The History of First Mattress, The mattress is something most of us probably take for granted – but it’s such an integral part of our daily lives, the quality of our sleep, and our overall health.Mattresses have been around for thousands of years – though not always in their advanced memory foam, pillow top varieties. The very first mattress is believed to have been invented about 77,000 years ago by those living in a region of South Africa. Here they constructed mattresses (which came to be about a foot thick and an impressive 22 feet long), using layers of plant materials. Thousands of years later in 3,400 B.C., the Egyptians made another significant advancement in bedding. Pharaohs and other members of the upper-class would sleep on raised wooden pallets that more closely resembled the style of bed we know today. Egyptian commoners, however, still slept on palm leaves on the ground.

Next came the Romans, who took a big leap ahead with the creation of the first waterbed! While water wasn’t exactly placed inside of the mattress, they did devise a sleeper for young children that could recline into a tub of warm water to get them ready for sleep.

Folks in the Renaissance Era continued to experiment with softer materials to fill their mattresses with, like straw and feathers, and popularized the use of bed covers (which were sometimes made of nicer fabrics like velvet and silks). They also ushered in the curtained four-poster bed.

In the late 1700s, our forefathers and mothers in Colonial America had transitioned to the iron bed frame, even more like the style we know today. On that frame was now the cotton mattress (an option certainly more comfortable than straw). In the mid-1800s, along came the invention of the spring coil mattress, and by the early twentieth century, our grandparents and great-grandparents were sleeping on innerspring mattresses, and may have even picked up the latest mattress on the market – the futon – for their 1940’s bungalows.

Mid-twentieth century sleepers gained access to mattresses and pillows made of foam rubber, shortly after which the modern waterbed hit the market. In the 1980s The History of First Mattress came the advent of the ever-popular (and convenient) airbed mattress.

By the time the 1990s and 2000s hit, mattresses became much more about quality and comfort. The bed wasn’t just a place to sleep – it became a place to watch TV, and surf the internet.

Today, you can find mattresses in so many different styles, materials, and sizes. The options are endless! We’ve come a long way since the days of palm leaves in Ancient Egypt. These mattress innovations, which have arrived at an exponential rate since the 18th century, suggest we can only guess at how the mattress will evolve in the years to come. Have a hankering for more mattress trivia? Be sure to keep a pulse on the Shovlin Mattress blog for the latest and greatest.

The History of First Bed, Ever since the dawn of time, and the evolution of man, surely, there is one thing that we can all agree upon; humans have always needed sleep for one reason or another. The history of the bed really shows how far we have come as a human race. Although the science behind why humans really need sleep to begin with still remains rather unclear, there is one thing for certain, without it we wouldn’t be able to function the same. Research shows that getting a good night’s sleep has a wide range of health benefits, including improved memory and information retention, along with being able to rest and rejuvenate our muscles, and regulate hormone production. Some serious side effects of not getting enough sleep include things like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and sometimes even heart failure. Simply put, without it, we would all be in much less healthy state of being.

Well, since humans have always needed their sleep, there must have always been a need for a place to sleep. Just like with anything else, there is a long history and evolution of what we now know as the modern day bed. While it may be hard to imagine a time where there was anything else but a pillow top mattress and a platform bed, humans didn’t always have quite the same luxuries as we do today.

So, what exactly is the history of the bed?

The oldest known mattress dates back to nearly 77,000 years ago, it was discovered by researchers in KawZulu-Natal, South Africa. The ancient hunter-gatherers of that time used sedge grass to construct a mattress made of aromatic leaves that seemed to have served several purposes. Not only did they line the floor of hard caves with this aromatic material but the leaves contained a natural insecticide, repelling any unwanted insects while providing additional comfort on the hard floor of a cave. The mattress was wide enough to fit a whole family. To this day, people living around the uThongathi river in South Africa still use sedge to make their mattresses.

