Madina : African Black Soap

I have dark skin, which tends to be mostly oily in warm climates, and dry in colder climates. For almost 20 years, I've cleaned my face with 50% or better (preferably 70%) alcohol. This removed most oils and dirt from my face. Also, it seemed to keep pimples away. As you may well know, it will dry your skin out like a desert. I didn't mind this. For mega-years, I've used Ambi Skin Fade cream for a moisturizer. Although, I hated the after-scent, I continued using it. Around my nose and at the crown of my nose (between my eyes) I had very dry patches. The only thing that seemed to get rid of it was 1% Hydrocortisone ointment. Believe it or not, the cream formula did absolutely nothing, it had to be the ointment. Now fast forward to the winter of 2015. I was introduced to natural skin care products as a business venture. I have to say that I've never looked back and will never go back to any form of chemically based product at your local big box retailer. As for one, African Black Soaps are excellent for the face and body. For me, since I'm in the business of selling natural and organic skin care products, I use everything that I carry. I've tried the black soap pictured here, and I found that it is good, but not the best. It contains the necessary ingredients for "my" skin type, but did not give me that "ump" that I was looking for. Then I tried a Raw African Black Soap. Now this was the mother load! It gently cleans my face, but removing all dirt and oil without drying me out. Furthermore, I have very little dryness around my nose now. Instead of using Ambi, I now use natural shea butters for moisturizing. I want to be clear, there is nothing wrong with the soap being reviewed, but it just does not perform like raw African black soaps from Ghana. I am open to comments and questions at any time! Stay chem-free and live!

I used the Shea Moisture Black Soap Bar. I personally didn't see any major results from this. My acne is hormonal, so this had no effect on the hormonal fluctuations in my skin or the breakouts caused by it. However, it did feel really nice and it made my skin feel so soft and clean. Also, contrary to what other people have said, I loved the smell - it smelled like fruity chocolate. I would get a soap dish or something if you are going to use it because it will leave black stains wherever you put it while wet (not permanent ones, it just doesn't look nice lol). I used this as a nightly cleanser. If you have a lot of non-hormonal breakouts (shout out to the boys in the back) I don't think you have anything to lose by giving this a shot.

I have extremely oily skin and hyperpigmentation, so when I heard about African black soap I thought it would be a miracle. So I bought a huge block of it from Amazon (it was cheaper that way) and I've been cutting it into small pieces to bring into the shower to use once a day. When I first started using it, I felt like the oil was being sucked out of my skin (in a good way), but I saw some improvement in my acne very quickly (I have moderate acne mostly on my forehead in the form of whiteheads and occasionally cysts). However, I've been using this for a few months now and I don't feel like I'm getting the same results as I was before. I'm still breaking out as much as before I started using the soap, so I'm not really sure what's wrong. I've been storing it in a small container and taking it out in the shower, so what I'm thinking is that the steam might be affecting the potency of the soap? (Does anyone have an answer or idea about this?) With that said, it still works as good as any other Neutrogena / Clean & Clear / etc. cleanser I've ever used when it comes to making sure Armageddon doesn't break out on my skin. I've also noticed that I tend to produce much less oil than I have in the past, which is amazing because I've lived most of my life with a consistently shiny T-zone and now it's more of a slight sheen and far more manageable than it has been in the past.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone suffering from minor break outs or those who just want a glowing complexion. It made my skin a little more even but I have moderately severe acne so it didn't clear me up completely. I would definitely say give this a try if you have minor break outs. As a bonus, it's a great make up remover! Don't overuse as it is a strong soap. I have very sensitive skin and using it once a day didn't cause any negative skin reactions. Give it a shot!

I was using this soap a little bit longer than a month. It's not bad, really, but I guess it's just my skin that dries after almost everything that I use. It's natural, by the way, so I wasn't afraid that it would do something bad for my skin. The components are very simple and there aren't anything that you could get allergy from (well, except if you are allergic for burnt vegetables). But after all that month I didn't see any difference in my skin. I have moderate to cystic acne, so it didn't really did anything significant. From my point, I wouldn't recommend this to HEAL acne, but for daily basis it's cool, I guess. If you have not very sensitive skin, then it's ok to use it, you should at least try - that's all we do to cure acne. :)

this product was very annoying, but it cleared my very bad acne. I would give to someone with very bad acne to relive the face. It is better as hand soap I got a natural black soap that was not ground smoothly