A SHORT HISTORY OF SOAP

©David Lambert

Soap is a wonderful thing. Most folks are so used to simply choosing a brand from the
supermarket shelf, they never think about what’s in it or how it’s made – or whether it’s
even good for them. Nevertheless, because we use it every day on our bodies, it’s worth
knowing a little bit about how soap is made and where it comes from. When you think
about it, the common act of washing our hands has revolutionized history. Our world
would not exist, if mankind had not at some point begun to bathe.

When asked, most folks cannot define the word soap. It's something we take for granted.
But what is it?

Soap is made from vegetable or animal fats and oils, mixed with a caustic alkali such as
sodium hydroxide (lye) or potassium hydroxide (potash), which initiates a chemical
reaction called saponification. The traditional method of producing potash was to steep
wood ashes in water.

Soap does not occur naturally, but the process of creating it is so simple that its discovery
probably occurred long before the first villages and towns came into being. There is a
legend, repeated endlessly in soapmaking books and websites, which tells of a certain hill
in Rome called Mount Sapo. There was supposedly a temple on the top of this hill where
animals were sacrificed in the fire, and the fats and ashes ran downhill into a river.
Women doing their laundry discovered that their clothes became cleaner when they
washed them at the foot of Mt. Sapo. It’s an attractive story, but it probably never
happened. No one knows anything about a hill called Mt. Sapo, by a river or anywhere
else. Something like this may have occurred at some distant place and time, but even so it
certainly does not mark the first discovery of soap.

Soap was probably first discovered when fire pits, used season after season by bands of
hunters, were rained on. The animal fats from many kills would have dripped down into
the ashes, and the rains would have soaked the ashes to create a crude form of lye. Yes,
the cave men probably knew how to make and use soap! Soap has been found in
excavations at ancient Babylon, dating from 2800 BC. An ancient medical papyrus from
Egypt describes the healing properties of vegetable oils mixed with alkali salts.

Interestingly, the idea of using soap for personal hygiene and cleansing seems to have
come along fairly late. It was used mainly for washing wool and cleaning laundry long
before anyone thought of using it to clean themselves. Ashes and animal fat were (and
still are) smeared on the body by primitive peoples to create a startling or distinctive
appearance. Stripes or patches of different colors would also have been useful in the hunt,
functioning exactly like a tiger’s stripes or the camouflage worn by hunters today. Once
colored pigments were added, both war paint and cosmetics came into being. However, a
simple mix of fat and ashes is not soap, but a precursor. For oils to saponify, ashes must
be converted to lye. It was this process that must have been most elusive to our earliest
ancestors. Even so, there is abundant evidence that the properties of caustic alkali salts
were appreciated at a very early time.

Strictly speaking, ashes steeped in water do not create lye, but potash. Lye is a caustic
sodium salt which is made from brine. The process for creating this chemical on an
industrial scale was invented in the 19th century, and had a huge impact on the soap
industry. Prior to that time, most soap was made with potash or a refined form call
pearlash. Potash is a caustic salt of potassium rather than sodium. It is still used today in
the production of liquid soaps. The addition of table salt or sodium chloride to harden
soap was known at least as early as the Roman era, and in various locations natural
deposits of caustic alkali were known to exist. Nevertheless, the use of sodium salts in the
form of lye to create hard soaps was a late development.

The Elber Papyrus,written about 1550 BC is a scroll more than sixty feet long, containing
nearly a thousand different prescriptions and discussions concerning a host of diseases
and conditions. Egyptian medicine was holistic, and in many cases the ancient Egyptian
treatments remain in use today. The Elbers papyrus contains one of the earliest
descriptions of cancer and its treatment, describes the use of honey to heal wounds,
outlines the earliest known treatment for the regeneration of hair loss, and describes the
benefits of soap made with vegetable oils and herbs.

Many other ancient peoples also discovered the usefulness of soap. The ancient Romans,
Celts, Hebrews, Phoenicians and Egyptians all knew how to saponify various fats and
oils. There is supposedly a preserved soap factory at Pompeii, complete with finished,
modern-looking bars, although more recent study of the site has thrown doubt on what
this space may actually have been used for.

