Slumber Soap — $14.99, 4 oz. If Calming Lavender is lavender on its own, this is lavender with a backbone.
What is in it
Saponified Oils (Olive Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Shea Butter), Fir Needle Essential Oil, Lavender Essential Oil, Parsley Powder, Ultramarines.
Standard cold-process base, two named essential oils, and two ingredients that make people squint. Both are straightforward:
Parsley powder
It is a natural colourant. Dried, powdered parsley gives soap a soft green tint without a synthetic dye. It is not there as a skincare active, it is not doing anything to your skin, and we are not going to pretend it is a "botanical infusion." It makes the bar green.
Ultramarines
Also a colourant — a long-established blue-to-violet pigment, widely used in soap and cosmetics. Paired with the green parsley, it is what gives the bar its dusk-coloured look. Again: colour, nothing more.
We mention both plainly because an unexplained word on an ingredient list is the fastest way to make someone put a bar back down.
The scent: fir needle is the difference
Fir needle essential oil is the conifer note — clean, resinous, like the air in a pine wood rather than like a Christmas candle. Against lavender it cuts the sweetness and sends the whole thing in a cooler, outdoorsy direction.
If you have found lavender bars too soft or too floral, this is the lavender bar for you. If you specifically want straight lavender, the Calming Lavender bar is on the identical base.
The name is about the aroma. It is not a sleep product.
Saying this directly: Slumber Soap does not help you sleep, does not treat insomnia, and does not do anything to your nervous system. It is a cosmetic cleansing bar named for a scent profile that suits the end of the day. Our product page says exactly that.
A warm shower before bed is a genuinely good sleep habit. The soap is not the active ingredient in that — the shower is.
If you are actually struggling with sleep, our melatonin article is more use than any bar, and a doctor is more use than either.
Who it suits
- Evening showers
- Anyone who wants a scent that reads unisex rather than floral
- Anyone who likes conifer and woody notes — this and Rich Sandalwood are the two warm bars in the range
Who should skip it
- Anyone sensitive to lavender essential oil, which is a known contact sensitiser for a minority of people
- Anyone avoiding shea butter — Lemongrass & Sage is the only bar here without it
- Anyone who wants no added colourants. This bar has two. Calming Lavender has none.
Care
Add warm water and work into a thick lather. Cleanse, rinse thoroughly, and keep the bar dry between uses on a draining dish. For external use only; avoid the eyes; discontinue use if irritation occurs.
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