Raw Black Soap Review

Raw Black Soap

What is it?

Raw Black Soap is also known as "Anago Soap", "Alata Simena",or "Ose Dudu". Which I found hilarious, because that's exactly what I thought it looked like. A big chunk of dried feces. 

It's black/brown in color, and made from plantain skin, cocoa pods, palm kernel oil, palm oil, and African shea butter, among other all natural ingredients.

The soap is filled with vitamins and minerals, not tested on animals and is completely 100% organic and free of any harsh chemicals, sulfates etc. 

What is it used for? 

Great in fading away dark spots, but won't bleach your skin or make you appear any lighter.

 Can also be used as an anti-fungal remedy because of its antiseptic properties. It evens out skin tone, eliminates blemishes and acne, and aids in the removal of makeup.

What does it look like?

Black soap comes in various types of packaging, the most common being wrapped with clear plastic and stamped with a paper label. 

 I saw some being sold in a round, plastic, ice cream looking container once. Which is good, because then you won’t have to worry about storage.

Raw black soap is usually different shades of browns. Hard in texture at first, but soft and squishy when wet. Like putty .  

Some so-called "organic" brands will try to sell soap that is just black in colour, with a smooth more commercialized type of texture, labelled as “Black Soap”. 

These soaps are big fat imitations and don't even have nearly half of the nutrients as natural raw black soap, and I'll tell you why...

These soaps have undergone a process to expand their shelf life and to ultimately give the soap a more commercialized finish.  

While some may still have the main ingredients in them, they have lost a lot of their natural vitamins and minerals because of the processes.  Many of the "fakes" also have harsh dyes & chemicals added to them, which you want to stay away from if you're trying to go "organic".

How to use:

If your soap comes in a plastic wrap like mine, it may be a bit of a challenge to get the soap out. Make sure you remove the paper label first and then, unravel the plastic.

 Some pieces of plastic tend to sink into the soap and may not want to come out, don't worry about it.

Once removed, you will also need to transfer the soap to a container.  That's if your soap doesn't already come with one (Fancy!). 

Here, I wet the soap, broke it up into chunks and stuffed it into a small container.

You can find different and creative ways of storing your black soap.  It’s also very mold-able when wet so you can wet it and scoop/squeeze it into containers of different shapes and sizes.  

A friend of mine scooped some into a clean applicator bottle, added distilled water, and shook it up to make a liquid cleanser.  

It’s that versatile, like putty. So you can also play with the textures by going from liquid, to hard, to creamy.

First…

·         Wet face

·         Break off a tiny piece of the soap (no bigger than your fingernail)

·         Work up a good lather in your hands first before massaging on face

·         Check and remove sharp or hard remnants from lather if any. Sometimes shards of stone or wood may have made their way into your black soap during it's creation (You don't want to go slicing up your face like a serial killer)

·         Massage into face or body for a good 1-2 minutes

·      Rinse

(Repeat only if necessary)

·         Continue your usual skin care routine

Review/ Conclusion:

I've been using black soap for the past 6 months and I haven't even had a thought about using anything else.

I feel as if my skin is really getting that deep “down-to-the-pore” clean. It balanced out my skin tone to the point that I only need to use concealer under my eyes (which is my problem area) and sometimes not at all. 

With continued use it smoothed out my skin out to an almost velvety finish.

Also great for removing face makeup. Though it may not completely remove your eye makeup, like your mascara and eyeliner. 

For people who have really dry skin I would recommend using this sparingly and with a decent moisturizer, as it can actually have a drying effect. 

Simply follow up with a PH balancing toner, your moisturizer afterwards, and your good to go.

Skin will feel clean, soft and appear smoother. If you have acne you may notice a big difference in the texture of your skin with continued use.

Of course with every organic product, it takes a while to see results. The reward is not only looking great in the long term but knowing you made a big contribution to your skin healthy wise.