There is a bar of soap that predates modern dermatology, synthetic fragrance, and the entire commercial beauty industry by roughly two thousand years. It was used in ancient Syria when Aleppo’s silk road traders were exporting it across the Mediterranean. It was carried back to Europe by Crusaders who had never seen anything like it. It quietly influenced the development of France’s famous Savon de Marseille. And in December 2024, UNESCO formally inscribed its craftsmanship on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
It contains three ingredients.
Aleppo soap (made from Syrian olive oil and laurel berry oil) is not a wellness trend. It is a return to something that was already working before wellness trends existed. And for anyone committed to a genuinely natural, healthy living routine, it is one of the most straightforward and effective swaps available.
What Aleppo Soap Actually Is
Aleppo soap gets its name from Aleppo, the ancient Syrian city where it has been produced for at least two thousand years, though historical references suggest the tradition is older still. The recipe has not changed: extra virgin olive oil and laurel berry oil (Laurus nobilis fruit oil) are cooked together in the traditional hot-process method over several days, poured by hand onto a factory floor to set, cut into bars, and then stored underground to cure, sometimes for a year or more.
During curing, the green bars slowly develop a golden-brown exterior as the laurel oil’s chlorophyll compounds oxidise. Cut a bar open and you find the vivid green interior still intact beneath the aged surface. That green is preserved, active laurel oil. The deeper the brown outside, the longer the bar has been curing, and the better the bar.
Every authentic Aleppo bar carries a hand-pressed Arabic stamp on its face, the mark of the Sabonji (the master soap-maker) who made it.
The Three-Ingredient Formula That Outperforms Most Cleansers
Read the back of a conventional body wash. Sodium lauryl sulfate. Parfum. Phenoxyethanol. Dimethicone. Cocamidopropyl betaine. Methylisothiazolinone. Most of us use these compounds every day without a second thought.
Now read an authentic Avlia Aleppo soap bar: Sodium Olivate. Sodium Laurus Nobilate. Aqua.
Three ingredients. The simplicity is not a marketing position. It is the natural consequence of making soap from two plant oils using a method that has not required a single synthetic additive in two thousand years.
Olive oil (Sodium Olivate) is the nourishing foundation. Its primary fatty acid (oleic acid) is structurally similar to the lipids in human skin, making it deeply compatible with the skin’s natural barrier. Crucially, the traditional saponification process produces natural glycerin as a byproduct. Industrial soap manufacturers extract this glycerin and sell it separately to the cosmetics industry. Authentic Aleppo soap retains it, providing built-in moisturisation with every wash, without adding anything synthetic back in.
Laurel berry oil (Sodium Laurus Nobilate) is where Aleppo soap separates itself from every other natural bar. It contains:
- Lauric acid – directly antibacterial against Cutibacterium acnes, the primary acne-causing bacterium
- Linalool – anti-inflammatory and antifungal, effective against the Malassezia yeast responsible for most dandruff
- 1,8-Cineole (eucalyptol) – broad-spectrum antimicrobial and a skin penetration enhancer
- Beta-pinene – natural antiseptic
These are not additive compounds bolted onto a formula. They are the intrinsic chemistry of the laurel berry, present in every bar in proportion to its laurel oil percentage.
Why The Laurel Oil Percentage Matters
This is the element of Aleppo soap that confuses first-time buyers most, and it is also the element that makes it so versatile.
The percentage of laurel oil in a bar determines its character entirely. Low percentages mean the bar is gentle and olive-oil dominant, ideal for sensitive or dry skin. Higher percentages mean the medicinal compounds are more concentrated, appropriate for skin conditions, scalp care, or more intensive cleansing.
A 5% bar is gentle enough for baby skin and reactive, rosacea-prone faces. A 16% bar is the all-rounder, balanced between nourishment and active cleansing. A 40% bar is where you go for persistent acne, dandruff, or eczema support. A 75% bar is the most potent formulation in the traditional range – intensely herbal, deeply antibacterial and antifungal.