It wasn’t entirely uncommon for ancient hunters and gatherers to sleep on piles of leaves and debris, however, we can thank the ancient Egyptians for many inventions and technologies, including having a written language and sleeping on a raised bed. This allowed you to sleep off of the cold floor and higher away from rodents and other unwanted pests. The embellishment of your bed also likely signified your status in the community, if you were a peasant your bed was likely just made from wood, but if you were of higher status it would be adorned with gold, jewels, or ebony. It was around this same time (around 3000 B.C.) that Persians began using goatskins filled with water, it was common to leave them out in the day to heat up from the sun and bring them in at night to sleep on.

The Romans were perhaps most famous for their beds, and they weren’t just restricted for the bedroom. They had marriage beds, beds for eating on their side, beds for studying, and beds for the dead. The chamber beds were used for sleeping and the wealthier citizens slept on raised beds made from metal consisting of woven metal supports to hold up the mattress. Others had wooden frames with wool strings for support, if you were poor, though, you most likely were still sleeping on the floor with or without a mat for added comfort. Like the Egyptians, most beds were stuffed with things like hay, leaves, or other debris, however, the rich began using feathers inside of their mattress. No matter the class, though, woolen blankets were common among the people in Rome.

During the middle ages, the type of bed you had largely depended on your status in life. If you were poor it was most likely a hay stuffed bag on the floor barely big enough for the whole family, “hitting the hay” meant striking the hay in an attempt to dislodge any bugs from the mattress before going to sleep. If you were wealthy, your bed was likely a symbol of your status. This began the creation of four-poster beds with ornate, embellished draperies and gold, jeweled decorations. Sometimes the beds would be raised so high off the floor that a step stool was required to get in it. 

The history of modern-day beds and mattresses.

Leading up to the 18th century, beds became more simpler in design. Cotton stuffed mattresses now replaced feathers, also known as down, or hay, still being suspended by an intricate design of woven ropes or wool straps that needed to be tightened in order to maintain its shape and support, giving birth to the saying “sleep tight”. It was during the 19th century that the metal coil spring mattress was invented, ultimately replacing the old woven design. While they did provide more support and comfort, they were known for being annoyingly squeaky. The 20th century was a time for bedroom inventions, with things like the murphy bed (a bed that folds up into a cavity in the wall), to the invention of memory foam, and the modern day waterbed. Although being invented several decades earlier, it wasn’t until the 1950’s that the coil spring mattress took off in popularity and became the most widely used mattress of the time.

Today, during the 21st century, there are an endless amount of possibilities as far as our choices for mattress go. With a booming online industry that has taken off with the technology of our time, you can now also get a mattress right from the comfort of your own home. We have things like memory foam, the sleep number mattress, the family bed, latex foam, gel foam, and even hybrid mattresses. Today, it seems as though mattresses are still somewhat of a status symbol. While the mattress has certainly evolved over the course of human history, one thing has remained the same: humans will always need to sleep (at least for now anyways), so you may as well

The History of First Wire , ORDINARY wire was invented about 2,000 years ago. In 1873 Joseph Glidden, an American farmer, invented barbed wire similar to that in use today. But some other Americans produced primitive forms earlier; the first was probably L B Smith of Ohio in 1867. Before the invention and general use of barbed wire, American farmers had to invest as much money in fencing as in livestock. Cowboys saw it as a threat to their occupation. Opposition to its use led to fence-cutting wars in Texas, Wyoming and New Mexico, but the use of barbed wire spread across the plains of America and the stock-farmer replaced the rancher.

Humphrey Phelps, Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucs.

BARBED wire was welcomed by the ranchers of the American West for a number of reasons: wire fences were less likely to be trampled by the herds than were wooden ones (impractical anyway on the treeless range); open-range farming, the only alternative, required the presence of an army of cowhands; herds enclosed by the new fences could be watered from a single well and grazed more effectively; breeding animals could be more carefully controlled, thus upgrading the standards of the stock; and, finally, the ranchers could establish a powerful claim to huge tracts of land for which they had previously had to compete with smaller-scale farmers, growing urban areas and federal government. The tensions thus created led in several instances to violence and loss of life, till President Grover Cleveland was obliged to send in the army to remove unlawful fences.

