Carib Carbolic Soap

Carbolic acid soap has a leathery smell. It's mentioned several times (as the "scent of blue") in William S. Burroughs, where he remarks wistfully, "you can still get it, sometimes, in Mexico". HA! I say. Now, you can get it any place where Jamaicans shop, under the name "Carib Carbolic Soap". Got a bar, unwrapped, tossed it in my broom closet. Its strong deodorant properties neutralized the cat box, the trash, and half the apartment. (It's a BIG apartment.) Don't know if it's the same carbolic acid that was used in place of Phisohex, though....its smell is germicidal enough!

Carib Carbolic Soap is a soap produced in Dominica that is popular in the Caribbean. The most interresting thing about this soap is that it contains an incredibly toxic (to microbes at least) antiseptic called Phenol (a.k.a. Carbolic acid). The stuff is supposed to kill bacteria pretty well. Other notable ingredients are Citric acid (which is an effective grease cutter).

Other than that it's a pretty normal tallow based soap. It raises a good lather even in hard water, and it smells very strange. Sort of like leather, sort of like ozone, and sort of like mouthwash. The soap is red in color.