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June 04, 2019 3 min read
Though it is new for us, Black Soap has an amazing history, story and tradition behind it. It is known to be great for your skin and leave it feeling healthy and clean. At Rocky, we are so humbled to bring you our new shower essential: Black Soap Paste. We are excited to share this product and experience with you.
Black Soap is a traditional soap that is most commonly known as African Black Soap. It is also referred to as sabulun salo, ose dudu and ncha nkota, depending on the area in which it is produced. Black Soap comes from origins primarily in West Africa. The two main regions that produce Black Soap are Ghana (most common) and Nigeria.
Most Black Soap from West Africa is made by hand, through traditional secret recipes and methods that are passed down through generations. It can be in various forms including as a bar, in a paste or as a liquid soap.
Over time Black Soap has become a popular and superhero toiletry worldwide, gaining huge momentum in North America as well as around the world. Today, much of the Black Soap that comes out of Ghana is made by women using traditional methods and is exported through fair trade groups.
One of these groups of women collectives, was actually who originally introduced us here at Rocky to the concept of Black Soap, but more on that later.
The creation of traditional Black Soap starts by burning of shea nut husks. The ash from these shea nut husks is then mixed with shea butter, olive oil and other plant material. Finally, you get a Black Soap with amazing natural properties and benefits for your skin.
Fun Fact: To create any type of soap, a process called saponification must occur. The ash from the shea nut husks is taken and mixed with oils. Ash is actually considered alkali and turns the oils into soap through this process of saponification.
Our Shea Butter Makers, who work from an amazing women's collective in Ghana creating shea butter, actually originally introduced us to the idea of Black Soap. These women provide the unprocessed shea butter that you find in our natural bar soaps here at Rocky. The collective they are a part of allows them to work, provide for their families and get paid fairly.
Our CEO and Co-Owner, Karina experienced a Black Soap treatment while on a trip to Morocco. She brought some back after that trip and started the journey to creating our own version of Black Soap Paste.
Black Soap is hailed as one of the best soaps for your skin. It is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Not only is it exfoliation but it nourishing for your skin. Black Soap is known to be good for all skin types, even sensitive skin.
The product development team at Rocky has been working on a Black Soap for a long time. They found that one thing in this product that made the Black Soap so good for your skin was humic acid. So, this is the main ingredient of focus in our Black Soap Paste.
We love the exfoliation, cleansing and nourishing benefits of Black Soap. We wanted to give you that in a paste format that you can use in your shower. Our Black Soap Paste is for when you can take a few extra minutes in the shower to relax and enjoy. All you have to do is lather, enjoy the experience, feel the exfoliation and rinse.
So, what is this ingredient we keep talking about? Humic Acid? Well, Humic acid is a dark coloured powder that is hydrated in water, made from the precipitate of compost. It is actually made from composted plant material and this is one thing that makes traditional Black Soap so good for your skin!
We chose to put the humic acid in both the Shower Gel and the Black Soap Paste, and it’s what gives these products their signature caramel colour and exfoliating properties. Our humic acid is also nutrient-rich, anti-inflammatory and obviously non-GMO. We only use simple, natural ingredients.
Have you ever had a Black Soap treatment or tried Black Soap before? What has been your experience?
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