No mystery ingredients. No hiding behind the word "fragrance." Here is everything — what it is, where it comes from, and what it does.
Every Sabr Sabun bar — except the Aleppo — begins with the same three oils. They're chosen for how they balance each other: one for skin feel, one for lather, one for hardness and moisture. Together they produce a bar that cleans without stripping, lathers well without drying, and lasts longer than most handmade soaps.
Cold-pressed from olives. High in oleic acid — a monounsaturated fatty acid that conditions the skin's natural moisture barrier without clogging pores. Olive oil soap lathers softly and slowly rather than producing a quick, bubbly foam; the lather is dense and creamy. It is gentle enough for sensitive skin and has been the backbone of Levantine soap-making for over 3,000 years.
On the label: Sodium olivate (saponified olive oil)
High in lauric acid, which is responsible for most of the cleansing and lathering power in the bar. Coconut oil produces the large, airy bubbles that make a soap feel like it's doing something. In high concentrations it can be drying; at the proportions we use, paired with olive oil and shea butter, it contributes cleansing without stripping. It also hardens the bar so it lasts longer in a wet shower dish.
On the label: Sodium cocoate (saponified coconut oil)
Pressed from the nut of the African shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). Rich in stearic and oleic acids, with a high level of unsaponifiables — the fraction that doesn't convert to soap and stays in the bar as a conditioning agent. Shea butter is what gives the finished bar its slip and the skin its soft feeling after washing. It's also what keeps the bar from feeling tight or stripping after rinsing.
On the label: Sodium shea butterate (saponified shea butter)
All bar soap is made from oils combined with a strong alkali — sodium hydroxide (lye). This chemical reaction, called saponification, converts oils into soap and glycerin. The lye is fully consumed in this process. There is no lye in the finished bar.
When you see "sodium olivate" on an ingredient label, that is saponified olive oil — olive oil that has been through the saponification reaction. The same is true for any "sodium [oil]ate" name. The word "saponified" means exactly this.
Any brand that claims their soap contains "no lye" is misleading you — either the soap isn't actually soap (it's a detergent syndet bar), or it is soap and lye was used to make it, and listing "saponified oils" is how the law allows them to avoid saying so. We list our ingredients the transparent way: saponified oils, which means what it says.
The Plain bar has nothing added. The scented bars each add one clay and one essential oil to the base formula.
Pink kaolin clay is the gentlest of the clays — it adds a very subtle cleansing quality and gives the bar its pink color. Rose essential oil (Rosa damascena) is steam-distilled from rose petals. True rose oil is expensive; the scent is rich, deep, and floral — not the sweet, synthetic rose you find in commercial products. The essential oil scent fades after rinsing to a very faint warmth.
Purple kaolin clay gives the bar its characteristic lavender color. Lavender essential oil (Lavandula angustifolia) — true lavender, not lavandin hybrid — is calming, floral-herbal, and among the most extensively researched essential oils for skin safety. It has a long history of use in Levantine and Mediterranean bathing traditions.
Green kaolin clay is slightly more absorptive than the pink and purple varieties, making it well-suited for oily skin and scalp. Rosemary essential oil (Rosmarinus officinalis) is sharp, camphoraceous, and invigorating. It contains a higher concentration of active compounds than the other essential oils we use — patch testing is recommended for those with sensitive skin.
The Aleppo bar follows the traditional Syrian formula exactly. No coconut oil, no shea butter, no clay, no essential oils. Just two oils.
The dominant oil. Cold-pressed. High in oleic acid. Provides the base conditioning and cleaning. In the Aleppo tradition, olive oil is the canvas that the laurel berry oil works against.
On the label: Sodium olivate
Pressed from the berries of the bay laurel tree (Laurus nobilis). This is what makes Aleppo soap, Aleppo soap. Rich in lauric and linolenic acids, deeply conditioning, with a distinctive herbal and slightly resinous character. The percentage — 5% to 55% in traditional Aleppo bars — determines the soap's conditioning level and price. At 15%, this bar is gentle and balanced.
On the label: Sodium laurate (saponified laurel berry oil)