History of Soap Making
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.
After the fall of Rome in 467 A.D. and the resulting decline in bathing habits, the impact of uncleanliness was seen in public health. This lack of personal cleanliness and unsanitary living conditions contributed heavily to the great plagues of the Middle Ages, and especially to the Black Death of the 14th century. It wasn’t until the 17th century that cleanliness and bathing started to come back into fashion in much of Europe.
Soap making became a craft in Europe by the seventh century. Soap makers guarded their trade secrets closely. Vegetable and animal oils were used with ashes of plants, along with fragrance. Italy, Spain and France were early centers of soap manufacturing, due to their ready supply of oil from olive trees. The English began making soap during the 12th century. Unfortunately, soap was a heavily taxed luxury item that only the rich could afford. In 1853, when the English soap tax was repealed, a boom in the soap trade coincided with a change in social attitudes toward personal cleanliness.
In Colonial America, soap making was considered woman’s work. Each year, women would set aside a time, usually just before spring-cleaning, to make soap form ashes, animal and cooking greases that had been saved during the winter, and rainwater. The process involved tickling rainwater through the ashes to make lye. The fats and grease were boiled and rendered and mixed together with the lye, forming the thick substance that was perfect for making soap.
Commercial soap making in the American colonies began in 1608 with the arrival of several soap makers on the second ship from England to reach Jamestown, VA. For many years, however, soap making was still a household chore. Eventually, professional soap makers would go door to door purchasing waste fats from households, then they would return with soap for them to purchase.
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