Many legends refer to the invention of soap - the word “soap” probably coming from the Latin word sapo. Perhaps a soapy substance may even have been seen in prehistoric times by early man cooking meats over a fire. He might have noticed after a rainstorm there was a strange foamy substance around the remains of the fire and its ashes after the fats (fatty acids) mixed with the fire’s ashes (alkali). He did not however have a shower and shave around the camp fire!

The earliest forms of soap would probably have been a paste type substance for cleaning wool and used in textile manufacturing, it would have been made from animal fat or vegetable oil and boiled with wood ashes. Archaeological evidence of this type of soap was found in Babylonian clay containers dated 2800 B.C. and textile soap factories were discovered in the ruins of Pompeii.

There is an ancient Roman legend that tells of soapy substances being discovered by women washing clothes along the Tiber River at the bottom of Sapo Hill. It tells of women noticing that their clothes were easier to wash when using the foaming soapy water. This may have occurred after rain washed the burnt ashes and animal fat from the sacrificial fires of the temples on top of Sapo Hill down to the river.

Soap making dramatically progressed around the 8th Century when Italy, Spain and France became the centres of soap manufacturing due to their supply of raw materials such as oil from olive trees. Soap making Guilds guarded their trade secrets closely. The English began making soap during the 12th century.

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.

In 1791 a French chemist, Nicholas Leblanc, patented a process for making sodium carbonate from common salt and 20 years later, another French chemist, Michel Eugene Chevreul, discovered the chemical nature of fats, glycerine and fatty acids, and the science of modern soap making was born. These discoveries, together with the development of power to operate factories, were a major step toward large-scale commercial soap making.

A couple of hundred years ago however soap was smelly stuff made by the women on farms from the leftover pieces of fat from cooking. The animal fat was melted down and mixed with the ash from the family fire that had been saved up over long periods of time. This pretty nasty, fairly harsh soap was mainly used for laundry, dish washing and baths.

Most of today’s commercial processes are far removed from this process. Many commercial soaps, shower gels, shampoos and liquid soaps are merely detergents, containing many preservatives and harsh chemicals that strip the skin of moisture. They lack the main ingredient that makes soap so good for your skin - the naturally occurring glycerin. This precious bi-product is removed from many mass-produced bars to make the manufacturing process easier and is either sold, or put into creams or lotions.