The Dirty History of Soap

We know that soap is a surfactant made by combining fat and and an alkaline substance such as lye. Wouldn't you love to find out who first decided to combine these things, and what they were trying to achieve? But alas, like many products invented before written accounts, we don't know. We do know that ancient Mesopotamians produced soap in this way.

Ancient people used these early soaps to clean wool or cotton fibers before weaving them into cloth, rather than for human hygiene. Not even the Greeks and Romans, who pioneered running water and public baths, used soap to clean their bodies. Instead, men and women immersed themselves in water baths and then smeared their bodies with scented olive oils. They used a metal or reed scraper called a strigil to remove any remaining oil or grime.

While some people later used soap to clean skin sometimes, it was mainly a laundry product until after the Civil War! Read what history professor Judith Ridner knows about the history of soap at The Conversation. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Strobridge Lith. Co., Cin'ti & New York, restoration by Adam Cuerden)