Soap is a chemical compound used in washing. It is a mixture of the sodium salts of various fatty acids.
Soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soapmaking was known as early as 2800 BC. Inscriptions on the cylinders say that soap was being made by boiling fats with ashes, but do not refer to the purpose of the "soap."
Records show that the ancient Egyptians bathed regularly. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500 BC, describes combining animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to form a soap-like material used for treating skin diseases, as well as for washing.
It is recorded that soap was known to the Phoenicians around 600 BC. These early references to soap and soap making were for the use of the cleaning of textile fibers such as wool and cotton in preparation for weaving into cloth.
Soap was brought by Phoenician seafarers to Southern France. By the 6th century BC its had spread to central Europe. This soap was made with goat's fat and wood ashes.
The Bible, at least in its Authorised Version, mentions soap. But the prophet Jeremiah refers to it only as a cleansing agency for clothes. The passage speaks of washing-soda and potash. True soap was unknown to ancient Palestine. However the Jews did use a soap-like product of tree bark ashes as a cleansing agent when they needed to purify themselves.
The early Greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently did not use soap. Clothes were washed without soap in streams.
The ancient Germans and Gauls are credited with discovering a substance called soap, made of tallow and ashes. They used it not for washing but as a pomade to give an extra shine to the hair and to tint it red.
According to the Romans, soap got its name from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. There. the rain washed a mixture of melted animal fat, or tallow, and wood ashes down into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women found that this clay mixture made their wash far cleaner with much less exertion required.
The first mention of real soap occurs in the writings of Pliny the Elder (23 AD – 25 August 79 AD). He referred to it explicitly as an invention of the barbarian Gauls. They made it from goat's tallow and beech ashes, which were the ancient equivalent of modern palm oil and caustic.
It was only in the 4th century BC that the Romans started using soap in the bath. Indeed, a physician in 385 AD recommended it as good for shampooing.
The English began making soap during the 12th century. Wealthy ladies of the Tudor period (1485-1603) used an expensive scented toilet soap made with olive oil for their daily washing.
Marseille soap or Savon de Marseille is a traditional hard soap made from vegetable oils that has been produced around Marseille, France, since about 1370. The soap is made by mixing sea water from the Mediterranean Sea, olive oil, and the alkaline chemicals soda ash (sodium carbonate) and lye (sodium hydroxide).
Commercial soapmaking in the American colonies began in 1608 with the arrival of several soapmakers on the second ship from England to reach Jamestown, Virginia.
The transformation of soapmaking from a handicraft to an industry was abetted by the discovery of French chemist Nicolas LeBlanc (December 6, 1742 –January 16, 1806) in about 1790 of a process for manufacturing soda ash from brine (a form of salt). Soda ash is the alkali obtained from ashes that combines with fat to form soap. The Leblanc process produced quantities of cheap but good quality soda ash.
LeBlanc devised his method of producing soda ash to win a prize offered by the French Academy of Sciences, but the Revolutionary government merely granted him a patent.
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| Soap |
Soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soapmaking was known as early as 2800 BC. Inscriptions on the cylinders say that soap was being made by boiling fats with ashes, but do not refer to the purpose of the "soap."
Records show that the ancient Egyptians bathed regularly. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500 BC, describes combining animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to form a soap-like material used for treating skin diseases, as well as for washing.
It is recorded that soap was known to the Phoenicians around 600 BC. These early references to soap and soap making were for the use of the cleaning of textile fibers such as wool and cotton in preparation for weaving into cloth.
Soap was brought by Phoenician seafarers to Southern France. By the 6th century BC its had spread to central Europe. This soap was made with goat's fat and wood ashes.
The Bible, at least in its Authorised Version, mentions soap. But the prophet Jeremiah refers to it only as a cleansing agency for clothes. The passage speaks of washing-soda and potash. True soap was unknown to ancient Palestine. However the Jews did use a soap-like product of tree bark ashes as a cleansing agent when they needed to purify themselves.
The early Greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently did not use soap. Clothes were washed without soap in streams.
The ancient Germans and Gauls are credited with discovering a substance called soap, made of tallow and ashes. They used it not for washing but as a pomade to give an extra shine to the hair and to tint it red.
According to the Romans, soap got its name from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. There. the rain washed a mixture of melted animal fat, or tallow, and wood ashes down into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women found that this clay mixture made their wash far cleaner with much less exertion required.
The first mention of real soap occurs in the writings of Pliny the Elder (23 AD – 25 August 79 AD). He referred to it explicitly as an invention of the barbarian Gauls. They made it from goat's tallow and beech ashes, which were the ancient equivalent of modern palm oil and caustic.
It was only in the 4th century BC that the Romans started using soap in the bath. Indeed, a physician in 385 AD recommended it as good for shampooing.
