Every year, billions of shower gel and shampoo bottles end up in bins and oceans. The bathroom is one of the rooms where we produce the most plastic waste — often without thinking about it. Solid Aleppo soap offers a concrete alternative, not for trend reasons, but because its technical characteristics put it in a category of its own.
The bathroom: the main source of household plastic
An average household goes through three to five plastic bottles each year just for the shower: shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, liquid soap. These containers are rarely recycled in practice, even when collection systems allow it.
A 200g solid Aleppo soap bar, sold without plastic packaging or simply wrapped in kraft paper, eliminates several of these bottles at once. A bar lasts between one and two months depending on use — the equivalent of one to two shower gel bottles. Over a year, that’s a measurable reduction.
One soap bar that replaces several products
Authentic Aleppo soap is formulated for both body and face. Our 12% zero waste Aleppo soap bar works as both shower gel and face cleanser — in a single bar with no plastic, no unnecessary packaging — which can concretely reduce by several units the number of bottles you buy each year.
Reducing the number of products you buy mechanically reduces the number of packages produced and transported.
Biodegradable by nature: why this is still rare
The four ingredients of authentic Aleppo soap — olive oil, laurel berry oil, water, sodium hydroxide — are entirely plant-based or naturally mineral. The end product breaks down in the environment without leaving toxic residues.
That’s far from the case with most shower gels, which contain synthetic film-forming agents, silicones, preservatives like phenoxyethanol, and sometimes microplastics. These substances persist in wastewater and aquatic environments.
A 100% natural soap like Aleppo soap doesn’t create this problem. Soap has existed for millennia precisely because its basic chemistry — the saponification of a vegetable oil — is fully compatible with natural cycles.
Water and carbon footprint: figures that speak for themselves
Industrial shower gel production requires large volumes of water, a long supply chain for synthetic ingredients, and multi-material packaging that is difficult to recover at end of life.
Aleppo soap, by contrast, is produced in traditional vats using an artisanal process. At our master soap maker’s workshop, production takes place between November and March, following a natural cycle that respects the seasons and the properties of the raw materials. The soap is then aged for between nine months and several years, with no refrigeration or additional energy-intensive process.
The natural concentration of the product — a soap bar doesn’t contain 80% water like a shower gel does — also reduces logistics requirements: less weight to transport, less volume to store.
Our range: from 5% to 55% laurel, no compromises
Maison du Laurier offers a complete range of solid and liquid Aleppo soaps, with laurel berry oil concentrations from 5% to 55%. Each formula is selected with our master soap maker to meet a specific need — skin type, daily or targeted use — without ever compromising the authenticity of the composition.
- 12% laurel solid soap — zero waste — maximum gentleness, daily use, no plastic
- 20% laurel solid soap — zero waste — body and face daily use, zero plastic packaging
- 35% laurel solid soap — zero waste — more purifying action, combination to oily skin
Browse the full range at Maison du Laurier.
Frequently asked questions
Is Aleppo soap genuinely biodegradable?
Yes. Made solely from olive oil, laurel berry oil, water and sodium hydroxide, it breaks down in the environment without leaving toxic residues or microplastics — a fundamental difference from most industrial shower gels.
Does an Aleppo soap bar really last as long as a bottle of shower gel?
Generally, a 200g bar lasts between one and two months with daily use, which corresponds to one or two 300ml shower gel bottles. In terms of cost and waste generated, the advantage is clearly on the side of the solid bar.
How should I store an Aleppo soap bar to make it last as long as possible?
Take it out of the water between uses and let it dry on a well-ventilated soap dish. A bar left sitting in water dissolves much faster. A ridged soap dish or a magnetic soap holder are the best options.
