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The origins of personal cleanliness date back to prehistoric times. Since water is essential for life, the earliest
people lived near water and knew something about its cleansing properties - at least that it rinsed mud off their
hands. A soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soap
making was known as early as 2800 B.C. Inscriptions on the cylinders say that fats were boiled with ashes, which
is a method of making soap, but do not refer to the purpose of the "soap." Such materials were later used as hair
styling aids.
Records show that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500
B.C., 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. At about the same time, Moses gave the Israelites detailed laws
governing personal cleanliness. He also related cleanliness to health and religious purification. Biblical accounts
suggest that the Israelites knew that mixing ashes and oil produced a kind of hair gel.
The early Greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently did not use soap. Instead, they cleaned their bodies
with blocks of clay, sand, pumice and ashes, then anointed themselves with oil, and scraped off the oil and dirt with
a metal instrument known as a strigil. They also used oil with ashes. Clothes were washed without soap in
streams.
Soap got its name, according to an ancient Roman legend, from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. 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 cleaner with much less effort. The ancient Germans and
Gauls are also credited with discovering a substance called soap, made of tallow and ashes, that they used to tint
their hair red.
As Roman civilization advanced, so did bathing. The first of the famous Roman baths, supplied with water from
their aqueducts, was built about 312 B.C. The baths were luxurious, and bathing became very popular. By the
second century A.D., the Greek physician, Galen, recommended soap for both medicinal and cleansing purposes.
After the fall of Rome in 467 A.D. and the resulting decline in bathing habits, much of Europe felt the impact of filth
upon public health. This lack of personal cleanliness and related unsanitary living conditions contributed heavily to
the great plagues of the Middle Ages, and especially to the Black Death of the 14th century. It wasn't until the 17th
century that cleanliness and bathing started to come back into fashion in much of Europe. Still there were areas of
the medieval world where personal cleanliness remained important. Daily bathing was a common custom in
Japan during the Middle Ages. And in Iceland, pools warmed with water from hot springs were popular gathering
places on Saturday evenings.
Soap making was an established craft in Europe by the seventh century. Soap maker guilds guarded their trade
secrets closely. Vegetable and animal oils were used with ashes of plants, along with fragrance. Gradually more
varieties of soap became available for shaving and shampooing, as well as bathing and laundering.
Italy, Spain and France were early centers of soap manufacturing, due to their ready supply of raw materials such
as oil from olive trees. The English began making soap during the 12th century. The soap business was so good
that in 1622, King James I granted a monopoly to a soap maker for $100,000 a year. Well into the 19th century,
soap was heavily taxed as a luxury item in several countries. When the high tax was removed, soap became
available to ordinary people, and cleanliness standards improved.
Commercial soap making in the American colonies began in 1608 with the arrival of several soap makers on the
second ship from England to reach Jamestown, VA. However, for many years, soap making stayed essentially a
household chore. Eventually, professional soap makers began regularly collecting waste fats from households, in
exchange for some soap.
A major step toward large-scale commercial soap making occurred in 1791 when a French chemist, Nicholas
Leblanc, patented a process for making soda ash, or sodium carbonate, from common salt. Soda ash is the alkali
obtained from ashes that combines with fat to form soap. The Leblanc process yielded quantities of good quality,
inexpensive soda ash.
The science of modern soap making was bom some 20 years later with the discovery by Michel Eugene Chevreul,
another French chemist, of the chemical nature and relationship of fats, glycerin and fatty acids. His studies
established the basis for both fat and soap chemistry. Also important to the advancement of soap technology was
the mid-1800s invention by the Belgian chemist, Ernest Solvay, of the ammonia process, which also used
common table salt, or sodium chloride, to make soda ash. Solvay's process further reduced the cost of obtaining
this alkali, and increased both the quality and quantity of the soda ash available for manufacturing soap.
These scientific discoveries, together with the development of power to operate factories, made soap making one
of America's fastest-growing industries by 1850. At the same time, its broad availability changed soap from a luxury
item to an everyday necessity. With this widespread use came the development of milder soaps for bathing and
soaps for use in the washing machines that were available to consumers by the turn of the century.
