Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Traditional Handmade Soap Making: An Old Craft

"Soap making in Lebanon is an old craft established more than a thousand years ago. Handmade Lebanese soaps have been sold through the ages to the Arabian countries and Europe. The Badr Hassoun family has been involved in soap making for 800 years. The family’s houses and shops can still be seen in the Khan Al-Saboun or Soap Khan.[...]In the old days, the “attar”, perfumer and “ashab”, herbalist worked together to prepare medicated soaps infused with herbal remedies. Essential oils were mixed with medicinal herbs to make special soaps which treated dandruff, acne, eczema and hair loss. Badr Hassoun believes that these mild soaps have an advantage over modern remedies, because they are less likely to cause allergies or side effects".


A most interesting article appeared on Arabnews.com concerning the tradition of handmade aromatic soaps in Lebanon. You can read the whole article here.

pic via 360dewan.com

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous22:29

    Fascinating insight into soap-making in Lebanon. I can't imagine what my family were doing 800 years ago which makes it wonderful to know that there are families with deep roots in a particular place and business. Handmade soap is gorgeous so I hope they attract more custom from this exposure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I sincerely hope more people discover this ancient tradition! Handpoured soap is truly a lovely commodity.

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