What is the history of soap?

Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we dive into today's episode, we have some massive shout-outs to do.

Shout out to Theo, age 5, in Marquette, Michigan. And to brothers Callum, age 8, and Nolan, age 5, in Clayton, California.

A huge hello to Sisters Lana and Naomi, and to Lotti in Spain. You all asked for today's topic, which is the history of soap.

We also want to say a giant hello to five-year-old James in Seattle, who loves bees and listens on the drive to school. Keep buzzing, James.

And to eight-year-old Arul in London, who listens every day and asked about the history of India. Arul, we are definitely adding that to our upcoming list.

If you haven't already, tap follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode.

Now, Finn, I want you to close your eyes and imagine something for me. Imagine living in a world with no bubbly body wash, no fruit-scented shampoo, and no foaming hand soap.

Hahaha, that sounds like a really smelly world.

It was! Today, we are travelling back through 4,000 years of history to find out how humanity figured out how to get clean. From ancient ashes to scraping off sweat with a metal blade, to a brave doctor who saved millions of lives. Wait, people didn't always have soap? Nope. Imagine walking through a bustling ancient city, surrounded by thousands of people who hadn't washed with soap in well, ever.

That sounds like a stinky nightmare.

It was, but around 4,800 years ago, in ancient Babylon, which is modern-day Iraq, someone figured out a magical recipe. What was it?

Did it smell like lavender?

Not even close. In 2800 BC, Babylonians boiled animal fats, wood ashes, and water inside giant clay cylinders. They would cook it for hours over a fire until it turned into a gooey, slippery paste.

Animal fat and ashes? That sounds like a barbecue gone wrong, not a bath.

I know! But the chemical reaction, which we call saponification, created the first known soap. Archaeologists actually found this exact recipe carved in cuneiform writing on those ancient clay cylinders.

Wait, did they use it to wash their hair?

Not really. It was super harsh. They mostly used it to wash dirt and grease out of raw sheep's wool before weaving it into clothing, and sometimes to clean out cuts and scrapes. It wasn't the sweet-smelling, bubbly body wash we have today. Did the ancient Egyptians have soap? They used a similar trick.

Around 1500 BC, they mixed animal fats with alkaline salts from a place called the Valley of Natron to make a soap paste for treating skin diseases. Alkaline salts? What is that? It's a type of natural salt found in dry lake beds. The Egyptians realised that if you mix fat with this special salt, it creates a soapy substance that helped heal sores and keep their skin healthy in the hot desert sun.

Okay, but what about the ancient Romans? They loved taking baths, right? They did.

The Romans built massive public bathhouses, like the famous baths of Caracalla, which could hold 1,600 people at once. Whoa! That's like a giant indoor water park. Exactly. But they didn't use soap. Instead, they would cover their skin in a thick layer of olive oil to trap all the dirt, dust and sweat.

And then they just washed the oil off with water? Nope. They used a curved metal blade called a stridgel. They would scrape the dirty oil and sweat right off their bodies, flinging the muddy droplets onto the floor.

Haha, scrape it off, like a squeegee cleaning a car window.

Yes, and here is the grossest part. The scraped-off sweat, dirt and oil from Greek athletes, a mixture called Gloios, was actually scooped into little vials and sold for big money. Ew! Why? Who would buy athlete grime? People bought it to use as medicine. They rubbed it on their sore joints because they thought the sweat of a strong Greek athlete would magically heal them and make them strong too.

That is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. But what happened after the Romans? Did people finally start using soap?

Well, hundreds of years later, during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when the terrible plague was spreading through Europe, people stopped bathing almost completely. What? Why would they refuse to take a bath? Doctors mistakenly believed that warm water opened your pores and let the deadly sickness inside your body.

They literally thought taking a bath could kill you. So to stay safe, they just stayed dirty.

So if they didn't wash, they must have smelled terrible.

Oh, the smell was unbelievable. Whole cities reeked. People just wiped themselves with dry linen cloths and covered up the stink with extremely strong perfumes. But this fear of washing led to a massive problem in hospitals. Let's fast forward to 1847 at the Vienna General Hospital in Austria. It was one of the biggest hospitals in the world, but it had a dark secret.

