaking.
Why Is The French Term "Surgras" Sometimes Confusing?
In France, many soaps are labelled Savon Surgras.
Historically, this referred to soaps formulated to be gentler and more comfortable for frequent washing. However, the term has sometimes been used more broadly than the strict technical definition used by modern artisan soapmakers.
As a result, two soaps labelled Surgras may be formulated quite differently.
A genuinely superfatted soap may contain a carefully calculated percentage of unsaponified oils. Another soap may use the term to indicate a mild formulation with added emollients or retained glycerin.
The intention is usually similar — a gentler washing experience — but the manufacturing approach may vary between makers.
What Is Savon de Marseille?
Savon de Marseille is one of France's most famous soap traditions and remains the benchmark against which many other soaps are compared.
Traditional Savon de Marseille is made from vegetable oils and produced using a historic cauldron-cooking process developed in Marseille several centuries ago.
Authentic Marseille soap is typically:
- Made from vegetable oils
- Free from added fragrance
- Free from added colourants
- Cooked in large cauldrons
- Produced by specialist Marseille soapmakers
Why Does The Term Cause Confusion?
Unlike protected regional products such as Champagne or Parmigiano Reggiano, the term Savon de Marseille is not legally protected in the same way. As a result, the name can be used on a wide range of soap products, which often leads to confusion.
Traditionally, Savon de Marseille refers to the well-known olive or white household soap used for washing, laundry and cleaning. These soaps are made according to established methods and are the products most closely associated with the historic Marseille soapmaking tradition.
However, many soapmakers in and around the Marseille region also produce fragranced soaps, often inspired by the scents of Provence. These soaps are frequently stamped "Savon de Marseille", meaning simply that they are made in the Marseille region. To help distinguish between them, we refer to these products as Provence or fragranced soaps, as they differ from traditional Savon de Marseille in both formulation and intended use.
As a result, consumers may encounter products ranging from authentic traditional Marseille soap to fragranced toilet soaps of varying styles and quality, all carrying references to Marseille on their packaging.
Both have their place. The important thing is understanding the difference.
What Is Aleppo Soap?
Aleppo soap is one of the world's oldest surviving soapmaking traditions, with a history that stretches back centuries in the city of Aleppo, Syria. It is widely regarded as the predecessor of many Mediterranean soap styles, including Savon de Marseille.
Authentic Aleppo soap follows a highly seasonal production cycle. Each year, soapmaking begins after the autumn olive harvest, when fresh olive oil becomes available. The soap is traditionally cooked in large cauldrons between December and March using olive oil, water, lye and laurel berry oil.
Once the soap has been poured, cut and stamped, the real transformation begins. Rather than being sold immediately, the bars are stacked in ventilated ageing rooms where they mature for around twelve months or longer. During this period, moisture gradually evaporates, the soap hardens and its character develops.
Freshly made Aleppo soap is green throughout. As it ages, the exterior slowly oxidises to the distinctive golden-brown colour for which Aleppo soap is known, while the interior retains its deep green appearance. This contrast between the outer shell and inner core is one of the hallmarks of traditionally aged Aleppo soap.
What Does The Laurel Percentage Mean?
Aleppo soaps are commonly identified by their percentage of laurel berry oil.
The percentage indicates the proportion of laurel berry oil used alongside olive oil in the original recipe. Lower percentages are typically more olive-oil dominant, while higher percentages contribute a more pronounced laurel character and aroma.
The laurel percentage should not be viewed as a measure of quality. Traditional Aleppo soapmakers have long produced a range of formulations, each with its own balance and purpose. Choosing between them is largely a matter of personal preference rather than selecting a "better" soap.
What Is Cold Process Soap?
Cold-process soapmaking is one of the oldest methods of producing soap and remains popular with artisan makers today.
The method combines oils and an alkali solution before the mixture is poured into moulds, where the soap completes its transformation naturally over time. The bars are then cured for several weeks, allowing excess moisture to evaporate and the soap to harden.
