A Very Brief History of Modern Commercial Soaps.
Do you know where your soaps come from or how they are produced?
Did you know that the major soap companies on the market today do not actually make their own soaps? They are produced by five independent soap makers and of those five soap makers only three create their own recipes? This means that relatively all of the soaps on the market today have close to the same base formulas regardless of their different appearances.
In order to wrap your mind around this concept you need to know a little about the history of commercial soap making.
Homemade soap making has been a part of our history since Roman times and has increased and waned in popularity over the years. During World War 1 injuries from the war brought on an increased need for cleaning agents. The problem was that fats and oil shortages (the ingredients needed in creating soap at home) in Germany made home based soap making impossible. To solve this problem German scientists created a form of soap using synthetic formulas. These synthetic formulas created a "Soap Product" which revolutionized the soap making process.
In the 1930s giant soap making kettles were erected and were at times three stories tall. This new form of soap making cut the curing process from a month or longer down to just one week. This form of soapmaking was called "Batch Kettle Boiling". Soon after, a process called "Continuous Process" was created and refined, decreasing the amount of time taken to produce soap to just one day.
In the 1970's a woman by name of Ann Bromson wrote and published a book called "Soap: Making it, Enjoying it". It is Ann's book which is credited with the resurgence of soap making at home. However, since this time, more and more people are becoming aware of the adverse qualities of the synthetic properties that we put on and in our bodies. This new awareness of our environment and its influences has brought about renewed interest in simplified "Organic Living" and home based products.
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To learn a more in-depth history of the making of soap and to check out my sources please visit these sights.