What happened there? A young Hungarian doctor named Ignat Semmelweis noticed something terrifying in the maternity ward, where mothers had babies. Nearly 18% of the mothers, almost one out of every five, were dying of a terrible sickness called childbed fever. That's so sad. Why were so many dying? Semmelweiss became a medical detective.

He noticed there were two clinics in the hospital. In the first clinic, run by doctors and medical students, the death rate was incredibly high. But in the second clinic, run by midwives, the death rate was very low. That's a huge clue! What were the doctors doing differently? Semmelweiss realised that the medical students were doing autopsies on dead bodies in the morgue every morning.

Then, without washing their hands, they would walk straight upstairs to deliver babies in the afternoon. The midwives didn't do autopsies, so their hands were clean.

No way! They were carrying the sickness right to the mothers on their own hands. Exactly.

Except back then, in 1847, nobody knew what bacteria or germs were. Semmelweiss just suspected there were invisible cadaverous particles on their fingers. So what did he do to stop it? He created a strict rule. He ordered all his doctors to scrub their hands in a strong, foul-smelling chemical called chlorinated lime before touching any patients.

He chose it because he figured if it destroyed the horrible smells from the morgue, it might destroy the sickness too. Did the chlorinated lime work? It was a medical miracle. The death rate plummeted from over 18% down to just over 1% in only a few months. That's incredible!

He must have been a hero. Did they give him a medal? Actually, they fired him. Wait, why?

He just proved how to save lives. The older doctors were deeply insulted. Back then, gentlemen believed their hands were naturally clean. Dr. Charles Meggs actually said, doctors are gentlemen, and gentlemen's hands are clean. They refused to accept the science and actually mocked Semmelweiss until he had to leave the hospital.

That is so unfair. He was totally right. It was tragic. He died in 1865, without the world knowing he was a genius. But just a few years later, scientists like Louis Pasteur proved that germs are real. Today, Semmelweiss is honoured worldwide as the father of hand hygiene.

So every time a doctor washes their hands today, they are using his idea. That's a huge legacy.

Absolutely. And the history of soap kept evolving. In 1879, a chemist purposely whipped air into a batch of soap, intentionally inventing the famous ivory soap that actually floated in the bathtub.

Wow! Floating soap would be super easy to find under the bubbles.

Right? And today, we produce about 10 billion pounds of soap every single year.

10 billion pounds? That's as heavy as 14 Empire State Buildings made entirely of soap. I think I prefer that to scraping off oil with a metal stick.

Alright, Finn, it's time for our history of soap quiz. Are you ready to test your knowledge? I am so ready. Let's do this. First question. What ancient civilization invented the first soap recipe around 2800 BC? Next one. What was the name of the curved metal tool the Romans used to scrape off olive oil and sweat?

Question 3. Why did people in Europe stop bathing during the time of the plague? Here's number four. What was the name of the brave doctor in 1847 who made other doctors wash their hands? Last question. What foul smelling chemical did that doctor make his staff scrub their hands with? Great job! Let's see how you did.

The first answer is the ancient Babylonians. For question two, it was called a stridil. Number three, the answer is doctors thought warm water opened up your pores and let sickness inside your body. Question four. His name was Ignat Semelweiss. And the final answer is chlorinated lime.

Wow, from Babylonian ashes to scraping athlete sweat to washing hands to save lives, history is wild.

It really is. I'm definitely glad I just get to use regular, nice smelling soap in the shower today.

Me too. No athlete sweat for me, thanks.

If you enjoyed learning about the history of soap with us, please leave us a five-star review. Just scroll down on your podcast app and tap those five stars so more people can discover the show.

Oh, and we have sister shows too. Science and philosophy's not boring, and maths is not boring. Go give those a listen and a follow as well.

And if you want to shout out on the show or just want to say hi, email us at hello at kidopoly.com.

Thanks for listening. See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye!

What is the history of soap?

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