This review is for the real black soap, which is more of a brown hue. I got it from caravanserai.
I had purchased alaffia liquid black soap, but that did not work at all, for my skin. It caused zits and unattractive marks on my face..
Recently i got a sample of black soap - the type that comes in chunks and does not look like soap at all. THIS product is amazing.....it leaves the skin squeaky clean. Gets rid of all the blackheads, blemishes and evens out skin tone. I could be wrong but it also helped reduce fine lines on my face. Literally makes the skin glow. I usually put a nourishing moisturizer after using black soap as it is quite drying.

Alaffia, nubian, etc black soaps did not work for me but this did.

Update - nopes....this too does cause blackheads...

I tried this before from a different BBS seller where i live a few years ago and it made my naturally skin extremely dry, burnt and basically was so strong for my skin I had to get rid of it. 2 years laster I tried again. I started getting a break out from something 3 days ago and ventured into a Muslim store to see if they had anytihng natural ot use and spotted it again. This time instea dof being wrapped in cellophane it was wrapped in newspaper so I bought the smallest block for $2.50 and washed ym face with it for 2 days. My clean felt clean, no burning, no overpowering burnth smell like the last batch and miraculously after 2 days washing with it and using pure shea butter to grease with all my facial blemishes are fading amazingly quickly........... I found that even without using the shea butter my face doesn;t need a moisturizer at all and as I said I have the dryest skin. I've also been showering with it and it's beter than any soap I've tried. My skin feels smooth and soft afterwards. The piece I bought is soft and has dark and lighter brown mixed of what definitely looks like banana. The first day before i sued it it was soft and crumbly kind of like dry dough. After showering with it for 2 days and leaving the lid off it seems ot have got softer. It's excellent for me anyway.One persons review seems ot show that what I bought was black soap from Ghana.

I'm really iffy about this soap. I've used it several times on my face and I haven't felt that great about it. My skin is super oily and when I use this soap, it becomes very parched and tight feeling. I just cut a small chunk off and put it in my shower, away from the water. It seems to work up a nice lather but I don't like how it makes my face feel. Maybe it would be better if used on the body.

To say that this didn't work for me would be a huge understatement. I bought two types (one with the normal shea butter and palm oil, and one with added papaya) and both severely dried out my skin, causing cystic acne. I'm currently using it in place of shaving gel for my legs and haven't encountered any problems, but I wouldn't repurchase for that use. I may try using this again in the summer when my skin is oilier.

I bought some African black soap from a seller on Etsy (AstridaNaturals). I intended to use it as a facial soap, but I found it was far too drying for my skin.

I also tried out using it as shampoo, but it doesn't seem to get my hair very clean at all, even when I use a lot of it.

Now I'm just using it as hand and body soap. It smells lovely, it's just too drying for me.

After doing a little research online for something to help cure my blotchy, bumpy skin, I came across african black soap. I was excited to find it in the local beauty supply store, but since there was no price tag on it, I assumed that it must be expensive since it was imported. I nervously took a bar to the checkout counter and it rang up $2.34! I was shocked! As soon as I got it home I was excited to try it so I 'googled' how to use black soap. I cut off a corner,which was more than enough, an anxiously jumped into the shower. I lathered the soap in my hands and began washing my body. It has a very rich, creamy lather that you cannot get from ANY regular bar soap, and I absolutely love the natural earthy scent. I washed my face with it as well and it easily rinsed away, leaving my skin feeling squeaky clean. After I dried off, my skin felt baby soft. It works great as shampoo too! It's been only 3 days of using the black soap day and night....with african shea butter as a moisturizer....and my stretch marks are disappearing along with the facial bumps and dark spots! I also find that I don't have to use deodorant when I use this soap. I love it and will never use another soap again!

I was really excited to try out my black soap, having read some good reviews about it. I couldn't believe how cheap it was and how it was supposedly some miracle product! I should have known that if it sounded too good to be true, it probably was. At first I thought it was really going to work well. It made my skin feel very soft even before applying moisturizer, and it lathered very nicely. However, after about a week my face looked and felt like an oil slick, which is very out of character for me, I only have a few slightly oily spots on my face. The oil was quickly followed by several stubborn pimples that took me another week and a half to get rid of. It might work well for some people, and they should consider themselves lucky, but it is not the product for me! I guess my skin needs something with a little more oomph in it!

Firstly, I am using genuine pure organic African black soap. The kind that's earthy in colour and texture etc

My skin-type is olive, combination [some dry patches, some slightly more oily patches] I do frequently get small spots on my face and have some uneven skin-tone issues. All which black soap claims to help.

The soap itself lathers well but I find I have to cut it into small chunks to use it since it virtually melts under water and goes gooey pretty quickly when it's wet. I used the soap on my face. After washing your skin feels pretty tight and dry so it's a good idea to moisturise straight away. Apparantly black soap can be more effective when combined with pure shea butter as an after-treatment. So I moisturise with organic shea butter, not a lot just enough to balance my skin out.

Have I noticed a huge difference? No. It's relatively cheap, I paid about £4.50 for a bar.

UPDATE: I tried sticking with this to see if my skin just needed to get used to it and it hasn't improved my skin at all. It's made it worse. It's very drying and something about it just feels too harsh, don't let it anywhere near your eyes or it will really sting. Think I should have known better to wash my face with 'soap' & believe all the hype. I don't even want to use it on my body, wont repurchase and wouldn't reccommend.

I love natural and organic beauty products, and after reading all the great reviews of African black soap I had to try it. I ordered mine from Ebay seller natureandherbs because it was listed as "handmade in Ghana West Africa". It was delivered on a 90-degree day when I was out of town, so when I opened up the plastic tub the texture was very mushy. From what I read about it, it's supposed to be a solid chunk of soap. It's still mushy even after being in the air conditioning, but I actually like it that way. It makes it very easy to scoop out and apply. I only use a dime-sized amount for my face and that is plenty. It lathers very well and I absolutely love the smell. It's hard to describe, but it's exactly what you would think natural soap should smell like. After rinsing, my skin was a little tight and stung the tiniest bit, but it was not uncomfortable. I'll have to wait and see if it helps with breakouts and acne scarring, but so far I like it a lot. I plan to start using it as shampoo also, and will update when I do.

I have Makeup Alley to thank for introducing me to African Black Soap. The stuff I bought is from Ghana and contains shea butter. It came in a one pound brick that looks like a half-circle, and was super cheap to purchase. The soap itself looks scary, but it smells pleasant enough. I took the soap out of its plastic wrap and cut off a small corner to use. I placed the remainder of the soap in an airtight ziplock bag. The small corner I cut off I keep in my shower in a small tupperware with the lid. I lather the soap up in my hands and then rub my face in circular motion with the lather. It's gentle enough to even remove my eyemakeup without stinging or burning my eyes. The soap leaves my face squeaky clean. I follow up with a couple drops of jojoba oil to restore moisture post-cleansing with this wonderful all-natural soap.