Last spring Steve and I participated in a little market at the Old Brooklyn Greenhouse and we met two Eastern European women. They were carefully looking through our rack of soap, obviously not finding what they wanted. We chatted and learned they had immigrated to the USA recently, and were missing a soap that was commonly used in their home town. Made from birch tar, a smoky dark amber liquid that they told us helps with so many skin issues. We took to our phones to see if our suppliers carry it… and after some conferring with them we bought a bottle of birch tar. Steve set about to develop the formula for a soap using the birch tar, and the soap turned out great. It does smell like a smoky campfire, but it is a gentle formula.
We had bars of Birch Tar soap traveling with us to all of our shows and fairs, with most people not even looking at it. As a business we always are assessing if we have items that are not selling that we should eliminate them. But something happened to change our mind. Steve developed a little irritation on his scalp. Annoying, but not life threatening. He brought home a bar of birch tar soap and began washing with it. Within a week he was noticing the irritation going away. As you may know, i have had issues with eczema, and although it is under control now, there are moments in the winter with dry skin that i begin to see the flare of it… so i began washing with the birch tar soap and it was helping to reduce the itching and starts of irritation. We are not making medical claims, but birch tar clearly has something in it that helps resolve skin irritations.
So what is birch tar? It is a thick dark viscous oil derived from the bark of European Birch, also known as Sweet Birch. Used commonly in eastern Europe, birch tar is a natural antimicrobial, and is used in soaps and topical lotions. A quick search of the internet turns up several published medical journal articles on the use of birch tar with promising results. A side benefit of birch tar is toning of the skin.
We have a good supply of birch tar soap on hand…. if you are wrestling with skin issues perhaps give this natural soap a try.