Handmade Soap Kama Sutra

During World War I, soap, as we know it today, came into existence. The injuries of war brought an increased need for cleaning agents.   However, at the same time, the ingredients needed to make soap were scarce. German scientists created a new form of soap made with various synthetic compounds and as a result detergents were born.  Many commercial soaps available today are actually detergents, which are made with petroleum by-products. Since these "soaps" are detergents, by law cannot be called soap.  Chances are that when you see a soap called a "body cleanser", it is not soap at all.

 

After the Great War and until the 1930's, soap was made by a method called batch kettle boiling. Commercial soap makers had huge three story kettles that produced thousands of pounds of soap over the course of about a week.  Shortly thereafter, an invention called continuous process was introduced and refined by Procter & Gamble.  This process decreased soap making production time to less than a day.   Large commercial soap manufacturers still use continuous process.

 

The first recorded accounts of soap were on Sumerian clay tablets dating back to 2500 B.C. At  that time in history soap was used in the washing of wool. One Sumerian tablet, describes soap made from water, alkali, and cassia oil. Historical evidence shows that Egyptians bathed regularly and that they combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to create a soap like substance for washing.  It is well known that Cleopatra, who captivated the leaders of the Roman world, attributed her beauty to her  baths in mare's milk.  Ancient Rome gave soap it's familiar name.  They were well known for their public baths, generally soap was not used for personal cleaning.  To clean the body the Greeks and then the Romans would rub the body with olive oil and sand.  A scraper, called a strigil, was then used to scrape off the sand and olive oil also removing dirt, grease, and dead cells from the skin leaving it clean.  Afterwards the skin was rubbed down with salves prepared from herbs. 

 

TRIVIA: 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. Ashes and oil of course are the primary ingredients of primitive soaps