Several years ago, I was researching natural skincare traditions and came across what people referred to as “Aleppo soap”—an olive oil based castile soap blended with laurel oil, which is abundant in Syria. The soap was said to promote clear, soft skin, but as fate would have it, I never got my hands on really authentic Aleppo soap, named for the largest city in Syria where it is produced. Civil unrest prevented shipments of Aleppo soap from leaving the city as the Arab Spring unfolded in 2011. When I heard about the concept behind Kahina’s new Beldi Soap, I realized the Moroccans must have a similar soap tradition and couldn’t wait to try it out.
Brand new from Kahina, the Beldi Soap is a gel-like soap made from saponified olive oil and eucalyptus oil. Beldi means “traditional” or “authentic” in Moroccan.
The formula is simple, softening and purifying. The experience is strange and alluring. Kahina instructs you to massage a tablespoon of soap onto skin or a washcloth, cleanse and then rinse. I have not needed to use a full tablespoon to cleanse thoroughly, and I find that this soap really stretches. While I love the simplicity of the high quality ingredients, the texture and consistency of the soap is what I find so novel and fun. When you pinch off a piece of the soap gel, it adheres to your fingers a bit and molds to the shape of your hand, making it easy to glide over your body. As you rub the soap on, the gel begins to melt into your skin. It even produces some suds, if that’s your thing. I’m left feeling incredibly clean yet my skin is supple and soft, not dried-out. The Beldi Soap is rich in vitamin E, which helps skin retain its moisture.
The Beldi Soap has a robust eucalyptus scent that really energizes and stimulates the breath in a therapeutic way, but this ingredient adds more than simple aromatherapy. The eucalyptus oil is clarifying plus antibacterial and antifungal, too. It should help keep breakouts from occurring and keep skin healthy and resilient. I’d say this is a unisex soap that both men and women will love. With only two ingredients, the Kahina Beldi soap really impresses and brings some excitement back to my shower ritual.
