Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Seen in Cairo : Nabulsi Shaheen soap factory

The Nabulsi Shaheen soap factory

Seen in Cairo: The once famous handmade Nabulsi Shaheen olive oil soap factory in Alazhar area, Cairo.

 In the first half of the 20th century, Nabulsi Shaheen was the most famous and popular soap in Egypt. There were several popular brands of the Olive oil soap, originally made in Palestine. The most famous brand was Nabulsi Shahin.

Originally named Nabusli Shaheen in the 1920s, the famous Nabulsi soap used to have a different name before the July 1952 coup. Its name had been Nabulsi Farouk from the 1930s to 1950s.

Yes, it was named after King Farouk of Egypt and Sudan due to his popularity at first in the country but it was changed as soon as he was ousted.

Published in Al-Ahram Newspaper in
September 1952, Nabulsi Soap got a new name 
Famous public figures from actors and singers like Um Kalthom used to appear in its advertisements. Yes, the legendary Um Kalthom used to Nabulsi Shaheen or rather Nabulsi Farouk's girl.
Thuma and Nabulsi Farouk
Ms. Um Kathloum uses Nabulsi Farouk 

Thuma and Nabulsi Farouk
A-not-so flattering photo for Thuma where she praises
Nabulsi Farouk. The price of the soap was 8 piasters then
I do not think that after the 1952 July coup Um Kalthoum appeared in their ads.
Here is an ad from the late 1950s

Nabulsi Shaheen soap is still sold and its factory is still operating and actually exports to other Arab countries.
A family business, the owners of Nabulsi Shaheen did not live famous Al-Azhar district and headed to another place.
Since 1926, their soap factory was located at 18th Al-Azhar street but they moved years later to a bigger building at 75th Al-Azhar street.
The old ad
The old ad showing the old factory

Here is Nabulsi Shaheen's  official Facebook page.
Currently, I think it is the only Nabulsi soap local brand that survived all that time. 

3 comments:

  1. It's good to see you back! Almost three weeks without a Zenobia posting, what a way to spend a hot July!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm a South African expat in Egypt and this is so refreshing

    ReplyDelete

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