Soap: the History of Soap

Soaps are washing-active substances, so-called surfactants. Chemically, they are alkali salts of higher fatty acids, made from vegetable or animal fats, which are “saponified” with sodium hydroxide solution. Nowadays, they are mainly used for body cleansing. As a detergent for fabrics and textiles, soap has lost importance because insoluble residues (“lime soaps”) are formed during the washing process.

First soap was invented over 6,500 years ago

People have been using soap for thousands of years. As early as about 4,500 BC, the Sumerians developed a preliminary form made from potash and oils. To obtain the plant ash they needed, the Sumerians burned fir cones or date palms. However, they overlooked the purifying effect and used the mixture as a remedy.

The Egyptians and Greeks (ca. 2,700 – 2,200 B.C.) may have used similar instructions to make soap, although it was the Germanic and Gaulish peoples who first discovered soap as a “decorative cosmetic.” They used the soap made from goat, cow or deer tallow as a bleaching agent for the hair or did their hair with a kind of soap pomade; customs that were readily adopted by the Romans.

Luxury soaps and bathhouses

Despite their highly developed bathing culture, the Romans did not use soap for body cleansing until the 2nd century A.D. In the further development of the art of soap boiling, the Arabs showed themselves to be very inventive in the 7th century: they boiled oil and lye together for the first time using burnt lime, thus obtaining particularly firm soaps, comparable in consistency to those of today.

This knowledge quickly spread throughout Europe. The mostly perfumed luxury soaps were initially reserved for the rich aristocracy. Gradually, a bathing culture developed with public bathhouses that were also accessible to the middle classes and the poorer population.

From bathing culture to dry linen

However, this bathing culture came to an abrupt end in the 14th century due to plague and syphilis. 25% of the European population fell victim to the great plague epidemic of 1347 to 1351. In the Middle Ages, people were therefore wary of water and soap because of the mistaken belief that diseases entered the body through soap in the first place. This achieved just the opposite for the population, as epidemics such as plague and cholera continued to spread.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, therefore, dry linen was considered chic – without soap and water at all, but with cloths, perfume and powder. In aristocratic circles, people relied entirely on this kind of personal hygiene, which is why germs, lice and fleas were able to spread unhindered.