8 things to do with Marseille soap

Savon de Marseille is a household name in France and throughout Europe.

The recipe has not changed in over 100 years and consists of purely natural ingredients. And the nice thing is: you can make a lot of it yourself! We have rediscovered traditional soap for you.

There are only a few handcrafted soap boilers left in and around the southern French port city. It almost seemed as if the traditional Marseille soap was in danger of extinction. But for some years now, beauty bloggers and zero-waste fans have rediscovered them for themselves. The real Savon de Marseille consists of purely natural ingredients and requires almost no packaging material. In addition, with the help of numerous "grandma recipes," you can do an incredible amount with it.

Marseiller seife

1. Make liquid hand soap
Liquid soap can be easily made from pieces of Marseille soap. To do this, dissolve the grated soap in hot water, add a tablespoon of glycerin (available in drugstores) and let it cool. Here are some recipes to be found.

2. Make detergent
The same applies to detergents: dissolve grated soap or ready-made flakes of white Marseille soap in hot water and add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and essential oil for the fragrance. Cheap and waste avoiding!

Waschmittel mit Marseille Seife herstellen

3. Brush your teeth
Green Marseille soap (based on olive oil) is a very mild soap that you can use to not only wash your skin and hair but also brush your teeth. Some swear by it because it is said to be good for the gums. Simply rub over the soap bar with the toothbrush. With a few drops of peppermint oil, the whole thing doesn't even taste like soap, but really nice and fresh. However, fluoride is not in this "toothpaste".

4. Remedies for moths
Just put a piece of green Marseille soap in the closet to keep moths out. Moths do not tolerate the scent of olive oil.

Savon Marseille Seife

5. Disinfectant
Dissolve a few tablespoons of grated Marseille soap in hot water together with household vinegar, and you have a natural cleaning agent that can be used to clean waxed tablecloths, toys, and other waterproof surfaces. Works excellently and evokes childhood memories.

Marseille Seife als Desinfektionsmittel

6. Make shaving cream
If you dissolve grated Marseille soap in a little water and add a few spoons of coconut or almond oil, you get homemade shaving cream. Here is a recipe to be found.

7. Relief from mosquito bites
Marseille soap works against itching and skin irritation: simply rub on a mosquito bite and let it dry.

8. "Lubricate" stairs and drawers
The drawer is hard to open? Rubs a dry bar of Marseilles soap over the edges and it gently slides out and back in again. Do the wooden stairs creak? Stuff flakes of white Marseille soap in every crack and the problem is solved!

Marseiller Seife

Green and white soap
For the above recipes, it is important to know the difference between the 2 varieties of real Savon de Marseille: there is a green variant that is made from at least 72% olive oil. This is the mildest soap that is also suitable for personal hygiene. The white soap, which has been made from a mixture of palm oil and other vegetable oils for centuries, is in turn more suitable for laundry and all household applications.

Are you going to Marseille soon? There is a Musée du Savon de Marseille in the Old Port. Be sure to check it out!