Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

Marseille soap

If you’re in Germany and you order a beer, you know that the beverage being served can only contain malt, hops, yeast, and water. That’s thanks to a Bavarian purity law, Reinheitsgebot, from 1516 that mandated the ingredients. In France, a similar concept applies to bars of Marseille soap; that is, originally only olive oil, plant ash, and water could be used. While the rules now allow other plant oils, manufacturing must still take place in this Mediterranean port city and each product should be stamped with the logo that guarantees its authenticity. We visited the Musée du Savon de Marseille to find out more.

Soap shop sign in Carcassonne

During the 17th century reign of Louis XIV, there was a significant growth of luxury products in France that could be showcased at the palace of Versailles. Guests were treated to extravagant displays of furniture, textiles, crystal, and porcelain. In 1688, the Edict of Colbert added the soap of Marseille to that prestigious list by requiring the use of only pure olive oil, cooked in cauldrons, and labeled to indicate adherence to the rules. For the next 250 years, over 130 factories followed those manufacturing practices but today I could only count 3 in the city that can truly say that they make Savon de Marseille because for some of their bars they follow these steps:

  • Mixing—pure olive oil with plant ash (no perfumes, dyes, or preservatives)
  • Cooking—in large cauldrons, stirring often for several days
  • Cooling—poured into large molds to set
  • Cutting—sliced into bars
  • Stamping and drying—impressed with the 72% olive oil symbol then left to dry for up to a month
Soap examples over the years

Given the high olive oil content of this soap, the classic bars are unsurprisingly olive green in color although they can be white if another plant oil such as palm or peanut is used. For those looking to further expand the regulations of that Edict of Colbert, you can now find the soap in a rainbow selection of colors with more than 100 added fragrances. The most unusual one that we saw, said to reduce “wrinkles, scars, and acne” and to be “moisturizing and soothing” was Savon au Mucus d’Escargot…yep, snail slime.

Enamel advertising sign

Anytime that we’re in a supermarket, the words “Savon de Marseille” are inescapable whether we’re passing by body gel, hand wash, household cleaners, laundry detergent, or dishwashing liquid. The range of fragrances for those is amazing with an emphasis on natural and traditional scents, often evoking the aromas of Provence.  You might find lavender, olive, verbena, and almond, but I’ve never seen snail. I think we’ll stick with lavender.

13 thoughts on “Marseille soap”

  2. This will sound like malarkey, but I’ve been meaning to find out more about this stuff! I discovered it quite by accident on my first trip to Monoprix, after realizing I’d forgotten to pack bar soap for the trip across. It is significantly better than any soap I’ve ever used – it cleans well, leaving no residue, and unlike several I’ve used in the past, it seems incapable of irritating. I imagine it can be had in the States – at a price. Now I know the full story – thank you once again! They really were onto something back in 1688!

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    1. You’re right Rich, you can find Marseille soap at both the Brookline and Dedham locations of Boston General Store. Monoprix might be closer 😉☑️

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  4. Do you know of any online stores that sell this soap that use the original recipe? I’d love to order some and ship it back to the US.

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    1. Hi Carmen, I just did a quick Google search using “French products USA” that returned many possibilities and the first one on the list (Mon Épicerie Française) does show the soap as does French Wink. You may be aware that currently there are postal problems getting anything sent to the US but I believe that these two stores are located in the States, but please verify.

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  5. I’ve been having fun making felted soap bars over the last 6 months. The wool roving that I use is all naturally dyed in many beautiful colors. Your post has inspired me to make the bars of soap that I use!!!! How special would that be!
    Thank you for this inspirational post! I’ll let you know!!

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