Cold-process soaps are often associated with terms such as artisan, botanical, goat's milk and superfatted. They are also frequently described as preserving the benefits of their ingredients.
There is some truth in this, but it is important to understand what is actually happening.
Does Cold Process Preserve The Benefits Of The Oils?
The first thing to remember is that all soapmaking is a chemical reaction. Once olive oil, coconut oil or shea butter has been turned into soap, it is no longer the same ingredient that went into the pot.
For this reason, it is not entirely accurate to say that cold-process soap preserves all the benefits of the original oils.
What cold-process soapmaking can do is:
- Allow some oils to remain unsaponified through superfatting
- Avoid prolonged cooking after saponification
- Preserve certain fragrance, colour and botanical characteristics more easily
- Retain naturally produced glycerin within the soap
This is why cold-process makers often talk about preserving the character of ingredients rather than preserving the ingredients themselves.
How Does This Compare With Savon de Marseille?
Traditional Savon de Marseille follows a very different philosophy.
A traditional Marseille soap is:
- Cooked for days
- Washed multiple times
- Refined repeatedly
- Designed to create an exceptionally pure soap
The goal is consistency, purity and versatility.
A cold-process soap is often:
- Less refined
- More formulation-led
- Richer in retained oils
- Designed around specific skin or sensory characteristics
Neither approach is inherently better.
They are simply aiming for different outcomes.
An Example Using Olive Oil
Consider a simple olive oil soap.
In a traditional Marseille soap:
- Almost all of the olive oil is converted into soap
- The result is an effective and versatile cleanser
- Very little remains as olive oil
In a cold-process soap with a 5% superfat:
- Most of the olive oil becomes soap
- A small proportion remains as oil
- The finished bar may feel richer and less drying
This is where the idea originates that cold-process soap maintains the properties of its ingredients. In reality, the soapmaker is choosing to retain a small proportion of those ingredients within the finished bar rather than converting them entirely into soap.
Does Cold Process Mean Better?
Not necessarily.
Cold process, traditional Marseille soapmaking and triple milling are different manufacturing methods designed to achieve different results.
A cold-process goat's milk soap may be chosen for its rich formulation and skin feel. A traditional Savon de Marseille may be valued for its simplicity, versatility and centuries-old production method.
The method alone does not determine quality. The formulation, ingredients and expertise of the maker matter far more.
What Is Castile Soap?
Castile Soap takes its name from the Castile region of Spain, where some of Europe's earliest vegetable-oil soaps were produced. Historically, the term referred to hard white soaps made primarily from olive oil and is often regarded as one of the predecessors of many later Mediterranean soapmaking traditions.
Like Aleppo Soap in Syria and Savon de Marseille in France, Castile Soap emerged in a region where olive oil was abundant and animal fats were less commonly used in soapmaking.
What Did Castile Soap Traditionally Mean?
Traditionally, Castile Soap referred to a hard soap made predominantly, and often entirely, from olive oil.
These soaps were valued for their simplicity and became widely traded throughout Europe. Over time, Castile developed a reputation as a high-quality vegetable soap and the name became associated with purity and mildness.
What Does Castile Soap Mean Today?
Today, the term is used far more broadly than its historical definition.
Some Castile soaps remain close to the original olive-oil tradition, while others contain a blend of vegetable oils to improve lather, hardness or cleansing performance. The term is also frequently used for liquid soaps, particularly in North America, where Castile Soap has become associated with multi-purpose household and personal care products.
As a result, Castile Soap no longer describes a single formulation. Instead, it is often best understood as a family of vegetable-oil soaps inspired by the original Castilian tradition.
How Does Castile Soap Compare With Savon de Marseille?
Although both belong to the wider Mediterranean soapmaking tradition, they are not the same thing.
Traditional Castile Soap is defined primarily by its reliance on olive oil.