FIERCE controversy surrounded the invention of wire, which, according to Thomas Malham, was invented by him in 1830 at his foundry in Sheffield. Similar claims were made by a number of other foundry proprietors around that time, although claims by the Frenchman, Jean Fran cois Martin, generated the most heated debate, culminating in legal action contesting his right to patent. The matter was never resolved, since Thomas Malham died of ‘an inflamed liver’ in 1832. His memorial, in Abney Park Cemetery, North London, although now rusted away, was constructed entirely of wire and took the shape of an anvil topped by a falcon. This information, and more, is available in Wire, Its History and Application, by Dr A. Stone.

• THE ANSWER above is manifest nonsense. Soft metals (copper, silver, gold) were processed into wire at least as early as Pharaonic Egypt. I must presume you mean drawn iron wire. But this was achieved about 1450 in Augsburg.

These historic types of pens are no longer in common use as writing instruments, but may be used by calligraphers and other artists: A dip pen (or nib pen) consists of a metal nib with capillary channels, like that of a fountain pen, mounted on a handle or holder, often made of wood. A dip pen is called such because it usually has no ink reservoir and must therefore be repeatedly dipped into an inkpot in order to recharge the nib with ink while drawing or writing. The dip pen has certain advantages over a fountain pen; it can use waterproof pigmented (particle-and-binder-based) inks, such as so-called India ink, drawing ink, or acrylic inks, which would destroy a fountain pen by clogging, as well as the traditional iron gall ink, which can cause corrosion in a fountain pen. Dip pens are now mainly used in illustration, calligraphy, and comics. A particularly fine-pointed type of dip pen known as a crowquill is a favorite instrument of artists such as David Stone Martin and Jay Lynch, because its flexible metal point can create a variety of delicate lines, textures and tones in response to variation of pressure while drawing.

• The ink brush is the traditional writing implement in East Asian calligraphy. The body of the brush can be made from bamboo, or from rarer materials such as red sandalwood, glass, ivory, silver, and gold. The head of the brush can be made from the hair (or feathers) of a wide variety of animals, including the weasel, rabbit, deer, chicken, duck, goat, pig, and tiger. There is also a tradition both in China and in Japan of making a brush using the hair of a newborn, as a once-in-a-lifetime souvenir for the child. This practice is associated with the legend of an ancient Chinese scholar who ranked first in the Imperial examinations using such a personalized brush. Calligraphy brushes are widely considered an extension of the calligrapher’s arm. Today, calligraphy may also be done using a pen, but pen calligraphy does not enjoy the same prestige as traditional brush calligraphy.
• A quill is a pen made from a flight feather of a large bird, most often a goose. To make a quill, a feather must be cured through aging or heat-treatment, after which a nib is fashioned from the shaft by cutting a slit in it and carving away the sides to create a pointed tip. With practice, suitable feathers can be made into quills quickly and cheaply using no more than a small knife and a source of heat. Due to their easy availability, quills remained the writing instruments of choice in the west for a long time—from the 6th century to the 19th—before the metal dip pen, the fountain pen, and eventually the ballpoint pen came to be manufactured in large numbers. Quills, like later metal-nibbed dip pens, must periodically be dipped in ink while writing.
• A reed pen is cut from a reed or bamboo, with a slit in a narrow tip. Its mechanism is essentially the same as that of a quill or a metal dip pen. The reed pen has almost disappeared but is still used by young school students in some parts of India and Pakistan, who learn to write with them on small timber boards known as “Takhti”.^[14]

• 

  A dip pen

• 

  An ink brush

• 

  Quill and ink

• 

  A reed pen

History

Historic pens

Ancient Egyptians had developed writing on papyrus scrolls when scribes used thin reed brushes or reed pens from the Juncus maritimus or sea rush.^[15] In his book A History of Writing, Steven Roger Fischer suggests, on the basis of finds at Saqqara, that the reed pen might well have been used for writing on parchment as long ago as the First Dynasty, or around 3000 BC. Reed pens continued to be used until the Middle Ages, but were slowly replaced by quills from about the 7th century. The reed pen, made from reed or bamboo, is still used in some parts of Pakistan by young students and is used to write on small wooden boards.^[14][16]

The reed pen survived until papyrus was replaced as a writing surface by animal skins, vellum and parchment. The smoother surface of skin allowed finer, smaller writing with a quill pen, derived from the flight feather.^[17] The quill pen was used in Qumran, Judea to write some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to around 100 BC. The scrolls were written in Hebrew dialects with bird feathers or quills. There is a specific reference to quills in the writings of St. Isidore of Seville in the 7th century.^[18] Quill pens were still widely used in the eighteenth century, and were used to write and sign the Constitution of the United States in 1787.

