Traditional African Black Soap Making

Traditional African Black Soap Making provides a handmade soap that has incredible benefits for many annoying skin issues. Soap Making is quite an old tradition of the African people and it has proved over the centuries to have amazing benefits in relieving acne, oily skin, clear blemishes and many other skin related problems.

This famous soap is now used in many civilized countries. This is because it has been demonstrated to provide relief in cases of skin irritations and other conditions. Such as eczema and even psoriasis. This wonderful product, an inheritance of the African culture can be used in its natural form for the face, body and hair. The main ingredients include water, cocoa pod ashes, plantain skin ashes and palm oil.

For those who never used this soap before, we can mention that it is a little crumbly in nature and rather soft. You will definitely be amazed by its delicate texture and its natural earthy smell. The interesting feature of the traditional African black soap is that it has no artificial scent added so that it is as natural as it can be. Black soap’s origin is West Africa where it is known as the Anago soap or the Alata soap.

The recipe of this soap has been carefully guarded as the secrets of the African Black Soap Making have been passed from generation to generation. The African people have tried to keep this product as close to nature as possible by trying to protect it from being exploited and imitated.

The actual making of this soap is very interesting and as you can see in the following lines it’s completely natural. The small coconuts from the palm oil are stripped and the remaining husks are run through a hand press that is designed with a huge threaded shaft. The result is a pure palm oil that will be heated in order to be ready for the soap making.

The next step consists in the burning of the cocoa pod/plantain in order to obtain cocoa pod ashes, which will later be mixed with water in order to dissolve. The ash water now obtained is mixed to the hot palm oil. The new mixture is kept on the fire till it gets thicker. When ready the soap mixture is scooped in metal or plastic recipients and placed on a cooling table.

Using this soap will make your skin much happier and you will enjoy its benefits every day. While using it, make sure you don’t let it sit in the water as it will quickly dissolve. The best way to use it is to break of the amount you need and shape it in your hands while rubbing it against your skin. The traditional soap is very mild and soft and contains a lot of natural glycerin. The best place to keep this soap is a dry location so that you prevent its tendency to absorb moisture.