Read the label on an authentic Avlia bar: Sodium Olivate. Sodium Laurus Nobilate. Aqua. Sometimes Laurus Nobilis Fruit Oil if the bar includes unsaponified laurel oil added at the end of cooking for extra skin benefit.
Three to four ingredients. This is the complete formula for a soap that has been made the same way for two thousand years.
Now find a product online labelled ‘Aleppo Soap’ — one priced suspiciously cheaply, with a long ingredient list. You may find: Sodium Palmate. Sodium Cocoate. Aqua. Glycerin. Parfum. Sodium Chloride. Tetrasodium Etidronate. Titanium Dioxide. Laurel Fragrance. BHT.
This is not Aleppo soap. It is a palm and coconut oil soap with synthetic laurel fragrance and the name Aleppo on the label.
Decoding authentic INCI names
Sodium Olivate: the INCI name for saponified olive oil. Olive oil + sodium hydroxide → sodium olivate + glycerin. This is the nourishing base of every authentic Aleppo bar.
Sodium Laurus Nobilate: the INCI name for saponified laurel berry oil. The antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory active ingredient. If this is not on the label, the bar is not authentic Aleppo soap.
Aqua: water used in the saponification process. Mostly evaporated during curing; present in small residual quantity.
Laurus Nobilis Fruit Oil: unsaponified laurel berry oil, added after cooking rather than reacted with lye. This is a mark of quality — it represents additional active laurel oil that was preserved in its natural form rather than converted to soap salt.
What fake bars contain instead
Sodium Palmate: saponified palm oil. Used as a cheap olive oil substitute or extender. Palm oil is a low-cost industrial soap base with no relationship to Aleppo soap’s formulation or benefits. Its presence on a label immediately disqualifies the product as authentic Aleppo soap.
Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Cocosulfate: saponified coconut oil. Also not an authentic Aleppo ingredient.
Parfum or Fragrance: synthetic fragrance. Authentic Aleppo soap has only the natural herbal scent of laurel oil. If parfum is on the label, the bar likely contains synthetic laurel fragrance rather than genuine laurel berry oil.
Physical signs of authentic vs. fake
Authentic Avlia bar: golden-brown exterior, green interior when cut. Dense and firm. Earthy, herbal, slightly smoky scent — not sweet, not floral, not chemical. Hand stamp in Arabic on the surface.
Fake bars: uniform colour throughout (no brown/green gradient). May smell sweet or floral rather than herbal. Lathers immediately and abundantly (palm/coconut base lathers differently from olive).
Why counterfeiting increased
The Syrian conflict after 2011 reduced authentic production dramatically — from over 120 factories to fewer than 20. The demand for Aleppo soap in Europe and Asia did not reduce. This gap was filled, partly, by producers who applied the Aleppo name to palm-and-coconut formulations with synthetic laurel fragrance.
Avlia’s bars are made by Syrian Sabonji artisans in Turkey — 4th and 5th generation craftspeople who relocated after the conflict. Their formulation is the genuine recipe: only olive and laurel oils, traditional hot-process, no synthetic additions.
Buy with confidence at avliahome.com. Read the label: three to four ingredients, no parfum, no sodium palmate.