Soap is a unique Arab invention, used first by Muslims hundreds of years before Europe. Ancient Egyptians bathed regularly and combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to create a soap-like substance. The ancient Romans were generally ignorant of soap's detergent properties.
The Arabs made soap from vegetable oil such as olive oil and some aromatic oils such as thyme oil. Lye was used for the first time, and the formula hasn't changed from the current soap sold today. From the beginning of the 7th century, soap was produced in Nablus (Palestine), Kufa (Iraq) and Basra (Iraq). Soaps, as we know them today, are descendants of historical Arabian soaps.
Arabian soap was perfumed and colored, some of the soaps were liquid and others were hard. They also had special soap for shaving. It was commercially sold for 3 Dirhams a piece in 981 CE.
Al-Razi’s manuscript contains recipes for soap. Manufactured bar soaps first became available only in the late nineteenth century in Europe. Only by the 1950s, had soap gained public acceptance as an instrument of personal hygiene in Europe and America.
Super Soap
