In Marseilles soap production, a distinction is made between soap produced from :

Copra and palm oils.
In this case, the soap is cream coloured.

Olive oil and copra - palm.
In this case, the soap is green.

Olive oil

From the beginning, the oil ressources of Provence made olive oil the essential ingredient of Marseilles soap. More precisely, it is the oil from olive cake which is used. After the first press, which gives cooking oil, the pulp and pits (the cake) are pressed.

Marius Fabre liquid soap with olive oil

At present, Marius Fabre is the only producer of liquid soap by means of saponification of olive cake oil, which gives this natural characteristic colour. This liquid soap produced in cauldrons, follows the rules of «à la marseillaise» production ; it is known as Marseilles liquid soap.

On the contrary, the other liquid soaps on sale, called "olive oil soap", only contain a very low percentage of olive oil, added at a later stage.

Copra and palm oils
Copra oil is extracted from coco-nuts
Palm oil is extracted from the fruit of the oil palm.

Shea butter
(only in soap tablets)

This tree grows in Africa (Ivory Coast). The oil to produce shea butter is extracted from the kernel of the nuts. Shea butter is well-known for its calming, soothing and healing properties.

Soda ash and potash are the primary materials necessary for the reaction in saponification. They disappear
during the production to leave only the soap in the cauldrons.

Using ashes of a plant from the salty lands of the Camargue, marine saltwort, we produce the sodium carbonate.

In 1791, Nicolas Leblanc perfected a process for creating artificial soda from sea salt, and revolutionized the soap-making industry.
The sodium carbonate produces the saponifying chemical reaction in the vegetable oils boiling in the cauldron, which permits us to obtain the soap.

The potash also allows for saponification in the cauldron, but contrary to the sodium carbonate, or soda ash, the vegetable oils saponified by the potash produce a soap that remains soft (soft black soap) even liquid (liquid Marseille soap and liquid black soap).