A copper nib was found in the ruins of Pompeii, showing that metal nibs were used in the year 79.^[19] There is also a reference to ‘a silver pen to carry ink in’, in Samuel Pepys’ diary for August 1663.^[20] ‘New invented’ metal pens are advertised in The Times in 1792.^{[21][full citation needed]} A metal pen point was patented in 1803, but the patent was not commercially exploited. A patent for the manufacture of metal pens was advertised for sale by Bryan Donkin in 1811.^{[22][full citation needed]} John Mitchell of Birmingham started to mass-produce pens with metal nibs in 1822, and after that, the quality of steel nibs improved enough so that dip pens with metal nibs came into general use.^{[23][full citation needed]}

The earliest historical record of a pen with a reservoir dates back to the 10th century AD. In 953, Ma’ād al-Mu’izz, the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib.^[24] This pen may have been a fountain pen, but its mechanism remains unknown, and only one record mentioning it has been found. A later reservoir pen was developed in 1636. In his Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae (1636), German inventor Daniel Schwenter described a pen made from two quills. One quill served as a reservoir for ink inside the other quill. The ink was sealed inside the quill with cork. Ink was squeezed through a small hole to the writing point. In 1809, Bartholomew Folsch received a patent in England for a pen with an ink reservoir.^[24]

A student in Paris, Romanian Petrache Poenaru invented a fountain pen that used a quill as an ink reservoir. The French Government patented this in May 1827.^[25] Fountain pen patents and production then increased in the 1850s.

The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on October 30, 1888, to John J Loud.^[26] In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor, with the help of his brother George, a chemist, began to design new types of pens, including one with a tiny ball in its tip that was free to turn in a socket. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated, picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper. Bíró filed a British patent on June 15, 1938. In 1940, the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, moved to Argentina, fleeing Nazi Germany. On June 17, 1943 they filed for another patent.^[27] They formed “Bíró Pens of Argentina”, and by the summer of 1943, the first commercial models were available.^[28] Erasable ballpoint pens were introduced by Paper Mate in 1979, when the Erasermate was put on the market.

Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, a naturalized Croatian engineer and inventor of Polish-Dutch origin from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in Austria-Hungary, became renowned for further development of the mechanical pencil (1906) – then called an “automatic pencil” – and the first solid-ink fountain pen (1907). Collaborating with an entrepreneur by the name of Edmund Moster, he started the Penkala-Moster Company and built a pen-and-pencil factory that was one of the biggest in the world at the time. This company, now called TOZ-Penkala, still exists today. “TOZ” stands for “Tvornica olovaka Zagreb“, meaning “Zagreb Pencil Factory”.

In the 1960s, the fiber- or felt-tipped pen was invented by Yukio Horie of the Tokyo Stationery Company, Japan.^[29] Paper Mate’s Flair was among the first felt-tip pens to hit the U.S. market in the 1960s, and it has been the leader ever since. Marker pens and highlighters, both similar to felt pens, have become popular in recent times.

Rollerball pens were introduced in the early 1970s. They use a mobile ball and liquid ink to produce a smoother line. Technological advances during the late 1980s and early 1990s have improved the roller ball’s overall performance. A porous point pen contains a point made of some porous material such as felt or ceramic. A high quality drafting pen will usually have a ceramic tip, since this wears well and does not broaden when pressure is applied while writing.

