A Brief History of Soap

While humans have known about soap since antiquity, its use has ebbed and flowed with the times. From ancient Babylon to modern bathrooms, History Guy recalls the forgotten story of soap.

This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

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All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.

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Script by THG

#history #thehistoryguy #soap

[pamw]

As a soap maker myself, this was a great video! Handmade soap today is usually made with a combination of soft and hard oils and sometimes butters (Shea; mango; cocoa and others). Coconut oil is widely used and often palm oil. Olive oil is also often a main component but many other oils can be substituted. Two ways to make soap are cold or hot processed. There are many soap making videos online.

[apolloreinard]

Many times while washing a greasy skillet I've wondered how oils are turned into something that removes oil. Thank you for those diagrams at the start that show how soap isolates the oils and lets water wash it away. I never knew the soap molecule had two different ends, one that attracts water and the other attracting oils. Great episode!

[JohnPyskaty]

I am just a few months short of 70 and can remember my Polish grandparents making soap from fat and lye. Stunk like hell but could take out the toughest grease and oil. Very similar to !ava soap and just as rough on the skin.
I really enjoyed this segment since it was a part of living history I lived through.
My Polish grandfather was an artist, a glass blower, furniture maker, and sculpter. He and his wife and kids were brought to the U.S. by Pittsburgh Plate Glass to make custom laboratory glass equipment. Hs was always a little disappointed that he could not interest them in doing artistic glass also.

[sundhaug]

The first of your videos to be based around a lye

[plasmaburndeath]

"It might seem surprising since so many of us seem to just now be learning how to properly wash our hands.." best "COLD" Opening ever.

[chachadodds]

As someone whose mother always had us wash our hands after being out in public, and having gone through nurse's training in the early 1970's, it's mind-boggling to me that most people have been ignorant on the subject of handwashing.
I've been in homes, where not one sign of soap's existence is evident; which I find barbaric.

[amierikke]

I make my own lye soap. I started about 15 years ago because I was fascinated by the history and process of it.
It’s very mild after the lye chemically changes. The recollections of people talking about “grandma’s harsh homemade soap that ate my skin off” was most likely due to using it too soon. It takes around 8 weeks. I use a combo of oils, Olive, shortening and Shea butter.

[bryandepaepe]

A lot of people thought I had OCD because I would wash my hands as soon as I got home from any trip into public spaces. This practice plus using the back of my hand and fingers to touch my face while in public has lead to over thirty years of not getting sick from a cold or flu.

[johnnylevine]

I love how your content has been relevant to what’s going on but still provides a great distraction, please keep up the good work!!!

[youtube.youtube.]

A long time ago, when private water wells were drilled, a simple test using soap was helpful to determine the softness or hardness of the water. Foaming was considered both a good and bad thing, if you couldn't rinse it away. Some places like Mandeville, Louisiana have 0 ppm of minerals with water so soft that laundry can be done with 20% of the usual soap.

[jeffmartin]

During a recent long distance hike, just the smell of a bar of perfumed soap would raise my moral, not to mention the actual use of it.

[kansascityshuffle]

As hand sanitizers fly off the shelf our true friend in the fight against viruses and bacteria has always been the humble bar of soap. Thanks for the reminder.

[bigmikeh]

I remember my grandma telling me about making soap when she was young. (She was born in 1903). Lots of boiling and the soap was not enjoyable to use. Thank you for the video. Stay safe my friend.

[josiahhockenberry]

Several years ago while I was in boot camp a buddy asked if he could use some of my laundry soap. I was genuinely confused by this because growing up my mother always called it laundry detergent. I told him I didn't know what laundry soap was and for about 5 minutes all the guys had a good laugh saying things like "ha, no wonder why he stinks. He doesn't even know what soap is!" Well, after that well deserved ribbing I finally realized what he meant. One mans soap is another mans detergent, I guess. Language is weird sometimes.
Thanks for the video, History Guy.

[dirtcop]

In Lincoln's New Salem, Illinois, they demonstrated soap making in the early 19th Century. They soaked wood ash in water to make lye water. The lye water was added to a large kettle where they had rendered tallow (beef fat), or lard. Tallow soap is more effective and didn't smell as bad as lard soap. Although I was born in the middle of the 20th Century, I grew up around 19th Century processes.

[jonni]

making soap is one of the most satisfying things i ever learned to do, it satisfies both my "technical" side and my "artistic" side at the same time

[lorijudd]

My husband's late wife was the great-granddaughter of one of the chaps, either Proctor or Gamble, that discovered the process that makes Ivory soap float. Her great-great grandfather was a soap magnate.
Her mother was a wealth heiress who used to move almost annually, from continent to continent, buying new houses as she went.
She once purchased a new home and had the kitchen removed because she much preferred eating at restaurants.
My husband's late wife was educated at a Swiss boarding school and was capable of cooking like a chef. She spoke 4 languages fluently: French, English, German and Spanish. She could also speak enough Italian to converse casually, and could also understand Hindi.
Her mother lived less than frugally, but Samyn, after seeing the excesses of her mother, insisted her own family live within their means.
She supported herself by singing and playing guitar while she put herself through BYU. This was before she met my husband.
She died 4 years before I met my husband, and left him with 5 daughters.

[censusgary]

As children, my grandparents helped their families make soap in their back yards. They combined lye (derived from wood ashes) with rendered animal fats they saved from cooking. I don’t think they sold the homemade soap— it was for family use only. But they used it for laundry, bathing, cleaning dishes and cooking utensils, and scrubbing the floors.

[anonymousstranger]

Thanks for all of your videos History Guy. I am a HUGE history nerd and love these videos. I hope you stay safe during these crazy times. Prayers and blessings to you and your loved ones.

[mrskitkatlady]

I loved this one!! I have a real interest in the history of everyday items. This one was awesome!!! Thank you!!