By Vesper NY · 7 min read
In the coastal cities of southern Turkey and northern Syria, there exists a soap that predates modern chemistry by three millennia. It has no synthetic ingredients. No preservatives. No fragrance oils. It is made from exactly two oils — olive and daphne laurel berry — combined with water and an alkaline salt, then cured for six to nine months in open air.
It is called many names: Aleppo soap, laurel soap, ghar soap. We call it by its botanical origin: Daphne Laurel Soap, named for the Laurus nobilis tree whose berries produce the oil at the heart of this tradition.
The History
The earliest evidence of laurel soap production dates to approximately 800 BCE in the region of Aleppo, in what is now northern Syria. Archaeologists have found soap-making implements and residues in Phoenician trading posts, suggesting that laurel soap was among the earliest luxury goods traded across the Mediterranean.
The soap traveled with the trade routes. Byzantine bathhouses in Constantinople adopted it. Ottoman hammams made it a cornerstone of their bathing rituals. Crusaders brought it back to Europe in the 12th century, where it influenced the development of Marseille soap in France and Castile soap in Spain. The global soap industry traces its ancestry, directly or indirectly, to a laurel tree on the Turkish coast.
How It's Made
Authentic daphne laurel soap follows a cold-process method that has remained essentially unchanged for centuries.
The process begins with olive oil, which is heated gently and combined with an alkaline solution (historically wood ash lye, now sodium hydroxide) to initiate saponification — the chemical reaction that turns oil into soap. Daphne laurel berry oil is then added. The concentration of laurel oil determines the soap's grade: 5-15% laurel oil is standard, 15-30% is premium, and above 30% is rare and expensive.
The liquid soap is poured into large flat molds, leveled, and left to set for several days. Once firm, it is hand-cut into blocks using traditional tools. Each block is stamped with the maker's mark.
Then the waiting begins. The blocks are stacked in latticed towers that allow air to circulate between each bar. They cure in open air for six to nine months. During this time, the outside of the soap oxidizes to a warm brown color while the inside remains bright green — the color of the laurel and olive oils. This color contrast is one of the ways to verify authenticity: if you cut a genuine aged daphne laurel soap bar in half, the interior should be distinctly greener than the exterior.
The Skin Benefits
Daphne laurel berry oil contains lauric acid, linoleic acid, and oleic acid — all of which have documented skin benefits.
Lauric acid has antimicrobial properties that have been studied in the context of acne treatment. A 2009 study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology found that lauric acid demonstrated antibacterial activity against Propionibacterium acnes, the bacterium most commonly associated with inflammatory acne.
Linoleic acid is a component of the skin's natural ceramide structure. Supplementing it topically can support barrier function — which is why laurel oil has traditionally been used for dry, irritated, or eczema-prone skin. It's not a cure, but it supports the skin's own repair mechanisms.
Oleic acid from the olive oil base provides deep moisturization without occlusion — meaning it hydrates without clogging pores. This combination of cleansing (saponified oils remove dirt and excess sebum) and moisturizing (residual unsaponified oils nourish) is what makes traditional laurel soap feel different from modern commercial soaps. It cleans without stripping.
What Daphne Laurel Soap Does Not Contain
Reading the ingredients list of a genuine daphne laurel soap is a striking experience in an era of 30-ingredient commercial products:
Sodium Olivate (Saponified Olive Oil). Sodium Laurelate (Saponified Daphne Laurel Berry Oil). Aqua (Water). Sodium Chloride (Sea Salt).
Four ingredients. No synthetic fragrances. No parabens. No sulfates. No petroleum derivatives. No palm oil. No artificial colorants. No preservatives.
The soap doesn't need preservatives because the curing process reduces its water content to a level where microbial growth is naturally inhibited. It doesn't need fragrance because the laurel oil has a distinctive, earthy, herbaceous scent on its own. It doesn't need foaming agents because the olive oil base produces a gentle, creamy lather naturally.
How to Use It
Daphne laurel soap is harder and denser than modern commercial soap bars. It lathers differently — producing a creamy, low-foam lather rather than the voluminous bubbles you get from sulfate-based products. This is normal and actually indicates the absence of synthetic foaming agents.
For face and body: wet the bar, lather between your hands, and apply to skin. Let the lather sit for 30-60 seconds before rinsing — this gives the laurel oil time to interact with your skin. Rinse with lukewarm water (not hot, which can strip oils).
For longest bar life: let the soap dry completely between uses. Use a draining soap dish that allows air circulation. A well-cared-for bar lasts 4-8 weeks with daily use.
Our Soap
The Vesper NY Daphne Laurel Soap is made by a family-run atelier on the southern coast of Turkey. They've been pressing laurel berries and making soap using the same cold-process method for four generations. Our bars contain 20% daphne laurel berry oil — placing them in the premium grade range.
Each bar is hand-cut, stamped, and cured for nine months before it reaches you. When you open the wrapper and see the brown exterior with a green heart, you're holding a piece of something that's been made this way since before the Roman Empire existed.
We didn't choose this soap because it's trendy. We chose it because it's the oldest evidence we have that luxury and simplicity can be the same thing.
The Vesper NY Daphne Laurel Soap is available individually ($28) and in the Olive & Daphne Body Bar Set ($42 for 3 bars). It's also included in The Vesper Ritual Box.