Portuguese soaps ? The best in the world.

In 2007, Oprah Winfrey, in her daily show, recommended a Portuguese soap! From all over the world, orders began to pour in and some Portuguese companies that thought their days were numbered are now flourishing.

 

Portuguese soaps in the spotlight

Portuguese soaps have become a star product and are present in any guidebook of Portugal. More than 80% of the local production is now exported.

 

"It is jokingly said that on a trip to Oporto, you should buy a soap to prove that you have visited the city and that after going up and down Lisbon, a good bath shows off the Portuguese soaps."

 

Quality and authenticity

All this is not the result of chance or simply the result of a good communication

 

Behind this revival there are real fundamentals linked to the quality of the products, to the know-how that has been preserved and to the respect of tradition. These fundamentals are being rediscovered today and promoted by ambitious entrepreneurs and craftsmen.

 

Back to the roots

The traditional toilet soap that lathers, smells good and washes the skin has been neglected in favor of liquid soaps, shower gels, various gels with more creamy, oily, soft textures...

 

And yet! With its natural properties and its unique washing power, soap is a beauty care product that has everything to please: it comes in a multitude of shapes, colors and scents, and is composed mainly of natural ingredients such as honey, milk, sweet almond or olive oil, without the addition of any additives. It washes the skin thoroughly and rinses off without leaving a film on the skin.

Just look at the composition of a shower gel and a Portuguese soap to realize that the shower gel contains many more ingredients than a soap. Are all these ingredients really necessary? Are they good for your health? Are they not harmful for the environment?

 Luxo-Banho soap - Credit Ach Brito

Using a shower gel is three times more expensive than using a solid soap. You can take advantage of the savings you make by choosing very good natural soaps, which are sometimes more expensive to buy, but better for your health!

Another advantage of soap is that it produces almost no waste, unlike shower gel bottles which, although recyclable, consume a lot of resources to produce. Portuguese soaps are hand packed in simple paper or cardboard boxes.

 

Why use Portuguese soaps?

So, you're wondering why you should use Portuguese soap. I have at least 3 reasons to offer you!

1. Nothing beats that feeling of scrubbing with soap and feeling the dirt go away. It's not just a physical feeling, it's also a psychological one.
2. Soaps are more ecological than shower gels, they don't use plastic materials because most of them are wrapped in paper, they use only 100% natural ingredients and are never tested on animals.
3. Soaps add color to the bathroom, have different textures and aromas, some even have special shapes. It's much more fun than a line of plastic bottles!

Portuguese soaps take care of the skin, they nourish, moisturize, cleanse, soothe and even exfoliate and use only natural ingredients.

 

Portuguese soap boxes

There is nothing like a small box of traditional soaps to treat yourself or to offer. It has become a "must", no way to come back from Lisbon or Porto without a few soaps with deliciously vintage packaging.

  "Azulejos" soaps - Luisa Paixão collection

There are soaps for all tastes and for all uses: care soaps, flower soaps, fruit soaps, reissues of old soaps, handmade soaps... It's up to you to let yourself be tempted. 

Flower soaps - Luisa Paixão collection

 

Exfoliating soaps

The exfoliating soaps allow to erase the dead cells which accumulate on the surface of the epidermis. Totally natural, they can be used on both the body and the face.

 

There are soaps that act chemically, thanks to fruit acids. Be careful not to use these soaps on the face because of their aggressiveness.

Exfoliating soap for men - Luisa Paixão collection

There are also soaps that work mechanically using crushed fruit pits, salt or crushed stone.

 

Purifying soaps

These soaps, generally based on clay, oils or plants such as lavender, form a foam that eliminates excess sebum on the surface and prevents acne breakouts.

 

Purifying soap - Luisa Paixão collection

Absorbent, re-mineralizing, revitalizing, regenerating, antiseptic, the clay contained in soaps is an excellent way to regulate excess sebum.
 

Moisturizing soaps

These soaps are enriched with ingredients with moisturizing properties such as coconut oil, shea butter, ass's milk, goat's milk, chamomile, aloe vera...

 

The Portuguese soaps are the best in this field; by the care taken in their manufacture, by the quality of the ingredients incorporated: all natural and 100% vegetable and also by the processes of manufacture which guarantee an ideal proportioning between the hydrating elements and the base of soap which preserves the foaming effect.
 

Soaps for pleasure

If there is also an area in which the Portuguese excel, it is in the ability to integrate extraordinary scents to their soaps.

 

You will find classic soaps with flowers: rose, lavender or violet of course, but you will also find rarer scents such as hydrangea, lily or lotus.

 

Fruits are also very used. Thus you will have the choice between soaps with strawberry, lemon, passion fruit. Some craftsmen dare to elaborate, with success, more surprising soaps with honey, figs, mandarins.  

Soaps for men

Here we enter a very masculine universe where barbers replace perfumers. The colors, the shapes, the scents change but also the composition of soaps.

 

Men's skin is richer in collagen and hair. Men's skin is thicker, more oily and acidic and is attacked daily by shaving.

 

The skin can then quickly dry out and become damaged. Soaps for men take this into account in their formulation.