We all use soap these days, whether it's a hard opaque bar or a glossy, creamy liquid, soap is found in most people's bathrooms in one form or another. What is soap? How does it differ from detergent? How do we benefit from it? Are there any environmental concerns? And which soaps are best for health and the environment? This article tries to answer some of these questions.

(A brief note about the brand "Pure and Natural" soap, made by Dial and on sale in the US: this page is not about the "Pure and Natural" brand of soap but many people like it and have contacted me about where to buy it. You can buy it in 12 packs. They have improved the quality recently with 98% natural ingredients, no parabens and recyclable packaging.)

Soap - a brief history

Pure and natural soap

Soap has been around for a long time. The ancient Babylonians used it. There is even an ancient Babylonian text detailing how to make it. By 1550 BC some kind of soap was in use in ancient Egypt too. The Phoenicians also knew of it around 600 BC and yet the Romans, those conquering heroes, apparently knew nothing of it! They prefered to scrape each others skin when bathing and apply oils and herbs afterwards. The Gauls and Germanic tribes around that time used a soap-like substance on their hair and the Celts probably made soap, too.

By the 7th century soap was being made in Nablus, Palestine and in Basra, Iraq.

In Europe the techniques of soap making emerged in Italy and Spain in the 8th century. By the 14th century France and Britain were producing soap, though as they used tallow rather than olive oil as the basis, their soaps were generally inferior.

In the late 18th century Andrew Pears began manufacturing a high quality glycerine soap and in 1885 the Lever brothers bought a small soap factory in Warrington, Lancashire, UK and started producing industrial soaps for a burgeoning market. The company they founded is still in existence today. Known as Unilever, it is now one of the largest manufacturers of detergents world-wide.

What is soap?

Pure and natural soap

Simple soap is made by mixing an alkali such as potassium or sodium hydroxide (lye) with oils or fats. The resulting reaction - called saponification - produces a soapy substance which can then be refined to produce bars of soap. Potassium hydroxide is used to make soft or liquid soaps because of its greater solubility. pure and natural soap A lot of manufactured soap is made using animal fats such as tallow, (rendered beef fat) whereas many better quality soaps are made with vegetable oils such as olive oil. The higher quality soaps are made with extra fat (they are known as superfatted soaps) so that there is more oil and glycerine still present in the soap at the end. This is much kinder on skin.

There are many refinements to the soap making p...

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