Aleppo Soap vs Castile Soap: What Is the Difference?

Aleppo soap and castile soap are close cousins. Both are olive-oil based, but they are not quite the same.

The short answer

Aleppo soap is essentially a castile soap with laurel berry oil, traditionally cooked in large vats and aged for six months to a year. "Castile" today is a broader term for plant-oil soap, which may include coconut, palm and other oils.

Side-by-side

• Oils: Aleppo uses olive plus laurel oil; modern castile often blends olive, coconut and other plant oils.
• Scent: Aleppo has a natural herbal laurel smell; castile is often unscented or scented with essential oils.
• Lather: Aleppo and olive-rich castile have a low, creamy lather; coconut-rich castile foams more.
• Aging: traditional Aleppo is aged for months, making a very hard bar.
• Forms: castile comes as bars and liquids; Aleppo is almost always a bar.

Scent and feel

Aleppo soap has a distinctive earthy, herbal smell from bay laurel oil, stronger in higher-laurel bars. Pure olive castile is nearly scentless when unscented. Both give a gentle, creamy lather rather than big bubbles, because olive oil dominates.

Price and availability

Aleppo soap is usually sold as heavy 200 g cubes and often costs more per bar, though it lasts a long time. Castile bars are widely sold in supermarkets and pharmacies; most mass-market castile soaps are blends of olive, coconut and other plant oils rather than pure olive.

How to tell what you are buying

• Aleppo: olive oil, laurel oil, lye and water, with a laurel percentage on the label.
• Traditional castile: olive oil (sodium olivate) as the only or main oil.
• Modern castile: several plant oils; check the order of ingredients.

Which should you choose?

• Want a liquid you can also clean with? Liquid castile.
• Want a very simple, long-lasting bar with a herbal scent? Aleppo.
• Avoid all scent? An unscented castile bar.

Learn more: what is Aleppo soap and what is castile soap.