Traditional Savon de Marseille is defined by its manufacturing method, including the historic cauldron-cooking process developed in Marseille.
Both have influenced modern soapmaking, but they represent different regional traditions and different approaches to formulation.
Aleppo, Castile and Marseille are not three completely separate inventions.
They're part of a continuum of Mediterranean vegetable-oil soapmaking that evolved around different ports, trade routes, oil supplies and manufacturing traditions.
What Does Vegetable Soap Mean?
Vegetable soap simply means the soap has been produced from plant-derived oils rather than animal fats.
Common soapmaking oils include:
- Olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Palm oil
- Palm kernel oil
- Sunflower oil
- Rapeseed oil
The term tells us something about the origin of the oils but very little about the finished soap.
A vegetable soap may be traditional or modern, simple or complex, fragrance-free or heavily fragranced.
As with most soap terminology, the full formulation matters more than a single phrase on the packaging.
What Do Handmade and Artisan Really Mean?
Handmade and artisan are among the most frequently used descriptions in modern soapmaking, yet they are rarely defined.
Many people assume they simply mean "made by hand" or "made in small batches". In reality, traditional soapmaking has always combined skilled craftsmanship with the best tools and equipment available at the time.
The more useful question is often not how much of the process is done by hand, but where the expertise sits.
Where Does The Craftsmanship Lie?
In a traditional Marseille savonnerie, the most important person is often the Master Soap Maker.
At historic makers such as Fer à Cheval and La Corvette, soap is produced in large cauldrons, but the process is still overseen by a specialist whose knowledge has been developed over decades. This expertise is traditionally passed from one generation to the next through a system that closely resembles the old master-and-apprentice model.
The Master Soap Maker monitors each stage of production, assessing the soap as it develops and determining when each stage is complete. While modern equipment assists the process, the knowledge remains human rather than mechanical.
The scale may be larger than an artisan workshop, but the craft remains very real.
Does Handmade Mean Every Step Is Done By Hand?
Not necessarily.
Many specialist soapmakers combine machinery with manual finishing.
At Bleu Jaune, for example, the soap is mixed and shaped using modern equipment, while the cutting, stamping and wrapping are completed by hand. The machinery provides consistency, while the finishing retains the individuality of the finished bar.
Similarly, Provendi manufactures at a scale that would surprise many people who associate artisan products with small workshops. Yet the company's famous rotating wall-arm soaps are still individually finished by hand before leaving the factory.
The reality is often more nuanced than the marketing language suggests.
Is Smaller Always Better?
Not necessarily.
A soap produced in a small workshop is not automatically superior to one produced in a historic savonnerie. Likewise, a larger manufacturer is not automatically less authentic.
Some of the world's most respected soapmakers produce thousands of bars each day while preserving techniques, formulations and expertise that have been passed down for generations.
The true measure of craftsmanship is not the size of the batch. It is the skill, consistency and knowledge behind the finished soap.
What Should We Look For Instead?
Rather than focusing solely on whether a soap is described as handmade or artisan, it is often more useful to ask:
- Who made it?
- How long have they been making soap?
- What methods do they use?
- What ingredients do they choose?
- What expertise sits behind the process?
These questions usually tell us far more about a soap than the words handmade or artisan alone.
What Matters Most when choosing a Soap?
Soap terminology can be useful, but no single word on a label can tell the whole story.
A triple milled soap is not automatically better than a cold-process soap. A handmade soap is not automatically superior to one produced by a historic savonnerie. A natural soap may not be more traditional, and a traditional soap may contain ingredients that are unfamiliar to modern consumers.
The most informative questions are often the simplest: Who made the soap? Why was it made that way? What ingredients were chosen and for what purpose?
Understanding the answers helps us look beyond marketing language and appreciate soap for what it really is: a remarkable combination of ingredients, process and craftsmanship that has been refined over centuries.