Savon de Marseille, a historical heritage
The history of soap dates back millennia. It was already made by our Gallic ancestors from a mixture of tallow, ash and animal fat. At the time, this preparation was used more as a base for coloring your hair red than for its hygienic properties. In the Mediterranean basin, it was in the Middle Ages that the making of soap really started thanks to manufacturing secrets brought back from the Crusades. This common origin explains why we find similar manufacturing processes between Marseille soap and Aleppo soap from Syria. This soap is also cooked in a cauldron, but unlike Marseille soap, it also contains olive oil and bay leaf oil. This is how the manufacturing method spread from 1150 throughout the Mediterranean basin. The city of Marseilles with its port, crossroads of all exchanges, is predestined to become the city of reference for the manufacture of soap because it benefits from the raw materials in abundance to produce the legendary cube: olive oil, soda and Camargue salt. And the future held a bright future for Marseille soap… In 1650, the quality of Marseille production was recognized. The clientele is growing and becoming more loyal. It was under Louis XIV that the soap industry acquired its letters of nobility. The king, wanting French factories to be the most prestigious, decided to specialize and regulate certain productions. He thus entrusts the monopoly of soap production to Marseille and appoints Colbert to structure production. In 1688, this one fixes the rules of manufacture of the soap by an Edict which will be the charter of the soap factories until 1789. Obligation is made to manufacture it only on the basis ofpure vegetable oils(and therefore to exclude all animal fats) and according to the process ofcauldron cooking. A legend was born: Marseille soap has enjoyed an unalterable reputation ever since.
An ancestral art of manufacturing
For us, soap makers, Marseille soap is much more than a soap. It is the cultural heritage of an ancestral art of manufacture and the symbol of a unique heritage to be protected. Marseille soap enjoys an international reputation but does not benefit from any legal protection to defend its origin, its composition or its method of manufacture. It is now the victim of usurpers who flood the market with counterfeits from China, Turkey, Malaysia, Italy and elsewhere... Today, most Marseille soaps are produced abroad without respect neither the ingredients nor the manufacturing process of real Marseille soap. Authenticity is a deep value in which the entire Rampal Latour team is committed and expresses its identity, to give birth to soaps made with respect for tradition. At Rampal Latour we have been perpetuating for centuriesthe traditional manufacturing processto introduce you to the authentic Marseille soap. Rampal Latour Marseille soaps, stamped 72%, are made exclusively from 100% pure vegetable oils. Based on ingredients of natural origin, they contain no dyes, perfumes, preservatives or synthetic additives. Elaborated, in line with Marseille soap, the range of liquid Marseille soaps manufactured traditionally, is ideal for cleaning hands but also for your daily toilet: practical, it will clean your skin very gently. Discover our Marseille soap with olive oil, whose manufacturing process has been patented by the INPI since 2019; and our white Marseille soap, moisturizing for the skin.
Concentrate of excellence for the body and the home
Recognized for its many virtues, Marseille soap is the soap par excellence for body care, home maintenance and laundry. For personal hygiene, for stain removal and hand washing of all your laundry and for its many other uses,follow the advice and tips of our soap artisans:
- For the skin
- For shaving
- For the teeth
- For laundry
- For moths
- For the tools
- For wood
- For gardening
- For the itch
