Soap Making

Marketing directors worldwide will tell you that, in order to sell a new product, people must be convinced that: ·          It will enhance their sex drive. ·          It will lengthen their lives. ·          They will be socially unacceptable without it. And so it came to pass that some biblical whizzkid spotted a gap in the market and proclaimed 'Cleanliness is next to godliness' , sending people the world over in search of purifying and cleansing agents with which to improve their lot. In those early days, tree bark and herbs such as soapwort were used to enhance ablutions. However, in the 8th century, the Italians and the Spanish set about creating what we now call soap from goat fat and beech tree ash. The French (a stylish bunch of people) introduced the concept of replacing the animal fat - or tallow - with olive oil. While the pioneers of America traditionally treated soap making as a home craft, creating sodium hydroxide by leaving rainwater to dri