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, much of Europe forgot how to make soap.
Bathing remained popular, but it was often considered risqué or even a little sacrilegious.
St. Jerome is supposed to have said that having been washed clean in Christ, it was not
necessary to bathe again. It was a time when the Church held the great masses of people
in an iron grip of ignorance and poverty. The filth and unsanitary conditions of medieval
Europe contributed to plagues and all kinds of illness. Still, there were soapmaking
centers in Italy and France as early as the 9th century.

Personal cleanliness did not gain mass popularity in Europe until the 17th century.
Eventually, though, soapmaking industries did emerge in Italy and France. Vegetable oils
and purified animal fats (lard and tallow) were blended with costly scents and colorants,
as well as various kinds of botanical essences. In the 14th century the French emerged as
the makers of the finest soaps, using imported oils instead of tallow. In England, where
soapmaking had long been a byproduct of the chandler’s trade, soapmaking had yet to
come into its own. Soapmakers who tried to specialize found themselves so heavily taxed
that it was difficult to stay in business.

The Muslims who occupied Spain and North Africa during the height of the Islamic
empire maintained a high level of cleanliness. Their cities were clean, beautiful and well-
lit, and their universities attracted scholars from around the world. In science, art,
medicine, philosophy, and many of the basic aspects of civilization, the Muslims
provided the foundation which eventually lifted Europe up from the Dark Ages to the
Renaissance. Throughout the Muslim world, soap was made from olive, palm, laurel and
other oils. In Spain, the region called Castilla is remembered for a mild soap made from
pure olive oil. True castile soap, made from olive oil or olive pomace oil (the oil drained
and pressed from the leftover material from the olive press), is a soft white bar that is
extremely mild. It doesn’t lather very well, though, and soapmakers experimented with
adding other oils. Advances in shipping and exploration brought new materials to the
marketplace, and soapmakers learned that coconut oil produces a luxurious lather; while
palm oil stabilizes the mixture and produces a hard, long-lasting bar. Castor oil attracts
moisture to the skin and adds lather as well. Many other oils are used for their healing
and conditioning properties.

Soap was heavily taxed as a luxury item well into the 19th century, especially by the
British. Once the taxes were lifted, soap became available to ordinary people, and
sanitary conditions improved. Commercial soapmaking in America dates from 1608,
when soapmakers arrived from England aboard the first ship to follow the Mayflower.

Soapmakers were pioneers in advertising. In 1837, two brothers-in-law, chandler William

Proctor and James Gamble, a soapmaker, formed a partnership to manufacture and sell
their products. These two men created a scheme for producing and distributing low cost,
high quality soap products. They were extremely successful, and in less than twenty
years, their annual sales exceeded $1,000,000. By 1904, the Proctor and Gamble
company was spending nearly half a million dollars a year on advertising – a staggering
amount for that time. Even today, their insights into mass-marketing and distribution are
studied in college marketing courses.

William Colgate opened his factory in New York in 1806. Colgate introduced Cashmere
Bouquet, America’s first perfumed soap, in 1872. Proctor and Gamble first marketed
Ivory Soap in 1879. This product was the result of accidentally over-stirring a batch of
soap, and the resulting infusion of air bubbles made it float. It was an instant hit.

During the Great Depression, with distribution failing and money in short supply,
homeowners began searching for soap recipes. It was during this desperate period that
daytime radio dramas were introduced to the America home, sponsored by companies
seeking to market their soap. Today, they’re on TV instead of the radio, and we know
them as “soap operas.”

The creation of the first synthetic detergents came in 1916. Since then, detergents and
surfactants have gradually replaced the more natural oils in personal cleansing products.
Sales of detergents surpassed soaps for the first time in 1953. Further refinements
included the introduction of dishwashing powders, liquid hand cleaners and detergents
for laundering in cold water. Today, most laundering and personal cleansing products are
completely synthetic.