The chemistry of soap manufacturing stayed essentially the same until 1916, when the first synthetic detergent
was developed in Germany in response to a World War I-related shortage of fats for making soap. Known today
simply as detergents, synthetic detergents are non-soap washing and cleaning products that are "synthesized" or
put together chemically from a variety of raw materials. The discovery of detergents was also driven by the need for
a cleaning agent that, unlike soap, would not combine with the mineral salts in water to form an insoluble
substance known as soap curd.
Household detergent production in the United States began in the early 1930s, but did not really take off until after
World War II. The war-time interruption of fat and oil supplies as well as the military's need for a cleaning agent that
would work in mineral-rich sea water and in cold water had further stimulated research on detergents. The first
detergents were used chiefly for hand dishwashing and fine fabric laundering. The breakthrough in the
development of detergents for all-purpose laundry uses came in 1946, when the first "built" detergent (containing a
surfactant/builder combination) was introduced in the U.S. The surfactant is a detergent product's basic cleaning
ingredient, while the builder helps the surfactant to work more efficiently. Phosphate compounds used as builders
in these detergents vastly improved performance, making them suitable for cleaning heavily soiled laundry.
By 1953, sales of detergents in this country had surpassed those of soap. Now detergents have all but replaced
soap-based products for laundering, dishwashing and household cleaning. Detergents (alone or in combination
with soap) are also found in many of the bars and liquids used for personal cleansing. Since those early
achievements in detergent and builder chemistry, new product activity has continued to focus on developing
cleaning products that are efficient and easy to use, as well as safe for consumers and for the environment. Here's
a summary of some of those innovations:
1950s
Automatic dishwasher powders
Liquid laundry, hand dishwashing and all-purpose cleaning products
Fabric softeners (rinse-cycle added)
Detergent with oxygen bleach
1960s
Prewash soil and stain removers
Laundry powders with enzymes
Enzyme presoaks
1970s
Liquid hand soaps
Fabric softeners (sheets and wash-cycle added)
Multifunctional products (e.g., detergent with fabric softener)
1980s
Detergents for cooler water washing
Automatic dishwasher liquids
Concentrated laundry powders
1990s
Ultra (superconcentrated) powder and liquid detergents
Ultra fabric softeners
Automatic dishwasher gels
Laundry and cleaning product refills
people lived near water and knew something about its cleansing properties - at least that it rinsed mud off their
hands. A soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soap
making was known as early as 2800 B.C. Inscriptions on the cylinders say that fats were boiled with ashes, which
is a method of making soap, but do not refer to the purpose of the "soap." Such materials were later used as hair
styling aids.
Records show that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500
B.C., 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. At about the same time, Moses gave the Israelites detailed laws
governing personal cleanliness. He also related cleanliness to health and religious purification. Biblical accounts
suggest that the Israelites knew that mixing ashes and oil produced a kind of hair gel.
The early Greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently did not use soap. Instead, they cleaned their bodies
with blocks of clay, sand, pumice and ashes, then anointed themselves with oil, and scraped off the oil and dirt with
a metal instrument known as a strigil. They also used oil with ashes. Clothes were washed without soap in
streams.
Soap got its name, according to an ancient Roman legend, from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. 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 cleaner with much less effort. The ancient Germans and
Gauls are also credited with discovering a substance called soap, made of tallow and ashes, that they used to tint
their hair red.
As Roman civilization advanced, so did bathing. The first of the famous Roman baths, supplied with water from
their aqueducts, was built about 312 B.C. The baths were luxurious, and bathing became very popular. By the
second century A.D., the Greek physician, Galen, recommended soap for both medicinal and cleansing purposes.
After the fall of Rome in 467 A.D. and the resulting decline in bathing habits, much of Europe felt the impact of filth
upon public health. This lack of personal cleanliness and related unsanitary living conditions contributed heavily to
the great plagues of the Middle Ages, and especially to the Black Death of the 14th century. It wasn't until the 17th
century that cleanliness and bathing started to come back into fashion in much of Europe. Still there were areas of
the medieval world where personal cleanliness remained important. Daily bathing was a common custom in
Japan during the Middle Ages. And in Iceland, pools warmed with water from hot springs were popular gathering
places on Saturday evenings.
Soap making was an established craft in Europe by the seventh century. Soap maker guilds guarded their trade
secrets closely. Vegetable and animal oils were used with ashes of plants, along with fragrance. Gradually more
varieties of soap became available for shaving and shampooing, as well as bathing and laundering.