Avlia’s Aleppo soap collection covers this entire spectrum, from a 0% pure olive oil bar through to 75% laurel, plus a dedicated 100% Laurel Oil Shampoo Bar for scalp and hair care. Each bar is made by Syrian Sabonji artisans working in Turkey, where many of Aleppo’s master soap-makers resettled after the conflict. Their craft (the hot-process cooking, the hand-pour, the hand-stamp) is unchanged.
The Healthy Living Case For Switching
For anyone approaching their health holistically, the argument for Aleppo soap goes beyond skincare. It sits at the intersection of clean living, sustainable consumption, and intentional ingredient choices.
- No synthetic fragrance: Fragrance is the leading cause of contact allergic reactions in personal care products. Regulatory requirements for fragrance disclosure are among the weakest in the cosmetics industry – ‘parfum’ on a label can represent hundreds of individual compounds, none of which need to be named. Aleppo soap’s only scent is the natural herbal aroma of laurel berry oil, terpene compounds that are the same bioactives providing the soap’s antibacterial properties. The scent is the medicine.
- No sulfates: Sodium lauryl sulfate and related compounds are efficient at removing oil, including the skin’s own protective lipid layer. For people managing dry skin, eczema, or rosacea, every wash with a sulfate-based cleanser is a net loss. Aleppo soap’s saponified olive oil cleanses without stripping, leaving the acid mantle intact.
- No preservatives: Liquid personal care products require preservatives because water in the formula creates a growth medium for bacteria and moulds. A solid bar contains no free water, which means it requires no preservatives. Aleppo soap has been self-stable for two millennia without a single stabilising compound.
- Zero plastic: A solid bar replaces three or four liquid products (body wash, face wash, shampoo) that each arrive in a plastic bottle. Aleppo soap ships in cardboard or nothing. What rinses off is saponified plant oil, fully biodegradable in waterways.
How To Use It (The Technique That Makes The Difference)
Most people who are disappointed with Aleppo soap used it incorrectly. The bar lathers differently from SLS-based soap, the foam is creamier and more adhesive to skin rather than being voluminously bubbly. This is normal, and it is actually better for your skin.
The single most important rule: build lather between wet palms first, then apply the foam to skin. Never rub the bar directly on your face. For body washing, thirty seconds of lather contact time before rinsing is enough. For hair and scalp, apply lather to the scalp specifically, not the hair lengths, and massage in firm circular motions for sixty seconds before rinsing with cool water.
For beginners, the 16% Laurel Oil Bar is the right starting point for most skin types. Use it for three to four weeks before evaluating. The scalp, particularly, needs adjustment time coming off years of sulfate shampoo. The first two to three weeks may feel different as sebum production recalibrates. This is not the soap failing. It is the skin recalibrating to no longer being stripped.
The Heritage Behind The Bar
When UNESCO recognised the craftsmanship of Aleppo soap in December 2024, it was acknowledging something the natural health community had understood for years: this soap works because of what it is, not because of what has been added to it.
The Syrian conflict after 2011 reduced Aleppo’s production from more than 120 factories to fewer than 20. The Sabonji masters who fled the city took their knowledge with them — to Turkey, to Lebanon, to France. Brands like Avlia work directly with these displaced artisans, providing the infrastructure for the craft to continue while the craftspeople retain their knowledge and their livelihood.
Every bar that reaches a bathroom shelf in London, New York, or Berlin carries this full history. Two thousand years of empirical refinement. Three ingredients. One Arabic stamp.
For anyone serious about what goes on their body and where it comes from, Aleppo soap is the most complete answer the natural skincare world has produced. The formula was right the first time. It still is.
Avlia’s full range of authentic Aleppo soap bars, made by Syrian Sabonji artisans in Turkey, is available at avliahome.com/collections/aleppo-soap.
