My soap review of today is Auromere handcrafted soap from India. Auromere Ayurvedic Imports has many beauty products from India based on Ayurvedic concepts. You can find their products in many health food stores, but it’s also available online too.
This soap is for the “VATA-PITTA” Ayurveda type.
“This formula combines 18 highly recommended Ayurvedic herbal extracts and oils used for centuries by Ayurvedic specialists in skin-care preparations. Neem, a natural emollient and antiseptic, has toning and soothing properties while Tulsi, known as the Holy Basil of India, purifies and protects the skin from environmental damage.” - Auromere
The reason I wanted to try this is because I’ve always wanted to try handmade soap with neem oil. After hearing so much good uses of this oil, I had to see for myself.
When I found neem oil at an India grocery store and gave it a sniff - the smell was so strong! It reminded me of tea tree oil (originating from Australia). I can only deal with tea tree oil if it’s mix with a minty scent.
Pukka Herbs notes, “The roots, bark, leaves and seeds all have medicinal properties and are used for a multitude of purposes; in Sanskrit it is known as sarva roga nivarini, which means ‘the curer of all ailments.”
Since Auromere’s soap also added tulsi (Holy Basil) I thought it did smell nice. Like a walk into a summer herbal garden. But after using it in the shower, the scent was very overpowering. I don’t think I will be using it again due to the strong scent. But I think it would be great as men soap. Since the scent seem more masculine with a strong herbal and pine scent.
The quality of this soap is also very good too. I would recommend this soap if you can stand strong scents. And the additional of Indian herbs are also very neat. Prices for this soap is about $2 per bar, depending on the retailer.
Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palmyra oil, Water, Alkali, Castor oil, Hydnocarpus (Cactus) oil, Tulsi (Holy Basil), Neem oil, Rice Bran oil, Rose petals, Zeodary, Tumeric, Fenugreek, Psoralea corylifolia (Babchi seed), Peepal (Bodhi tree), Alangium salvifolium, Costus, Indian Sarsaparilla, Shiva Neem and Hibiscus.
“Neem tree in totality has been a village dispensary and a qualified plant by itself. It is so popular that time is not far when neem would emerge as a universal pharmacy and an omnipotent panacea. Every part of this plant finds use as medicine for itching, skin disease, leprosy, blood disorders, worms, diabetes, piles, dysentery, jaundice, vomiting, wounds, eye disease, paraplegia, female genital diseases and all kinds of fevers.” - Info and photo from Neem Foundation.
11:50 pm on December 3rd, 2009
The Neem tree made me think of a tree in Laos that we used as soap when I was little. I was too young, might be around 5 and can’t remember much, but I recalled that there was a tree near the Mekong River where my sisters would take us bathing and we’d get the leaves from this tree, rubbed them together and they’d have foam and we’d use that as soap, it’s very neat but I can’t remember the name of the tree.
1:41 am on December 5th, 2009
Hi Nye,
That is interesting and must be a fun activity. I have heard similar story from my mom too! I wonder if it’s the soap tree (Sapindus) where the soap nuts come from. It is native to tropical regions.
One day I want to try using soap nuts for my laundry.
10:02 pm on December 29th, 2009
[...] last Auromere product I tried was the handmade soaps. It was nice soap, but the neem scent was too strong for me. None the less, I still think they make [...]