Although the invention of the typewriter and personal computer with the keyboard input method has offered another way to write, the pen is still the main means of writing.^[30] Many people like to use expensive types and brands of pens, including fountain pens, and these are sometimes regarded as a status symbol.^[31]

History of First Pen History of First Pen History of First Pen History of First Pen History of First Pen

History of Toothpaste Tonight, when you’re flossing and brushing your teeth, consider yourself lucky: You get to use mint- or cinnamon-flavored toothpaste. In the past, people concocted some gunk made from oxen hooves or sand. When was toothpaste invented? Our modern oral hygiene with toothpaste, toothbrush and floss began only in the 1950s, not very long ago. But the quest for a clean mouth dates back at least 5,000 years.

Around 3,000 BC, the ancient Egyptians developed a dental paste made of oxen hooves, myrrh, eggshells, pumice and water. Talk about legacy: A pumice mixture is still used today by dentists and dental hygienists to professionally clean and polish your teeth. 

The early Chinese were said to apply ground fish bones to their teeth for the same purpose, and the ancient Romans and Greeks allegedly used crushed bones and oyster shells. Arabs evidently tried fine sand during the Middle Ages, and the Europeans experimented with table salt. It all sounds quite tough on the tooth enamel. 

It wasn’t until the late 1700s that the first modern toothpaste appeared, usually homemade. Some used burnt bread among the ingredients or dragon’s blood, a natural, dark red plant resin.

Who invented toothpaste?

In 1824, a dentist named Peabody (first name unknown) was the first person to add soap to dental paste, followed by John Harris in the 1850s, who added chalk as an ingredient. About 20 years later, Colgate mass-produced the first toothpaste in a jar.

A landmark change occurred in 1892. Dr. Washington Sheffield, an American dentist, thought it unsanitary for multiple people to dip their toothbrushes into one jar of toothpaste. So that year, he developed the first toothpaste in a collapsible tube. Paint tubes used by artists supposedly inspired him.

Significant improvements followed after World War II:

• Advancements in synthetic detergents allowed manufacturers to replace the soap used in toothpaste with emulsifying agents that worked better.
• Fluoride was added 
• The first striped toothpaste was invented.
• Whitening agents to brighten teeth were first introduced in the mid-1980s.

What type of toothpaste should you use?

Toothpaste today contains water and three main ingredients: abrasives, fluoride and detergents. Many different brands and flavors offer plenty of choices. Do select a toothpaste with the American Dental Association’s (ADA) Seal of Acceptance. And brush correctly.

How to keep smiling

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If you are looking for a dentist in your area, History of Toothpaste check out our easy online tool. 

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Toothbrushing tools date back to 3500-3000 BC when the Babylonians and the Egyptians made a brush by fraying the end of a twig. Tombs of the ancient Egyptians have been found containing tooth sticks alongside their owners. Around 1600BC, the Chinese developed “chewing sticks” which were made from aromatic tree twigs to freshen breath. The Chinese are believed to have invented the first natural bristle toothbrush made from the bristles from pigs’ necks in the 15th century, with the bristles attached to a bone or bamboo handle. When it was brought from China to Europe, this design was adapted and often used softer horsehairs which many Europeans preferred. Other designs in Europe used feathers.

The first toothbrush of a more modern design was made by William Addis in England around 1780 – the handle was carved from cattle bone and the brush portion was still made from swine bristles. In 1844, the first 3-row bristle brush was designed.

Natural bristles were the only source of bristles until DuPont invented nylon. The invention of nylon started the development of the truly modern toothbrush in 1938, and by the 1950s softer nylon bristles were being made, as people preferred these. The first electric toothbrush was made in 1939 and the first electric toothbrush in the US was the Broxodent in 1960.

Today, both manual and electric toothbrushes come in many shapes and sizes and are typically made of plastic moulded handles and nylon bristles. The most recent toothbrush models include handles that are straight, angled, curved, and contoured with grips and soft rubber areas to make them easier to hold and use. Toothbrush bristles are usually synthetic and range from very soft to soft in texture, although harder bristle versions are available. Toothbrush heads range from very small for young children to larger sizes for older children and adults and come in a variety of shapes such as rectangular, oblong, oval and almost round.

The basic fundamentals have not changed since the times of the Egyptians and Babylonians – a handle to grip, and a bristle-like feature with which to clean the teeth. Over its long history, the toothbrush has evolved to become a scientifically designed tool using modern ergonomic designs and safe and hygienic materials that benefit us all.

