Some Creative and Unusual Soap Designs

Interesting and Fun Facts About the History of Soap

1. The earliest users of soaps were the Celts who referred to it as “saipo”. Not much of a difference in its name, huh?!

2. The first soaps were made by boiling oil from the olive plant or tallow {animal fat} with lye water leached from ashes of wood fire to dryness.

3. Early soaps were mainly used for cleaning clothes and not so much on the bodies.

4. The first civilization to use soap on the bodies were the Romans who, then, spread the soapmaking and using skills all through Europe.

5. Soap making was concentrated around Marseilles and later spread to Genoa and Venice.

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

7. The manufacturing of good quality soap started only around the 18th century when it was discovered how to make large quantities of caustic soda.

8. Pears Soap dates back to 1789 and by 1700, there were over 63 soap companies in London.

9. By 1890, there were many types of soaps available and the 5 big soap companies included Colgate, Albert, Morse Taylor, Pears and Bailey.

10. According to a 2009 survey conducted by Soap magazine(yes, there is a magazine named Soap), the world production of soap is around 10,000,000,000 Ib. per year (of which the U. S. makes and uses about one-third).

Laundry Detergent may be Hazardous to Your Health

Laundry detergent commercials would have us thinking we`re wrapping ourselves in clean mountain air or the fresh scent of wildflowers every time we wear our freshly washed clothes. But in reality we`re wrapping ourselves in a toxic blanket of chemicals. Although these commercial detergents may take the stains off your favorite pair of jeans, they are leaving something else far worse behind.

When we clean our laundry, we have certain expectations. Most of us expect all spots, stains, grime and odor to be removed from our laundry. We also want our laundry to smell fresh and feel soft to the touch. Detergent manufacturers use chemicals--no matter how potentially harsh or damaging-- to fulfill these expectations and give you the impression of clean laundry. So here is the question we should be asking: is your laundry really clean if it`s saturated with chemicals after it`s been washed?

Here are just some of the chemicals commonly found in commercial laundry detergents:

Phenols: Deemed toxic by the National Health Institute, phenols can cause damage to the lungs, heart, kidneys and liver. They are very easily absorbed into the skin, making them especially dangerous. Phenols have been linked to serious health conditions and even death.

Optical brighteners: These are a popular new ingredient in commercial detergents. They trick the eye by altering ultraviolet wavelengths to make clothes look whiter. The result may be a facade, but the chemical dangers from these products are very real. Studies have shown these agents are extremely toxic to fish and can cause mutations in bacteria. They can also trigger strong allergic reactions in humans when exposed to sunlight.

Bleach: A traditional household cleaner, bleach has harmful side effects that have been known for decades. Bleach, or sodium hypochlorite, is a leading cause of poisoning in the home. It is a strong irritant to the eyes, nose and throat. Bleach can also cause severe reactions if it comes in contact with the skin.

Surfactants: A surfactant is a substance which basically binds to oily particles and carries them away with water during washing. These are what make our clothes clean when we wash them. Surfactants can be natural or synthetic. Natural surfactants are generally safe for people and the water supply, but chemical surfactants are not. Commercial laundry detergents are loaded with synthetic surfactants.

Fragrance: Artificial fragrances in laundry products are a strong irritant. The chemicals in fragrance additives can cause itchy, watery eyes and stinging nostrils. But the effects go much deeper than that. Chemical fragrances can trigger asthma attacks and aggravate allergies. They can even affect your thinking, making concentration and coordination difficult. All of these irritations show their worst in sensitive individuals, although no one is immune to the effects of these chemicals.

Any one of these chemical additives causes plenty of harm on its own, but all of these substances are combined and can react with each other in laundry detergents, becoming even more dangerous together than they were by themselves.

Think about it: clothing is in constant contact with your skin. The skin is exceptionally permeable; it quickly absorbs outside substances directly into the blood stream. Many experts recommend: if you wouldn`t eat it or drink it, you shouldn`t be letting it come into contact with your skin. Ditch the commercial laundry detergents and seek out more natural ways to clean your clothes.

THE HISTORY OF SOAP

The first concrete evidence we have of soap-like substance is dated around 2800 BC., the first soap makers were Babylonians, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, as well as the ancient Greeks and Romans. All of them made soap by mixing fat, oils and salts. Soap wasn't made and use for bathing and personal hygiene but was rather produced for cleaning cooking utensils or goods or was used for medicine purposes.

