OLIVE OIL SOAP

NATURAL HANDMADE SOAP

Passion Savon is a natural handmade soap company, established since 1999 and now based in the South of France. We manufacture a wide range of over 70 natural castile soaps that are mild and gentle, innovative, creative products that are a pleasure to use, are visually artistic and certified according to EU regulations. Truly natural soap of this quality is a rare commodity and we are confident that our vast experience in natural handmade soap making and aromatherapy offer the best handmade soap available anywhere in the world. 

COLD PROCESS SOAP

We are very proud of our beautiful organic soap, handcrafted in the true traditional cold process method where we use no heat during production. This means that all the precious, beneficial qualities of the oils are kept intact. During this cold kettle method of soap making, vegetable glycerine [a humectant] is produced naturally during saponification, to enable us to offer the moisturising qualities of naturally produced glycerine soap.

ORGANIC INGREDIENTS

We only use natural raw materials, organic ingredients whenever possible, and our professional aromatherapist skillfully blends top grade essential oils, creating exciting aromas that truly reflect the character of the various soaps. Not only do these blends smell gorgeous but they give various positive benefits to the skin. Our olive oil soaps are further enhanced with fresh fruits and vegetables; botanicals - including herbs, flowers, spices with clays and plant pigments, to produce interesting textures and designs. You will certainly see an improvement in the health and appearance of your skin using handmade natural soap rather than a commercial detergent based chemical soap.

OLIVE OIL SOAP, CASTILE SOAP

The main ingredient of our organic soap is extra virgin olive oil that we source in Andalucia, Spain and we use between 60% - 80% in our base formula. It is the best, unfiltered, first pressed, food grade olive oil and gives a wonderful, mild and gentle quality to our soap. We then add coconut oil, this gives our natural soap huge, frothy, creamy bubbles; rice bran oil to ensure a hard, long-lasting bar; castor oil and sunflower oil to produce a fantastic, moisturising lather that is like whipped cream. This unique recipe is further enhanced with various, natural, cold pressed organic oils such as Avocado, Apricot, Argan, Blackcurrant, Borage, Carrot, Golden Linseed, Hemp, Sweet Almond, Rosehip, Pine Tar and organic Shea and Cocoa Butters.

NO CHEMICALS, NO PRESERVATIVES, NO PALM OIL

We do not use petro-chemical substances, preservatives or detergents. We have a policy of NO palm for all our products, and we don't use Palm oil or any of its derivatives, due to the serious problems raised by its production, including destructive deforestation.

NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS

Our products and ingredients are not tested on animals and are suitable for vegetarians and vegans, except for the soaps containing milk, cream, yogurt, honey, pollen, chocolate. Our natural soap can be used for the bath and shower, as a facial cleanser, shave and solid shampoo bar.

Natural olive oil soap – from the best organic handmade soap maker.

The truth about soap

Soap Ingredients

Our soap is an unique recipe, developed over years of careful research and experimentation. The main oil that we use is extra virgin olive oil that makes small, conditioning and moisturising bubbles when saponified (turned into soap with an alkali). The major fatty acids in olive oil triacylglycerols are: Oleic Acid, a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid, it makes up approx 55% to 83% of olive oil. Linoleic Acid, a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid that makes up about 3.5% to 21% of olive oil. Palmitic Acid, a saturated fatty acid that makes up 7.5% to 20% of olive oil. Stearic Acid, a saturated fatty acid that makes up 0.5% to 5% of olive oil. Linolenic Acid (C18:3) a polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acid that makes up 0 to 1.5% of olive oil. The second oil that we use is coconut (Lauric 48% and Myristic 19% fatty acids), that produces generous, large, open, fluffy bubbles that cleanse the skin. We then add rice bran oil and finally castor and sunflower oils. Castor oil gives a boost to the creaminess of the lather and has a huge 90% of ricinoleic unsaturated Omega-9 fatty acid and finally, sunflower oil provides a balance and lightness with its high percentage of linoleic fatty acid (70%). This way, we utilise the full spectrum of natural fatty acids available to us - oleic, linoleic, lauric, myristic, ricinoleic, linolenic, stearic, palmitic (the last two make the soap hard).

We manufacture in a cold process method, this is very important as our soap is not heated or "cooked". We use the old, traditional method of soapmaking, this way ensuring that all the precious ingredients and their beneficial moisturising qualities are protected.

We have a strict policy of NO PALM OIL, you can read more about this on our ethics page.

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

All our handmade soaps contain a minimum of 60%-80% extra virgin food grade olive oil that comes from the best olive groves of Spain. Spain is the world’s leading olive and olive oil producer and exporter, with more than 300 million olive trees growing on 5 million acres of groves. The annual oil production amounts to around 1,000,000 metric tones and approximately 80% is grown in Andalucía.

There are many different types of olive but the main cultivated strains from Seville province, where we buy our oil, are Arbequina, Picual, Hojiblanco and Manzanillas. The harvest season for oil production is between November and February when the fruit is dark and ripe. Extra virgin olive oil is the oil obtained from the first pressing of the fruit. After the fruit is washed with water, the fruit and stone are crushed and the resulting paste is then transferred to a hydraulic press.

Each olive produces around 2-3 drops of oil and around 11 kilos of fruit are needed to produce 1 kilo of oil. Olives must be processed as soon as possible after harvesting to ensure an acidity of less than 1%.  The acidity refers to the content of free fatty acids with 1 degree equal to 1 gram of Oleic Acid per 100 gram of oil. It is this first pressing of extra virgin oil that we use in the manufacture of our products – unfiltered with the suspension of fruit particles remaining after pressing.

For soap making, the acidity is not important (it is just for the taste) and a higher acidity means more Oleic Fatty Acid (60%-80%) and natural antioxidants. Olive oil also contains Squalane which has the ability to help the skin to retain moisture while nourishing and providing protection for all skin types, especially dry and sensitive. It is non-greasy and non-comedogenic (does not clog the pores). It has also been proven to accelerate the healing process due to its Vitamin E content. Our skin also contains Squalane and the composition is very similar to the Olive fruit Squalane, which is why the oil penetrates and feeds the skin so effectively. This is the most superior oil to manufacture a mild, gentle, cleansing soap that is moisturising and conditioning for the skin and full of natural vitamins. We do NOT use pomace oil (many soap companies use this cheaper oil) that is the last dregs of what is left after the production of extra virgin and "normal" olive oil. Pomace is cleaned with chemical solvents, for us, this is not acceptable.