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The town of Kessab is located in the governorate of Latakia (Syria). It is 60 km to the north of Latakia city. In the north it is bounded by the Syrian province of Alexandretta. The town of Kessab is situated on the slope of Akraa Mountain, and it is one of the most beautiful touristic sites in Syria.

Kessab looks even more beautiful as you drive through the towering mountains down from a height of 800 m towards Kara Doran village that overlooks the most lovely beach on the Mediterranean sea which is 8 to 10 km away.

Several villages surround Kessab, each having its special charm and beauty. One of them is Ain Delbeh where our Kessab laurel soap factory is located. Other villages are: Karkana, Sakhra, Dozoughash and Nabain.

The origin of inhabitants of Kessab and neighboring villages

The date of Armenian existence in Kessab and environs is not accurately known. However, analysis indicates that Armenians came with the tide of conquests made by king Dikran the Great when he reached the Syrian coasts in the year 95 BC. The other explanation, which is almost certain, claims that the Armenian people existed in these areas since the tenth century AD.

Kessab Woods

Kessab is surrounded by a number of fascinating woods that link the Mediterranean coast to Akraa Mountain. These woods include lots of laurel, terebinth, pine, oak, juniper, sumac, cypress, medlar, olive trees and others.

The natural laurel oil is extracted manually without adding any other substances. This gives it distinctive properties. Also, we obtain the laurel fruit, which we pick one by one, in order to get the best pure laurel oil in our factory. And we offer you the best and most distinguished types of soap in the world, manually manufactured in our factory. Our workers all have the experience that they acquired since their birth at the hands of the villagers. Furthermore, we have tried to employ the best developed manual methods in extracting all kinds of herbal oils from plants and trees found in Kessab woods for the purpose of producing new types of soap that complement Kessab laurel soap. Now, we extract cypress, pine, medlar, lavender, rosemary, cactus, willow, mint, chamomile oils and thyme oil which is very important; and the plant is found in abundance in the area. Plus other natural oils that we have introduced, with modern scientific additions, so as to offer our customers wide variety of herbal soap. This, in addition to laurel oil and olive oil which are used in all types of soap that we produce, as laurel and olive oils have great benefits. Thus, we are distinguished from other soap factories in Syria and elsewhere in the world. We can truly say that we are among the first in the world in the field of the manual herbal soap industry.

And there are other kinds of plants, such as wild thyme and mint, chamomile, basil and a very well known plant that is a magical medicine in the cure of abdomen pain and colic. It is the hyssop, named « Voskhod » in armenian and «Zofa» in Arabic.

Here is a picture of an Armenian girl collecting rosemary by hand in order to bring it to our factory for extracting the aromatic antiseptic rosemary oil, which is used in the composition of our Kessab laurel soap.

The industry of soap in Kessab

The soap industry in Kessab started since the Armenian people inhabited the area. This industry started in the home mainly to meet the family needs and it was primitive and manual. Family members extracted the laurel oil by collecting the fruit and boiling it and separating the pure oil. Then the soap was made, famous for its nice fragrance in addition to its magical benefits to the body and hair. The soap industry passed from generation to generation, and Kessab laurel soap became famous through Syria, in the neighboring countries, Europe and America and all the way to Japan and the rest of the world.

Our company acquired experience from the inhabitants of Kessab. And we added to that scientific knowledge and research conducted in our laboratory within the factory for the purpose of development, with the help of competent specialists whose efficiency is apparent in the high quality of our products. Consequently, we have become distinguished in the Kessab laurel soap industry, being the only ones worthy of bearing this title.

We extract the oil from the laurel fruit and from other plants in developed manual methods in our factory, as mentioned above. This is to ensure the high quality of these oils and to eliminate the factor of deception and tampering with the specifications of these oils. Therefore, you may trust our products as we supervise the whole process beginning with picking the fruit and gathering the plant yield and then taking it to our factory for oil extraction. Our laboratories are now in the process of preparing studies and research work for the production of other types of creams and treatment oils.

Note: When buying Kessab laurel soap, make sure of our trademark on the products. There are those who use similar names on their products in order to mislead customers, like putting «Soap…Kessab Laurel» or «Kessab Laurel Oil Soap». This is proof of our success and distinction. It is normal that all famous products in the world be imitated.