Italy, Spain and France were early centers of soap manufacturing, due to their ready supply of raw materials such
as oil from olive trees. The English began making soap during the 12th century. The soap business was so good
that in 1622, King James I granted a monopoly to a soap maker for $100,000 a year. Well into the 19th century,
soap was heavily taxed as a luxury item in several countries. When the high tax was removed, soap became
available to ordinary people, and cleanliness standards improved.
Commercial soap making in the American colonies began in 1608 with the arrival of several soap makers on the
second ship from England to reach Jamestown, VA. However, for many years, soap making stayed essentially a
household chore. Eventually, professional soap makers began regularly collecting waste fats from households, in
exchange for some soap.
A major step toward large-scale commercial soap making occurred in 1791 when a French chemist, Nicholas
Leblanc, patented a process for making soda ash, or sodium carbonate, from common salt. Soda ash is the alkali
obtained from ashes that combines with fat to form soap. The Leblanc process yielded quantities of good quality,
inexpensive soda ash.
The science of modern soap making was bom some 20 years later with the discovery by Michel Eugene Chevreul,
another French chemist, of the chemical nature and relationship of fats, glycerin and fatty acids. His studies
established the basis for both fat and soap chemistry. Also important to the advancement of soap technology was
the mid-1800s invention by the Belgian chemist, Ernest Solvay, of the ammonia process, which also used
common table salt, or sodium chloride, to make soda ash. Solvay's process further reduced the cost of obtaining
this alkali, and increased both the quality and quantity of the soda ash available for manufacturing soap.
These scientific discoveries, together with the development of power to operate factories, made soap making one
of America's fastest-growing industries by 1850. At the same time, its broad availability changed soap from a luxury
item to an everyday necessity. With this widespread use came the development of milder soaps for bathing and
soaps for use in the washing machines that were available to consumers by the turn of the century.
The chemistry of soap manufacturing stayed essentially the same until 1916, when the first synthetic detergent
was developed in Germany in response to a World War I-related shortage of fats for making soap. Known today
simply as detergents, synthetic detergents are non-soap washing and cleaning products that are "synthesized" or
put together chemically from a variety of raw materials. The discovery of detergents was also driven by the need for
a cleaning agent that, unlike soap, would not combine with the mineral salts in water to form an insoluble
substance known as soap curd.
Household detergent production in the United States began in the early 1930s, but did not really take off until after
World War II. The war-time interruption of fat and oil supplies as well as the military's need for a cleaning agent that
would work in mineral-rich sea water and in cold water had further stimulated research on detergents. The first
detergents were used chiefly for hand dishwashing and fine fabric laundering. The breakthrough in the
development of detergents for all-purpose laundry uses came in 1946, when the first "built" detergent (containing a
surfactant/builder combination) was introduced in the U.S. The surfactant is a detergent product's basic cleaning
ingredient, while the builder helps the surfactant to work more efficiently. Phosphate compounds used as builders
in these detergents vastly improved performance, making them suitable for cleaning heavily soiled laundry.
By 1953, sales of detergents in this country had surpassed those of soap. Now detergents have all but replaced
soap-based products for laundering, dishwashing and household cleaning. Detergents (alone or in combination
with soap) are also found in many of the bars and liquids used for personal cleansing. Since those early
achievements in detergent and builder chemistry, new product activity has continued to focus on developing
cleaning products that are efficient and easy to use, as well as safe for consumers and for the environment. Here's
a summary of some of those innovations:
1950s
Automatic dishwasher powders
Liquid laundry, hand dishwashing and all-purpose cleaning products
Fabric softeners (rinse-cycle added)
Detergent with oxygen bleach
1960s
Prewash soil and stain removers
Laundry powders with enzymes
Enzyme presoaks
1970s
Liquid hand soaps
Fabric softeners (sheets and wash-cycle added)
Multifunctional products (e.g., detergent with fabric softener)
1980s
Detergents for cooler water washing
Automatic dishwasher liquids
Concentrated laundry powders
1990s
Ultra (superconcentrated) powder and liquid detergents
Ultra fabric softeners
Automatic dishwasher gels
Laundry and cleaning product refills
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| The History of Soap |
