Savon de Marseille Olive-1000g

I found out about this soap after my girlfriend and I got into a discussion about how soap was made historically, a few clicks around Wikipedia and I had found out about this soap. I ordered the 1000 gram block as well as a verbena flower one. After reading the reviews here I decided to come up with a way to successfully cut the soap into block from the 4 X 4 X 4 cube it came in. Most soap cutting tools are narrow wires, so with this in mind and only kitchen knives on hand I laid my block on the cutting board and got out a serrated blade and traced a line around the block on all four sides and then began cutting at the corners holding the knife at a 45 degree angle with respect to the block. after I had made some good cuts I rotated the block and repeated. I got a large knife with a narrow blade and laid it in my traced lines and cut back and forth putting some weight on top of the blade until the block was cut. I repeated this process until I had turned the block into 6 small bars, and had no issues. You want the blade to be very narrow, otherwise you risk the block crumbling into many pieces.

I bought this soap several months ago when I was experiencing some serious skin dryness even though I was using a "moisturizing" soap. I always exfoliate during my shower to get dry skin off, but I was flaky, and itchy right after my shower, and having to apply lotion multiple times in a day. I listened to the great reviews for this soap, and I'm so glad I did. I really appreciate the honest, and helpful reviews I find here on amazon.

This soap has a very mild scent of olives, because it's made from olive oil. I find the scent light and pleasant, and I don't really smell anything but clean when I get out of the shower. This works for me, because I use scented body lotions, or perfumes, so there is no clash of smells.

What I really like about this soap is that my skin doesn't feel tight, flaky and itchy after my shower. My skin feels soft and clean after using this soap, so I can skip the lotion if I'm in a hurry.

Even though the soap is made with olive oil that doesn't mean it's greasy or sticky. It lathers and feels like a glycerin soap to me, but much more moisturizing. The brick sized bar was different, but that just means that it will last forever, and it's a great value. If the bar size bothers you you could probably try heating a knife with some boiling water and try cutting the bar down.

Anyway, I really like the soap. My skin feels much better, and I've noticed since using the soap that nice skin shine to my legs even without using lotion.

I think this soap product is a great value for the money. The bar was larger than I anticipated. The scent is okay and it does not dry out your skin.

This soap is just wonderful so far, it leaves your skin feeling smooth and soft. It's even gentle enough for your face. It is made with olive oil but it doesn't feel like it on your skin, i will continue to use this soap.

Cons:
-smells HORRID
-doesnt moisturize, and leaves a wierd feeling on your skin while and after you are finnished bathing. have you ever took your hand and ran it along the roof of a car? felt awkward didnt it? not smooth, soft and supple...just awkward...
-it was so difficult to grip the bar of soap because it was so big and it didnt have any type of a string or anything tied to it.
-doesnt lather well at all
-crumples easily

Pros:
-long lasting (sometimes it felt like i was bathing with a big rock)
-a generous sized piece of soap
-its mild and gentle yes.. :)