For centuries, soap has been made with animal fats as a byproduct of farming. Old-
fashioned lard-and-lye soap has been around for generations and was made at home to
clean laundry as well as for bathing. This was an arduous chore usually done by
housewives. It involved steeping ashes to make lye, rendering saved fat and grease, and
boiling the whole mess in a big iron pot. Commercial soapmakers – called chandlers
because they also produced tallow candles – would collect ashes, animal fats and grease
from homesteads, exchanging them for finished soap.

Early homemade soaps were soft. They were kept in barrels and ladled out as needed.
Salt was added to harden the soap so that it could be cut into bars. (The Roman scholar
and historian Pliny the Elder was the first to write about adding salt to harden soap). Salt
was too expensive for the average person to add to soap, but chandlers used it to create
large blocks. Bars were cut from these blocks and sold, but individual wrapped bars did
not become common until the middle of the 19th century. The discovery of industrial
processes to create lye from brine instead of ashes revolutionized the soap industry and
made commercial mass-production of soap bars possible.

Soap was an important commodity in mid-19th century America. Although germs were
not yet known, doctors noticed during the Civil War that soldiers who were bathed
regularly and kept in clean environments had a much higher survival rate and got fewer
infections. The credit for this discovery goes to a nurse who worked at the front during
the Crimean War. Her name was Florence Nightingale.

Although fine domestic and imported soaps were then available, the Civil War created
such economic hardship that many southern women made their own soap well into the
20th century.

Home production of soap remained strong during the 1940s, as the government was
buying all the available grease to produce glycerin for explosives. But by the 1950s, the
economy boomed and soapmaking began to decline. By the 60s, homemade soap was
virtually unheard-of. People believed in the corporation. Nobody made things for
themselves when the supermarket shelves were filled with affordable products. There was
a television in every home, and corporate advertising made it seem glamorous to buy
products that were once made by hand. Few people remembered the days when folks
made their own, and no one even noticed when natural ingredients were replaced with
synthetic, petroleum-based chemicals.

The brand name Palmolive once described the ingredients used to make a high-quality
product, but after WWII it became simply a word which carried an implication of quality
from an earlier era. Soapmaking was associated with poor, backwoods types who lived in
places like the Appalachians. Folks moved to big cities, and most of them could not have
told you what tallow was, or what it was good for.

Many commercial soaps today are not really soap at all. They are made with chemical
detergents and petroleum byproducts. They contain carcinogens and allergens. Read the
label on the soap you’re used to using, and you will understand why you often feel dry
and itchy after your shower. You’ve been covering your skin with chemicals! Natural
soap feels luxurious when you use it, and it nourishes and heals your skin. As the
chemical industry has taken over, independent craftsmen have rediscovered the
wonderful benefits of natural, handmade soap. Today, soapmaking is a cottage industry
that is growing by leaps and bounds.

It takes a up to a month to create a single bar of soap! Once the ingredients are processed
and mixed the soap is poured into molds, where it must stand for a day or two before it is
solid enough for handling. It is then cut into bars which must be set on racks to cure for
several weeks. The curing process allows the water to evaporate and the bars to harden.
They are then trimmed and wrapped by hand. Whether it’s done as a hobby or a business,
this is a labor of love!

Creating handmade soaps is a blend of art and science with endless opportunities for
creativity. There are several processes used to make soaps at home, and each has its
aficionados. Some prefer the hot-process method, which allows the soap to be used as
soon as it is cooled. I prefer the so-called cold process because the extended curing time
allows natural aromas and synergies to develop. Melt-and-pour is a technique that uses
blocks of clear soap which are melted, colored, scented and poured into molds. These
soaps can have small items imbedded in them, or can consist of clear, jewel-toned layers
that resemble a parfait. People make soap in crock pots and microwaves. Joining a soap
group on the Internet is a good way to learn the advantages and disadvantages of the
various approaches. Soapers are generally a very friendly bunch and love to share recipes
and tips. Farmers Markets, Street Fairs and Craft Shows usually feature at least a few
soapers. There are many books on soapmaking, and websites beyond number.

As we move into the 21st century, soapmaking has come, in some ways, full-circle. The
synthetic detergents are here to stay. But so is the luxury of handmade artisan soap.
There's tremendous satisfaction in making something at home that turns out better than
any product you can buy.