Soap - The first soap

It is thought to have started around 3000 BC in Mesopotamia, and the oldest recorded sowing recipe is written on clay pots. Presumably someone mixed animal fat with ash and noticed that it foamed and cleaned. It appears that the mixture was used externally but unfortunately not for what. The next find is from ancient Egypt around 1500 BC, where it is mentioned in scrolls that people mixed oils with ashes, which were formed into lumps and used to clean various things, including the body. In Roman times, the washing ritual was initially based on anointing the body with oil, which was then scraped off, while soap had a big boost as a remedy. There are written texts from around 70 AD where the Roman Pliny writes about soap made from animal fat and ash as a brilliant remedy for various ailments. A little later, there are also writings that say the soap was used more as a hygiene product. At the same time, the Celts were also on the rise with something more like soap, i.e. something in solid form.

The soap as we know it becomes

When the Roman Empire fell, it took with it the art of soap making and Europe entered an era of impurity. As a result, Europe entered an era of disease and poor public health, something that was repeated later. Meanwhile, around 500AD, cities in the Middle East had started to make soap, which became the real basis for the soap we use today. Often vegetable oils were boiled with ash, herbs and lime which made it hard and malleable. Soap was used as it is today for personal hygiene, but also for medical purposes. Soap was brought to Europe by medieval crusaders and knowledge spread quickly. Around 1000 AD, some kind of soap factories were opened in Aleppo At the same time, soap making started in southern Europe, focusing on Spain, France and Italy, probably spread by crusaders. Everything went well and people traded soap with the soapmakers, keeping their clothes, homes and bodies clean. Then came the end of the Middle Ages and the priests of Christianity strongly warned against using soap and washing because it was considered sinful. Once again, history entered an era of disease and poor hygiene but rumor has it that people in the home boiled soap and soap.

Despite this, soap making continued and in the 16th century it flourished. The Spanish Castile olive oil soap was very popular, making its way to Sweden after a few hundred years. Equally famous was the Italian Venetian soap that was shipped around half the world. In the south of France, soap making had been going on for a long time and 'Marseilles soap' first appeared. Marseillaise soap is an olive oil soap traditionally produced as a cube. In the mid-17th century, Marseille had 7 soap factories and the Minister of Finance at the time ensured the quality of the soap with rather strict legislation. By this time, production with ash had given way to the production and use of soda ash.

In the 19th century, a lot happened in the soap industry, because it was a chemist who cracked the saponification code and was thus able to understand and streamline the soap industry itself by calculating recipes more accurately. This was the starting point for the great industrialization of soap: it was now possible to produce a lot of soap at a lower price, and soap became popular and available to everyone. At the same time, ideals changed and health became associated with good hygiene. Research progressed and it was discovered that soap washes away microorganisms. Soaps were made at this time from coconut, palm and/or olive oil and there were now both laundry soap and body soap. In Sweden, Göta Lejon started in 1812 and is considered to be one of the earliest to have a soap factory, the most common at that time was to start making tallow candles and soap and then switch to solid toilet soap as well. At this time we had several large soap factories in Sweden and Victoria, which started around 1900, is the only one that still exists today.

Sources: soaphistory.net, Wikipedia.se, Clean and Decent written by Lawrence Wright, Shenet.se