# is african black soap sudsy?



## Corey! (Dec 26, 2012)

Hello everyone.

I discovered african black soap a few years ago to help with my extremely dry skin in winter.  I always get it at coastal scents.  I ordered the "Raw African Black Soap" from a different supplier this year and I need to ask your opinion as to if it's legitimate or not. 

First, the big thing that bothered me is no list of ingredients on the brick of soap or included in the package.  It came to me just wrapped in saran wrap with a receipt.  This is what made me so leery and probably expecting to find something wrong with it.

When I used it, I was surprised that this new soap was so very sudsy.  Coastal Scents was not sudsy at all.  Also, my skin didn't feel so moisturized after I used the new soap.  After I was my face with the Coastal Scents bar, it feels very soft.  This new bar did not have that same effect when I used it.  In researching this online, I came across an article that talked about ABS and how it can contain palm kernel oil that lathers really well. I've also read several people saying this dries out your skin.  I usually use the soap followed with almond oil and a lotion bar I make myself.

So I am confused. Maybe the Coastal Scents african black soap was not legitimate?  What should I expect with ABS?


----------



## IrishLass (Dec 27, 2012)

From what I understand, ABS is generally made from the ashes of either cocoa pods and/or plantain leaves, plus coconut and/or palm kernel oil and a little bit of shea. From all the testimonials and reviews I've read on different sites (including Coastal Scents testimonials from the makeupalley site, the consensus among users seems to be that it is a very cleansing/drying soap, which is to be expected since it uses coconut and/or palm kernel oil as the main soaping oil(s) in it. Both oils are very cleansing, as well as super bubbly/sudsing in soap, which is great for those with more of an oily skin-type, and for drying up acne.

I read on the makeup alley site that Coastal Scents sells 2 different kinds of black soap- African Black Soap and Tama Black soap- both from Ghana. According to this site, the African Black Soap is much more drying than the Tama Black Soap. Could it be that you have actually been using the Tama from Coastal Scents instead of their ABS?

IrishLass ")


----------



## Mraya (Jan 11, 2013)

Real ABS is very suddy and drying. I only use it as a clearifying shampoo or body wash ie before I use a body scrub.


----------

