Neem soap is typically made of neem oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil, tea tree oil, and other natural ingredients.

If you’ve never heard of neem oil, don’t worry, you’re not alone. What you should know is that neem oil is good for your skin.

Neem oil comes from neem trees, easy enough to remember. These trees, often called Indian lilacs, grow in tropical and semi-tropical regions of the world.

Many can be found in India, but they also grow in Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh. And about twenty-three other tropical-climate countries.

Lucky for those of us here who need it, neem soap is easy to find online.

Neem oil and soap are said to have ancient healing properties, especially when paired with tea tree oils.

It is healing and soothing to the skin, treats acne, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral, to start.

When used in your hair, it’s also very helpful for soothing an irritated scalp, getting rid of dandruff, and psoriasis.

If neem soap is used correctly, it helps treat that pesky acne that just keeps creeping back up. It also helps to fade marks left behind by acne that has come and gone. 

When using it on your face, rub the bar between your hands to lather. Gently cover your skin with it, rinse, and pat dry.

No chemical treatments or peels are necessary. No sitting in the bathroom with your face covered for a full hour.

It’s easy to use, and in addition to helping get rid of your acne, it won’t dry out your skin, and it’s very mild if you use the right one.

My favorite is the EcoRoots Neem Soap Body & Hair Bar, which you can purchase here.

It’s a really great price for the benefits it offers, especially if you consider the fact that this is essentially two products in one!

As an extra added bonus, the ones that are available from EcoRoots are vegan, cruelty-free, free of chemicals. Totally zero-waste, and they come in plastic-free packaging.

They also offer a lot of other great zero-waste products if you try out the neem soap and like what it does.

In addition to treating acne, neem soap and leaves can also be used to treat other skin diseases, like psoriasis. It won’t cure the condition, but it will help you control and treat the symptoms so that it’s easier to live with.

In some cases, it works so well that people claim to be cured for a time. These skin conditions are caused by genetics, but also by infections, and low immune systems.

The natural healing properties, along with being antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, allow it to treat these conditions in every direction, every symptom, and every day.

Since it naturally smooths the skin, it’s good for moisturizing and immediately eliminates a lot of the itchiness and irritation that comes with skin dryness.

Because of its soothing and anti-inflammatory properties, the soap is also really good for normal, healthy skin, too.

I was a bit hesitant to use a soap bar in my hair at first, but the varying benefits of this bar can’t be understated.

You can use this bar as a normal shampoo by rubbing it in your hair, or rubbing the wet bar between your hands until you have a lather.

Smoothing the lather through your hair, massaging it into your scalp, and rinsing.

As an anti-inflammatory, neem soap not only helps you remove dandruff, but it also helps you prevent it from reoccurring by moisturizing your scalp.

Neem soap

is a natural and effective way to battle dandruff, as opposed to specialty shampoos with really long lists of impossible-to-read ingredients, many of which only made my dandruff worse.

It will also help to enhance the health and texture of your hair, as an added benefit, and it’s much less expensive than all of those crazy expensive coconut oil and chemical hair masks that your old friends from high school are peddling on Instagram.

On the other side of the discussion on neem soap, many people do have their concerns. Some argue that neem soap may make their acne worse.

Much of treating your skin depends on your skin type and the soap type. It’s also important to be sure that you’re using your treatment properly. Any scrubbing or misuse of a product will likely make the acne worse, and soaps can sometimes strip natural oils from your skin, so the product may help for a few weeks but then the acne may return.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and what works for some people may not work for others, but since neem works for so many, it is certainly worth a try!

Neem oil is also said to have a strong smell, so it’s important to buy a neem soap that has a lot of other different (but still natural) ingredients that have strong scents that can overpower the smell.

Unfortunately, the sulfurous smell of neem oil can’t be removed, since the components that make it so effective are the same ones that cause the smell, but it can be masked.

The good thing about buying neem soap in a store or online is that most manufacturers are already aware of the scent, and they use other ingredients to cover it up so that it never becomes a problem for their consumers.

If you do your research and take the time to find a good neem soap, you can find one that does exactly what you need it to for your particular type of skin and hair.

The good thing about neem soap, in general, is that it’s good for many different types of skin: dry, oily, flaky, and sensitive, to name a few.

EcoRoots, in particular, makes great, zero-waste products that don’t leave anything, including a fresh, great scent, missing for their eco-friendly shoppers, and their neem soap and shampoo bar is one of my favorite finds.

I highly recommend trying it out for yourself.

The bar worked wonders for the skin on my face, which is usually a blotchy combination of dry and oily, and dandruff that I’ve battled with for years.

The anti-inflammatory bar helped with the slight bags under my eyes, and the soothing, natural ingredients calmed the blotchiness while evening out the moisture level.

If you suffer from any of the issues that I’ve discussed here, visit EcoRoots online and try out the neem soap, then tell your friends what you find!

For other zero waste shampoo alternatives, check my article here.