The English began making soap during the 12th century. Wealthy ladies of the Tudor period (1485-1603) used an expensive scented toilet soap made with olive oil for their daily washing.
Marseille soap or Savon de Marseille is a traditional hard soap made from vegetable oils that has been produced around Marseille, France, since about 1370. The soap is made by mixing sea water from the Mediterranean Sea, olive oil, and the alkaline chemicals soda ash (sodium carbonate) and lye (sodium hydroxide).
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| Marseille soap Wikipedia |
Commercial soapmaking in the American colonies began in 1608 with the arrival of several soapmakers on the second ship from England to reach Jamestown, Virginia.
The transformation of soapmaking from a handicraft to an industry was abetted by the discovery of French chemist Nicolas LeBlanc (December 6, 1742 –January 16, 1806) in about 1790 of a process for manufacturing soda ash from brine (a form of salt). Soda ash is the alkali obtained from ashes that combines with fat to form soap. The Leblanc process produced quantities of cheap but good quality soda ash.
LeBlanc devised his method of producing soda ash to win a prize offered by the French Academy of Sciences, but the Revolutionary government merely granted him a patent.
Modern soapmaking was born in 1811 with the discovery by Michel Eugene Chevreul, another French chemist, of the chemical nature and relationship of fats, glycerine and fatty acids. His studies established the basis for both fat and soap chemistry.
Soap in colonial America soap had been sold door to door. By the late 1830s it was being distributed in general stores, where it was sold from huge blocks. Store customers showed how much they would like and the shopkeeper chopped of the required amount and wrapped it for taking home.
In Britain for centuries, washing with soap was something only the wealthy could afford, in part because since 1712 soap had been taxed to raise revenue. Because of public pressure, in 1853, the Chancellor of Exchequer William Gladstone abolished this tax on cleanliness.
William Shepphard of New York patented liquid soap on August 22, 1865. The product was made by dissolving one pound of solid soap in water, and then adding 100 pounds of spirits of ammonia or hartshorn until the liquid thickened to the consistency of molasses.
Ivory Soap was originally named P&G White Soap. In 1879, Harley Proctor found the new name during a reading in church of the 45th Psalm of the Bible: "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad."
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been over mixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
In 1898, B.J. Johnson developed a soap derived from palm and olive oils; his company, the B.J. Johnson Soap Company, introduced "Palmolive" brand soap that same year. It was so successful that that the B.J. Johnson Soap Co. changed their name to Palmolive in 1917.
In 1999, US soap maker Casey Makela published a recipe for making soap out of human breast milk.
Millenials are responsible for the decline in the bar soap industry. They prefer liquid soap because bar soap is deemed "dirty" and for old people.
In Britain for centuries, washing with soap was something only the wealthy could afford, in part because since 1712 soap had been taxed to raise revenue. Because of public pressure, in 1853, the Chancellor of Exchequer William Gladstone abolished this tax on cleanliness.
William Shepphard of New York patented liquid soap on August 22, 1865. The product was made by dissolving one pound of solid soap in water, and then adding 100 pounds of spirits of ammonia or hartshorn until the liquid thickened to the consistency of molasses.
Ivory Soap was originally named P&G White Soap. In 1879, Harley Proctor found the new name during a reading in church of the 45th Psalm of the Bible: "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad."
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| By Procter and Gamble Heritage Center |
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been over mixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
In 1898, B.J. Johnson developed a soap derived from palm and olive oils; his company, the B.J. Johnson Soap Company, introduced "Palmolive" brand soap that same year. It was so successful that that the B.J. Johnson Soap Co. changed their name to Palmolive in 1917.
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| Wikipedia |
In 1999, US soap maker Casey Makela published a recipe for making soap out of human breast milk.
Millenials are responsible for the decline in the bar soap industry. They prefer liquid soap because bar soap is deemed "dirty" and for old people.
Global Handwashing Day occurs on October 15 each year. The global campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of handwashing with soap as a key factor in disease prevention. Respiratory and intestinal diseases can be reduced by 25-50%.
Global Handwashing Day was initiated by the Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) in August 2008 at the annual World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden with the first Global Handwashing Day took place on October 15, 2008. The date was appointed by the UN General Assembly.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are more effective at battling some bacteria, like those causing staph infections. However, other bacteria are becoming more tolerant of such sanitizers, and regular hand washing with simple soap and water is the best solution for them. “It's the physical action of lifting and moving them off your skin, and letting them run down the drain.” said Lance Price, a professor at the George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health to NPR,
Microbeads, the little abrasive beads in found in soap products, are so dangerous to the environment they've been banned in the US.
Sources Comptons Encyclopedia, Europress Enyclopedia, Daily Express
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