Teach Soap

I occasionally shop at a local Greek deli - everything seems quite authentic: the staff all speak Greek, the feta and olives are amazing... and I try a few imported snack foods from Greece now and then.

So the other day I was looking at their soaps: they had several that said "Olive oil soap", but they had a lot of other ingredients in them. There was one that said "castile" and the ingredients were " water, olive oil, sodium hydroxide and citric acid" All the other writing on the package was in Greek. All packaged in clear plastic wrap. The bars were quite green, kind of a slightly brighter version of army green. And they were only 95 cents. (NOTHING is 95 cents in Canada), so I bought 5 bars - what the heck, right?

I get home and open one and it has the most god-awful smell - smells like a garage - seriously - just like all the chemicals an old-time mechanic uses to work on your car - gas, solvents, etc... I decided to let it "air out" for a few days - it's been a week and it still stinks like this.

Just curious - assuming ( yes, I know!) that the ingredient list is accurate - where is this smell coming from? And why the vivid green?

Extra aged olive oil maybe?

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Were the bars totally sealed in plastic? I'm wondering if they picked up diesel smells or something during transportation. Is there a brand name you could Google?

_________________
***************
Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

They were completed sealed - I could not smell through the plastic in the store. Except for the ingredients, and the words "quality since 1870" - all the writing on the label is in Greek.

Maybe I'll try one of those online translator programs, and try to figure out the name.

thanks for the suggestion!

Depending on when olives are pressed and where they were grown, they can have a really green color which may be why it's that way (random knowledge you pick up from having a brother who's a chef).

As for the scent, no idea on that one.

_________________
Inspiri Body - Bath & Body products Inspired by Life

OK - I found the company name : Papoutsanis

Their website says they are one of the largest soap manufacturers in Europe. They had absolutely NO information on their products - just a name and a pic. But they had an email contact form, so I wrote to them and related my experience.

I'm not looking for a refund, because the store I bought it would do that..just info.

Sounds strange to me, I live in the UK and know for a fact that as a european business, the ingredients should be listed by the INCI names, europe is very strict on this, the labelling and paperwork is an absolute nightmare.

Hel x

Maybe they use recycled olive oil.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

yeah, and they recycled it through a car engine!!

Olive oil = bio-diesel?

_________________
***************
Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.