Courtesy of Julea of Asiatic Beauty, I received a bar of Pegaga body bar soap.
Pegaga (also known as Pennywort leaves, gotu kola, centella asiatica) is a herb popular in Malaysia for its medicinal properties and has a reputation for boosting mental activity and for helping a variety of systemic illnesses, such as high blood pressure, rheumatism, fever, and nervous disorders (Read more here and here) The Pegaga bar soap contains extract of pegaga leaves and is supposed to clean and condition, gently exfoliating without damaging the skin.
The Asiatic Beauty Pegaga bar soap is a largish translucent glycerin soap bar made with pegaga extract. What makes this soap bar a little special and out of the ordinary is the inclusion of ground apricot kernals into the soap. This transforms the soap bar from a mere cleaning agent to a scrubbing and cleaning agent. Quite clever!
I’ve been using the Pegaga soap bar for a while now and I found that like glycerin based soaps, it doesn’t melt as quickly when used in the shower. It also lathers up well, and has a nice leafy herbal smell that I like. I find it rather refreshing.
I do find that using the soap bar directly on the skin can be a little painful due to the ground apricot kernals. So, I lather up (the hard bits loosen and get on my hands) and then gently scrub with the loose bits. That way its less painful. I thought the kernals were only on the surface but found that it is embedded throughout the soap bar.
The Pegaga soap bar comes in 100g bars and can last a while with everyday use. I tried using it on my face one time but found it too drying. It was slightly less drying on the body but still I felt a little skin tightening getting out of the shower. A bar retails for RM15.90 or US$5.95 and is available online and at selected stores. Look at the website for store locations.
Pros: Refreshing, cleans well
Cons: Ground Apricot too harsh for my skin
[rating:3.5/5]
Ingredients: Glycerin, Sodium Lactate, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Seed Powder & Centella Asiatica (Pegaga) Extract
prettybeautiful says
January 22, 2009 at 10:59 amthis soap bar looks totally different from what i usually see. it looks like it contains the biji sagu. nice to hear that it can double function as scrub too! and looks like u are quite a soapy-lady now eh? 😛
ParisB says
January 22, 2009 at 11:28 amHi Prettybeautiful, Yep it looks quite different and I’ve always been “soapy” 😉
vonvon says
January 22, 2009 at 11:05 amIt sounds interesting, though I am not a soap bar person. I use only shower gels/creams until I read about Soapy soaps in your blog. I was very curious about it and before Christmas, I went to the Tiny Tapir office and bought a whole bunch of Soapy soaps and Yuan soaps in various sizes.I gave some away as Christmas gifts and saved 3 Soapy for myself-floral herbal, orange mint and geranium rice soaps. So far, I’ve started using the floral herbal soap. The fragrance is quite herbal (I guess that’s why the name) and it actually leaves a faint hint of its fragrance in my bathroom. It’s actually even better than air freshener;) It cleans very well, but leaves my skin a bit dry after shower.
May be I should give this Asiatic soap a try too. And I like scrubs…so 2-in-1!
ParisB says
January 22, 2009 at 11:29 amHi vonvon, I wasn’t a soap bar person either but I love how these organic soaps so far leave the bathroom smelling herbal. I think my taste now is towards this herbal smell rather than the chemical fragrances we find in most shower gels. But still, I love my shower gels too! I just love anything for the bath.
vonvon says
January 22, 2009 at 2:01 pmHehe!! I can’t agree more with you. I’m a shower gel-crazy person too. My bathroom shelves is filled to the brim with all kinds of shower gels too, from The Body Shop to Bath & Body Works from USA to The Natural Source(little terras for my little girl) and also California Baby(also for her).
Those little bars are a new addition to my family of bath products. 😉 and the fragrance they impart is just so natural.
jojoba says
January 22, 2009 at 2:58 pmdid you check my review on this bar? i do like it a lot, comapred to other products I tried from this line. it’s great on rough skin.
ParisB says
January 22, 2009 at 3:28 pmHi Jojoba, Yep, I read you liked it and I tried to like it but I found it so-so at best and the kernals were a bit too scratchy for my liking.