African Black Soap | Trial Run

Happy hump day everyone! I knew I wanted to do another skincare post but didn't know what to write about. Then I thought about how my skin has been acting the last few weeks. With the weather changing (even though it hardly seems like it here in San Diego) that always means two things for my skin: dryness and breakouts. I generally have normal to combination skin, but once it starts getting cooler or warmer out, my face becomes flake city. All around my nose and mouth my skin gets so dry and tight and it usually takes weeks for it to get back to normal. My forehead and nose tend to create a little more oil too which is frustrating. Usually when this happens I have to switch up my skin care routine. 

I've always tried to go with the more natural products, or organic if possible, so I was pretty intrigued when I started hearing about African Black Soap everywhere. 

African Black soap is said to help nourish your skin, clear up acne and eczema, and even out skin tone. It's made with plantain palm ash, plantain peel, and other nourishing ingredients, like Shea butter, almond oil etc. 

I found this one by Shea Moisture at my local Ulta for $4.99.

The packaging says it contains Shea butter and that it is for acne prone and troubled skin. I don't have bad acne, but I always get clusters of blemishes with the weather changes and nothing ever seems to help except leaving them alone and letting time heal them. 

This soap states on the package that it is certified organic, cruelty free (huge plus!), and that it has:

"No parabens, no phthalates, no paraffin, no gluten, no mineral oil, no propylene glycol, no synthetic fragrance, no animal testing, no PABA, no synthetic color and no sulfates"

The side label also states:

"African Black Soap, made from Palm ash, tamarind extract and plantain peel has been used in Africa for centuries to treat eczema, acne, oily skin, psoriasis and other skin ailments. Combined with the healing properties and hydrating properties of Shea butter, this healing soap should be used daily to balance and resolve problem skin"

The soap itself is actually black (different blends may be more brown/amber colored) and has a very clean, natural scent to it. It is a dense soap but easy to break and crumble. The bar I purchased was a decent sized 8oz bar, so for my first use, I decided to slice it into three smaller bars. The two not in use I put in ziplock bags and put them in a cool dark area of my bathroom away from moisture. Since this is organic, it does have an expiration date, but I was surprised to see it is good for 12 months. Other cold pressed bar soaps can last years and years.

 

Since I didn't come with directions, I tried washing my face a few different ways the first time. First I tried rubbing the soap on a face cloth and then washing my face, but found that it didn't really feel like it was actually getting on my skin. Next, I tried lathering it in my hands and applying it that way, which worked well to give me a good lather. Then finally, I decided to just take my mini bar of black soap and scrub it directly into my skin. This actually felt better to me. I worked up a good lather pretty quickly, and I could actually feel the bits of plantain peel exfoliating my skin. After a few seconds I could feel a slight tingling which according to online reviews, that's normal. It did take a little extra rinsing to get the soap off, but after patting dry, my skin felt sooo smooth and velvety with no soapy residue like most bar soaps leave behind. The best part is that my skin didn't feel dry. It wasn't tight or irritated and it actually felt moisturized after it dried. 

I think I'll try this out for a few weeks and take pictures along the way to track any differences in my skin. I'm interested to see if it does help clear up my blemishes, even out my skin time and help keep my oil at bay. I'll check back in with an update post at that time. 

Have any if you tried African Black Soap? Did you see any difference in your skin? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear some personal experiences!

Until next time loves...

xoxo

LivforLashes

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