If your regular store bought soaps are creating a sensitive reaction in your skin or you’re not getting the cleansing effect you were hoping for maybe a more natural solution is the answer to that problem. I recently came across a product called African Black Soap at an arts festival. If you’re familiar with shea butter that is typically sold by African arts and spices venders at the usual arts and cultural fairs around the country then the Black soap is usually not far away.
The ingredients include the foundational component created from the skin of the plantain fruit with palm oil or palm kernel oil to form the soap. The plantain is a natural source of vitamin A, E and iron. It helps exfoliate your skin and reduce acne among other benefits. We’ve recently started using the Nubian Heritage brand which includes oats and aloe. It has worked well for me. I have also seen this Dudu-Osun brand at the fairs.
Since Black soap doesn’t have the typical additives it should work well as a healthy alternative for those of you have major illnesses. It’s another of those healthy cleaning options recommended for cancer patients for instance. Variations of the base may include shea butter or coconut oil in place of palm oil depending on the region of origin. Do some web searching or stop in your nearest health food store and experiment with two or three different formulations to see which particular type works best for your skin health needs.
Some sites that I’ve searched on the subject say that Black soap in the hard bar form isn’t the real thing. They say color is added to give it a darker than normal look. So maybe part of your experiment will range from the bar form to the more traditional beige-to-brown hued block form of the soap. An African dealer we talked to told us that the raw form he sells may be a little too strong and could irritate the skin if you haven’t tried it before so he told us to maybe try a version from a store first.
As I mentioned I’m impressed with the store brand since it has all the components but I think we’re going to try one of the more regional brands next time and see if we can’t get the maximum benefits. I also encourage you to buy a bar and bless your skin.
