Soap

a) The first civilization to use soap on the bodies were the Romans who, then, spread the soap-making and using skills all through Europe.

b) The first soaps were formed by boiling animal fat (or olive oil around the Mediterranean) to dryness with ashes from a wood fire, which contain potassium hydroxide.

c) The soapmaking process, called “saponification,” separates the oils’ fatty acid bonds and combines them with molecules in the lye to form a salt. This salt is what we refer to as “soap.”

d) Most commercial soaps are not true soap, but are a combination of chemical detergents, artificial lathering agents and toxic chemicals.

e) By 1890 many variations of soap were offered, with the five major companies being, Colgate, Morse Taylor, Albert, Pears, and Bailey.

f) Around the 13th and 14th centuries, soap was considered a revenue source by the British government and it was heavily taxed.

g) Sodium Laurel/Laureth Sulfate (SLS) is the chemical detergent that causes most unnatural soaps to foam.

h) There are two reasons soap causes your eyes to burn: 1) it contains lye, 2) it draws on the fatty molecules in your eyes when it’s lathered.