One comes from the ancient souks of northern Syria. The other from the sun-bleached soap factories of Provence. Both are celebrated across centuries. Both are olive oil-based. Both are natural, fragrance-free in their authentic forms, and revered as superior to the synthetic alternatives that followed them.
The comparison between Aleppo and Marseille soap is the comparison most worth having in natural soap — because it is the most nuanced, and because getting it right helps you choose correctly.
The history connection
The connection between these two soaps is not coincidence. Marseille soap rose to prominence in 17th-century France partly because of the established market for Levantine-style olive oil soap that Aleppo soap had already created. The Crusaders who returned from the Levant in the 11th and 12th centuries brought Aleppo soap back to Europe — it was novel, effective, and nothing like the tallow-based soaps of northern Europe. The demand it created eventually drove French producers to develop their own olive oil soap using the Mediterranean olive trees they had access to.
Marseille soap, by this reading, is Europe’s attempt to recreate what Aleppo already had — without the ingredient that made Aleppo soap what it was.
The formulation difference
French law governing authentic Savon de Marseille requires a minimum of 72% olive oil (or historically, a blend of olive and other vegetable oils). It contains no laurel oil. It is a pure olive oil soap, saponified in the traditional kettle method, unmilled, unscented.
Aleppo soap contains olive oil and laurel berry oil in ratios that vary from 5% to 75% laurel, depending on the intended use. The olive oil provides the moisturising base. The laurel oil provides the medicinal layer.
This is the essential distinction: Marseille soap is an excellent moisturising cleanser, full stop. Aleppo soap is an excellent moisturising cleanser with active antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties layered on top.
What Marseille does well
For daily body washing, particularly for skin that has no specific conditions and simply wants a natural, gentle, moisturising cleanse — Marseille soap is excellent. Its olive oil base is rich in oleic acid and natural glycerin (retained by traditional Marseille makers). It is unscented and minimal in ingredients.
The Avlia 100% Olive Oil Bar is functionally a Marseille equivalent — pure olive oil, no laurel, made by Syrian Sabonji artisans in Turkey to the same traditional standards.
What Aleppo adds that Marseille cannot
Acne treatment: Marseille’s olive oil base cleanses; Aleppo’s lauric acid kills P. acnes.
Dandruff control: Marseille washes the scalp; Aleppo’s antifungal terpenes address Malassezia at the root.
Eczema and inflammation: Marseille is gentle and non-irritating; Aleppo actively reduces the inflammatory cytokine production that drives eczema flares.
Body odour control: Marseille cleanses; Aleppo’s antibacterial action reduces the bacterial population that produces odour.
Scalp health: Marseille is a pleasant natural shampoo; Aleppo’s range from 30% to 100% laurel targets scalp conditions with therapeutic specificity.
The verdict
For healthy skin that needs nothing more than a natural, gentle cleanse: both are excellent and the difference is marginal. Choose either.
For any skin condition — acne, dandruff, eczema, body odour, scalp issues, fungal conditions — Aleppo’s laurel oil is doing active work that Marseille cannot replicate. Avlia’s range of Aleppo soaps, from the 16% everyday bar through to the 75% medicinal bar, provides a therapeutic depth that Marseille, however historically magnificent, simply does not have.
The Avlia Aleppo range — from 0% to 75% laurel — is available at avliahome.com. Made in Turkey by Syrian Sabonji artisans carrying a 2,000-year-old tradition that the soap of Marseille was once trying to become.