There was also a special shaving soap. There is a record that in 981 AD. such shaving soap was sold for 3 dirhams. Soaps such as we know them today are descendants of historical Arabian soaps. The famous Arab physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna), who lived in the 11th century, advised using soap only for washing lepers. To those who were healthy, he offered clay.
In the middle of the 19th century, beldi black soap became especially popular in the world, which perfectly exfoliates the skin and removes toxins from it. This particular type of soap first appeared in Morocco. It is cooked in Extra Virgin Olive Oil with the addition of ground herbs, berries, fruits, spices, and essential oils according to an old Berber recipe.
Soap, like cheese and wine, must also ripen. And with age, oddly enough, the soap also gets better. “Old” soap is more gentle, foams more and irritates the skinless. The most expensive soap in the world, Qatar, is handmade in Lebanon in the family laboratory of one of the local entrepreneurs: a 160-gram bar costs $2,800. Outwardly, this is the most common Lebanese olive soap, but it contains 5 g of diamond and 17 g of gold powder. COR SILVER SOAP soap, produced by Plank, competes with Lebanese soap in terms of cost: a 120-gram bar of this elite soap costs $125, a kilogram of such a product will cost $1,041. It is made from silk fiber, natural silver, four types of collagen and chitosan from crab shells.
[21/04, 22:54] Elena: The history of soap has more than 6 thousand years. Soap was not known to the ancient world: the ancient Greeks used fine sand as a scrub to cleanse the body, and the ancient Egyptians washed their faces with beeswax paste dissolved in water. There are two versions of the invention of soap.
The history of soap has more than 6 thousand years. Soap was not known to the ancient world: the ancient Greeks used fine sand as a scrub to cleanse the body, and the ancient Egyptians washed their faces with beeswax paste dissolved in water. There are two versions of the invention of soap.
Soapmaking among the ancient Sumerians
According to the first version, soap first appeared in the Sumerian civilization. At the end of the 19th century, as a result of excavations in Mesopotamia, ancient cities were discovered that are mentioned in the Bible – Eridu, Babylon, Akkad, Lagash. Archaeologists have discovered a large number of clay tablets, whose age exceeded 5800 years. After deciphering the Sumerian cuneiform, it turned out that these tablets recorded the history of the Sumerian civilization that existed on the territory of modern Iraq. Sumerian documents also describe the history of the Earth for half a million years.
Surprisingly, one of the Sumerian clay tablets, dated to 2500 BC, described the process of making soap. A mixture of wood ash and water was boiled, then the fat was melted in it, obtaining a soapy solution.
Soap making in ancient Rome
According to another version, soap was invented in Rome. During excavations in modern Italy, among the ruins of Pompeii, archaeologists found real soap factories.
There is a version that the very word “soap” (in English – soap) was formed from the name of Mount Sapon, where the ancient Romans made sacrifices to the gods. The inhabitants of Rome brought wild animals, livestock, birds to this mountain and burned them, and the gods accepted gifts through fire. A mixture of unburned remains of animal fat and wood ash flowed with clay into the Tiber River. The women who washed clothes there noticed that with this mixture the dirt was washed off more easily. “Gift of the Gods” began to be used for washing clothes and for washing.
Cleanliness and soap in medieval Europe
In medieval Europe, washing was unpopular – such a misfortune happened to a European about once a year. The rest of the time it was enough to swim. It was in the Middle Ages that perfumes were invented in Europe – just to combat unpleasant odors.
The washing process was also not encouraged by the church, on the contrary, it was condemned. It was believed that by having washed, a person washes away the grace received by him at baptism. Baptism was supposed to wash the Christian once and for all – literally and figuratively. Fashion for cleanliness was brought to Europe by crusader knights, who visited Arab countries during the Crusades. In 1424, the first bar of solid soap was brewed in Italy.
Until now, Italian solid soap is considered one of the best in the world. Then soap was considered a luxury item – it was used only by representatives of the clergy and the nobility. In France, during the reign of King Louis XIV, the Sun King, all the king’s morning water routines consisted of simply moistening his eyelids with water. It is said that Louis XIV generally bathed only twice in his entire life – and then on the insistent recommendations of his doctor.
But the Spanish Queen Isabella of Castile went down in history with an unusual vow that she gave when the Castilian troops entered the valley of Granada. The queen vowed not to change her shirt until the Castilian flag was raised over Granada. Day after day, the snow-white shirt decayed, acquiring a grayish-yellow color. The Spaniards have since called this exquisite shade “color Isabelle”. After taking the city, the siege of which lasted eight months, the queen washed – as she promised.
Since the 13th century, the production of detergents – first of all, solid soap – has been gaining popularity, first in France, and then in England. The English king Henry IV even issued a law that forbade the soap maker to spend the night under the same roof with other artisans: the method of soap making was kept secret.
On an industrial scale, soap-making developed only after the invention of equipment that made it possible to produce soap in large volumes. The centers of soap making are the Italian city of Venice and French Marseille.