History of Soap

The soap has history going back as far as six thousand years. The earliest known soap recipe is credited to the ancient Babylonians around 2800 B.C. Throughout history, soap was medically used for treatment of skin diseases. Common soap bars were invented in the 19th century.

The First Soap

Almost 5000 years ago, it was discovered in ancient Babylonia that mixing animal fats with wood ash and water created a cleansing substance. The first soaps were used in the textile industry and for skin diseases.

Who Invented Soap?

The Babylonians were the one ones who invented soap at 2800 B.C. They discovered that combining fats, namely animal fats, with wood ash produced a substance capable of easier cleaning. The first soap was used to wash wool used in textile industry.

For A green & Healthy Life

To live a green and healthy life, there are many changes we can all make in various areas of our life. One simple change you can make, is the choice of laundry soap over detergent powder/soap you use to wash your clothes. Most people would like to rid their homes of pollutants. But, how often do you think about these toxins thriving in the laundry room?

In looking at the packs of laundry detergent that are sold in stores, we usually encounter ingredients that mean nothing to us, or find that a detergent has no ingredients listed at all. It seems odd in this day and age that any type of product could be sold without having an ingredients list, but that is exactly what happens with commercial brand laundry detergents in some cases.

When you do see a list, you'll probably notice surfactants as a common ingredient found in most laundry detergents.¹ This ingredient is a wetting agent that helps water to penetrate the fabric of your clothing. You should know that "surfactants" is not a particular ingredient name. It is simply listed in reference to a number of different chemicals that might be used. When surfactants are used, they release benzene into the environment. Benzene is a toxin that is believed to be responsible for causing cancer and reproductive disorders.

Many of the chemicals that are used in commercially branded laundry detergents have no real purpose in keeping our clothes clean. They are merely added so that our clothes will appear whiter or brighter to our eyes. Over time, exposure to these chemicals can cause allergies to laundry detergents.

What are we, the consumers of household cleaning products, supposed to do? The answer is simple. We can start purchasing vegetable oil based laundry soaps like Manjadi & Velvia.

Manjadi & Velvia does not contain chlorine, phosphates, or other chemicals that are dangerous to our health. In fact, phosphates are a known water pollutant, and have caused considerable damage within our environment over the past 40 years. The use of phosphates has been hotly debated in recent years, as they are known to kill fish and plants, which throws our entire ecological system out of balance.

The toxic chemicals found in laundry detergents present a danger to the environment by way of the water. But guess what? They can also damage your skin and some give off fumes that you inhale when you breathe in the just dry clothes with their synthetic fragrances.

While any effort to help our environment is certainly worthwhile, our best alternative is to use an handmade laundry soap like Manjadi & Velvia for all of our clothing. These laundry soaps are gentler, healthier, and safer for us to use.

History of Branded Laundry soap

It may seem odd to say that using soap generously was a modern, "advanced" way of tackling dirty laundry, but in 1800 soap was used economically. It was mixed into hot water for the main wash, and extra might be used for spot stain treatment, but everyday linen might still be cleansed with ash lye. Some of the poorer people in Europe continued to wash their "ordinary" things with no soap or minimal soap. Laundry soap was often the cheap, soft, dark soap that was fairly easy to mix into hot water. Before the 19th century hard soap could be made at home by people who had plenty of ashes and fat, with warm, dry weather and salt to set the soap. If you bought it, you would buy a piece cut from a large block.

By the end of the century there were plenty of wrapped bars of commercial, branded laundry soap sold at moderate prices. To mix up a lather, you could grate flakes off the bar of soap, or even buy ready-made soap flakes in a box. Soap powder had been known for a few decades, and from about 1880 it was quite widely available. Developments in science, industry and commerce had a significant impact on household chores.

Mount Sapo

Soap got its name, according to an ancient Roman legend, from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. Rain washed a mixture of melted animal fat, or tallow, and wood ashes down into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women found that this clay mixture made their wash cleaner with much less effort.

Advantage of Washing Soap over Detergent

Washing Soaps, are made of materials found in nature, and detergents are made up of synthetic materials. Soaps have been around for centuries and that they are better overall for our health and easier on our environment than detergents.

Too Much Detergent Makes Our Clothes Dingy and Our Machines Smell.