History of Soapmaking
4000 BC "Purifying Oils", recorded on Hebrew Tablets, mention the use of cleaning aids, possibly ashes, limestone and oil mixed together to make the first recorded "soap".
100 AD Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 AD – August 25, 79), better known as Pliny the Elder, writesabout soapy dyes used to cleanse and dye hair.
800 AD Soap making becomes recognized as an art in Italy and Spain.
1300 AD France becomes the leader in soap making using imported oils rather than animal tallow.
1622 King James I grants special privileges to the artisans in the soap making industry.
1630 Colonial Americans, faced with a shortage of soap from England, begin producing soap in the home. Cooking grease, animal tallow and ashes were stored and yearly were cooked into soap for the following year.
1730 Tallow Chandlers and Soap Boilers appeared in the early 18th century. They would go door to door buying grease and tallow, later to sell it back as soap.
1780 Mass distribution began in local and outlying areas to general stores, stage coach stops, and hotels. The art of producing soap in the home was waning.
1837 William Proctor, a candle maker; and James Gamble, a soap maker, formed a partnership to manufacture and sell their products. The two men were responsible for producing and distributing low cost, high quality soap products. Sales reach an unprecedented $1,000,000. Even today, their insight into mass-marketing and distribution are studied in college marketing classes.
1930 With the Great Depression, distribution was failing; money was in short supply, so homeowners began the search for soap recipes. It was during this period that daytime Radio dramas were introduced to the America home. Today, we know them as "The Soap Opera"!
1940 The Government was buying all of the commercially available grease to produce glycerin, used to produce weapons. This produced another shortage of soap, and home production was still strong.
1950 A boom economy makes consumable goods readily available again. The automobile was a fixture, TV's were everywhere and the art of soap making begins to decline.
2001 Julie Wehmeyer-Longstreet starts making goat milk soap under the name of Mystic Wind Bath Products, changing it to The Edelweiss Soap Company (in honor of her German heritage) in 2008.
Enjoy!