History of Toothpastes

Egyptians are believed to have started using a paste to clean their teeth around 5000BC, before toothbrushes were invented. Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have used toothpastes, and people in China and India first used toothpaste around 500BC.

Ancient toothpastes were used to treat some of the same concerns that we have today – keeping teeth and gums clean, whitening teeth and freshening breath. The ingredients of ancient toothpastes were however very different and varied. Ingredients used included a powder of ox hooves’ ashes and burnt eggshells, that was combined with pumice. The Greeks and Romans favoured more abrasiveness and their toothpaste ingredients included crushed bones and oyster shells. The Romans added more flavouring to help with bad breath, as well as powdered charcoal and bark. The Chinese used a wide variety of substances in toothpastes over time that have included ginseng, herbal mints and salt.

The development of toothpastes in more modern times started in the 1800s. Early versions contained soap and in the 1850s chalk was included. Betel nut was included in toothpaste in England in the 1800s, and in the 1860s a home encyclopaedia described a home-made toothpaste that used ground charcoal.

Prior to the 1850s, ‘ toothpastes ‘ were usually powders. During the 1850s, a new toothpaste in a jar called a Crème Dentifrice was developed and in 1873 Colgate started the mass production of toothpaste in jars. Colgate introduced its toothpaste in a tube similar to modern-day toothpaste tubes in the 1890s.

Until after 1945, toothpastes contained soap. After that time, soap was replaced by other ingredients to make the paste into a smooth paste or emulsion – such as sodium lauryl sulphate, a common ingredient in present-day toothpaste.

In the second half of the twentieth century modern toothpastes were developed to help prevent or treat specific diseases and conditions such as tooth sensitivity. History of First Toothbrush Fluoride toothpastes to help prevent decay were introduced in 1914. Toothpastes with very low abrasiveness were also developed and helped prevent the problems caused by overzealous brushing.

Toothpastes today typically contain fluoride, History of First Toothbrush colouring, flavouring, sweetener, as well as ingredients that make the toothpaste a smooth paste, foam and stay moist. Toothpaste in tubes is used throughout the world and has been a very successful invention.

Soapwort plant, mixed and agitated with water, gave early civilization its first cleaning agents before the soap was made. According to Roman legend, natural soap was first discovered and takes it’s name from a mount called ‘Sapo’ where animals were sacrificed. Rain used to wash the fat from sacrificed animals along with wood ashes into the Tiber River, where the women who were washing clothes in it found the mixture made their wash easier. But there is no such place and no evidence for the apocryphal story.

The first recorded evidence of soap making are Babylonian clay cylinders dating from 2800 B.C. Inscriptions on the cylinders are the earliest known written soap recipe and they describe a process by which fats could be combined with wood ash and water to create a substance capable of cleaning. The product thus produced was not necessarily used to wash the body; it might have been used to clean textile fibers such as wool and cotton in preparation for weaving into cloth.

The Ebers papyrus (Egypt, 1550 BC) refers to medicinal use of soap. These texts suggest that ancient Egyptians combined both animal and plant oils with alkaline salts to create a substance used for threatening sores, skin aliments as well as washing.

The Gauls and the Romans combined goat’s tallow and the ashes of the beech tree to produce both hard and soft soap products. A soap factory complete with finished bars was discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, one of the cities destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. While the Romans are well known for their public baths, generally soap was not used for personal hygiene and bathing. During the early century of the Common Era soap was used as treatment for skin disease. The importance of soap for personal washing was recognized during the later centuries of the Roman era.

The Celts used animal fats and plant ashes to create their soap, and they named the product saipo, from which the word soap is derived.

As for the Arabs, they produced the soap from vegetable oil as olive oil or some aromatic oils such as thyme oil. They made perfumed and colored soaps, some of them were liquid and others were hard.

It’s common-sense advice. The surfactants found in soap lift germs from the skin, and water then washes them away. Soap is inexpensive and ubiquitous; it’s a consumer product found in every household across the country.

Yet few people know the long and dirty history of making soap, the product we all rely on to clean our skin. I’m a historian who focuses on material culture in much of my research. As I started digging into what’s known about soap’s use in the past, I was surprised to discover its messy origins.

Gross ingredients to clean things up

Ancient Mesopotamians were first to produce a kind of soap by cooking fatty acids – like the fat rendered from a slaughtered cow, sheep or goat – together with water and an alkaline like lye, a caustic substance derived from wood ashes. The result was a greasy and smelly goop that lifted away dirt.

An early mention of soap comes in Roman scholar Pliny the Elder’s book “Naturalis Historia” from A.D. 77. He described soap as a pomade made of tallow – typically derived from beef fat – and ashes that the Gauls, particularly the men, applied to their hair to give it “a reddish tint.”

Ancient people used these early soaps to clean wool or cotton fibers before weaving them into cloth, rather than for human hygiene. Not even the Greeks and Romans, who pioneered running water and public baths, used soap to clean their bodies. Instead, men and women immersed themselves in water baths and then smeared their bodies with scented olive oils. They used a metal or reed scraper called a strigil to remove any remaining oil or grime.

By the Middle Ages, new vegetable-oil-based soaps, which were hailed for their mildness and purity and smelled good, had come into use as luxury items among Europe’s most privileged classes. The first of these, Aleppo soap, a green, olive-oil-based bar soap infused with aromatic laurel oil, was produced in Syria and brought to Europe by Christian crusaders and traders.

French, Italian, Spanish and eventually English versions soon followed. Of these, Jabon de Castilla, or Castile soap, named for the region of central Spain where it was produced, was the best known. The white, olive-oil-based bar soap was a wildly popular toiletry item among European royals. Castile soap became a generic term for any hard soap of this type.

The settlement of the American colonies coincided with an age (1500s-1700s) when most Europeans, whether privileged or poor, had turned away from regular bathing out of fear that water actually spread disease. Colonists used soap primarily for domestic cleaning, and soap-making was part of the seasonal domestic routine overseen by women.

As one Connecticut woman described it in 1775, women stored fat from butchering, grease from cooking and wood ashes over the winter months. In the spring, they made lye from the ashes and then boiled it with fat and grease in a giant kettle. This produced a soft soap that women used to wash the linen shifts that colonists wore as undergarments.

In the new nation, the founding of soap manufactories like New York-based Colgate, founded in 1807, or the Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, founded in 1837, increased the scale of soap production but did little to alter its ingredients or use. Middle-class Americans had resumed water bathing, but still shunned soap.

Soap-making remained an extension of the tallow trade that was closely allied with candle making. Soap itself was for laundry. At the first P&G factory, laborers used large cauldrons to boil down fat collected from homes, hotels and butchers to make the candles and soap they sold.

From cleaning objects to cleaning bodies

The Civil War was the watershed. Thanks to reformers who touted regular washing with water and soap as a sanitary measure to aid the Union war effort, bathing for personal hygiene caught on. Demand for inexpensive toilet soaps increased dramatically among the masses.

Companies began to develop and market a variety of new products to consumers. In 1879, P&G introduced Ivory soap, one of the first perfumed toilet soaps in the U.S. B.J. Johnson Soap Company of Milwaukee followed with their own palm-and-olive-oil-based Palmolive soap in 1898. It was the world’s best-selling soap by the early 1900s.

Soap chemistry also began to change, paving the way for the modern era. At P&G, decades of laboratory experiments with imported coconut and palm oil, and then with domestically produced cottonseed oil, led to the discovery of hydrogenated fats in 1909. These solid, vegetable-based fats revolutionized soap by making its manufacture less dependent on animal byproducts. Shortages of fats and oils for soap during World Wars I and II also led to the discovery of synthetic detergents as a “superior” substitute for fat-based laundry soaps, household cleaners and shampoos.

Today’s commercially manufactured soaps are highly specialized, lab-engineered products. Synthesized animal fats and plant-based oils and bases are combined with chemical additives, including moisturizers, conditioners, lathering agents, colors and scents, to make soaps more appealing to the senses. But they cannot fully mask its mostly foul ingredients, including shower gels’ petroleum-based contents.

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