Soap

Soap making was largely a household chore until the 19th century. Here's a brief history on the development of soap.

1811 Michel Eugene Chevreul, a French chemist discovered the chemical nature and relationship of fats, glycerine and fatty acids. His studies produced the basic studies for fat and soap chemistry.

1850's A Belgian chemist, Ernest Solvay, advanced the technology with an ammonia process, which used common table salt, or sodium chloride to make soda ash. Solvay's process reduced the cost of alkali and improved the quality of the soda ash.

By 1850 the soap making industry was on of the fastest growing in America. This changed the item from a luxury to an everyday necessity. Which led to the development of milder soaps for bathing.

1857 Cotton seed oil is now being used to produce soap, in Southern areas.

During the Civil War soap became scarce. Southern women became creative and discovered a salt substitute (which was used to harden the soap) prickly pear.

In Field & Fireside dated March 8, 1862 a receipt for soap was listed.
"Take one gallon of strong lye, add a half pound of shucks, cut up fine. Let the shucks boil in the lye until they are reduced to shreds. Then fish the shreds out, and put half a pound of crackling grease in, or six ounces of lard, and boil until it is sufficiently thick to make a good soap.

By 1869 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote, "Formerly, in New England, soap and candles were made in each separate family; now, comparatively few take this toil upon themselves. We buy soap of the soap-boiler, and candles of the candle-factor."

1898 Ivory Soap Post

Below is a copy of an 1898 Ad for Ivory Soap. I love the claim that "It Floats."

READY FOR BATTLE

An Ivory Soap bath gives a sensation of increased vitality; a longing for activity and for exercise of the faculties; it is a fitting preparation for any battle of life.

Every ingredient of Ivory Soap is sweet, clean and pure. No better materials go into the most expensive toilet soaps, and no soap is so pleasant to use; it has a rich creamy lather that is soothing to the skin as well as cleansing.

IT FLOATS

Soap

Over the years I've posted a few posts on soap. Below are some recipes from The Cumberland Valley Cook & General Recipe Book ©1881. And below that are some links to former posts as well as a link to a book on Google.

How To Make Soap.—Slack 5 lbs. lime with hot water, then add 6 1/2 lbs. soda ash to it, and pour 4 1/2 large buckets of boiling water on it; then stir well, let stand over night; then pour the clear lye to 15 lbs. rendered fat, or 25 lbs. bacon 3kins, into a kettle. Then pour 4 buckets boiling water on the soda ash, and lime again to make your lye. Now boil your fat 1 hour, then add 1 1/2 pts. salt, boil 1 hour longer; then put the soap into a tub, let stand over night, replace it in the kettle again and pour the 4 buckets of weak lye to it. Boil 2 hours, then add 1 1/2 pts. more salt. Boil half an hour.
Hard Soap.—To 6'lbs. soap-fat, take 6 lbs. soda, and 3 lbs. lime. Boil the soda and lime in 4 gals, of water, pour off the clear liquor, taking care to get no sediment. Add this to your fat, boil until soap, pour it out, and when cold, cut as desired. This needs no salting.
Soap.—6 lbs. good lime, 6 lbs. soda ash, 12 lbs. rendered fat, 15 gals, water. Put the lime and soda ash in the kettle with all the water, and let it boil from 5 to 10 minutes smartly. Then put in a tub to settle, which it will do in a few minutes. Dip it back into the kettle and add the fat. Boil 4 or 5 hours. No salt, or it will be ruined.
Erasive Soap.—2 oz. aqua ammonia, 1 oz. white shaving soap, 1 teaspoon saltpetre, 1 qt. soft water.
The sender of the above recipe says it is worth ten dollars to any family, and costs but little to try it.
For Removing Grease, Etc.—2 oz. castile soap, 2 oz. strongest ammonia, 1/2 oz. ether, 1/2oz. alcohol, cut the soap fine and heat in a pint of soft water until dissolved; then add 1/2 gal. more water and all the ingredients. Keep corked tight. Cleans all kinds of cloth, carpets, paints, glass, etc., and is a good shampoo for the head. Use sponge, and rinse afterward in clear water. Cost of the above ingredients, 25 cents.

Below is a list of former posts:
Soap

1893 Soap Ad & 1869 Soap Recipes

Phosphate Soap

Soap Substitute Recipe

Google Book Resources:
The Art of Soap Making

Shaving Cream

Today we get it out of a can but this was not the case not that long ago, especially during the 19th Century. Below is some basic information and recipes for making the shaving cream of the past.

Soft Toilet Soaps Of Potash.
Shaving Creams.
White Soft Soap.
Soaps of potash are among the most valuable cosmetics prepared by the soap-maker or perfumer, and much care should be exercised in having the purest materials, the greatest cleanliness, and the true equivalents of the parts, as any carelessness in them particularly deteriorates the quality of the product.

To prepare this soap very white, operate in the following manner:—
Melt in a sheet-iron kettle of a capacity of about 50 gallons, 50 pounds of white fat, and 13 lbs. of cocoa oil. When the fatty matters are entirely melted, add 50 lbs. of lye of potash at 20° or 21° B. Stir all the time, so as to aid the saponification, the temperature being kept at from 60 to 65.5° C. (140° to 150° F.). Under the influence of heat and stirring, the aqueous part of the lye evaporates and the mixture acquires a thicker consistency. Sometimes it happens that a part of the fatty matters separates; this effect is produced especially when the temperature of the mixture is raised near the boiling point, because at that temperature, concentrated lyes have little affinity for fatty substances. This effect may also be produced by the insufficiency of alkali in the mixture. In the first case the homogeneity is re-established by moderating the action of the heat, and in the other, by pouring into the kettle a portion of strong lye necessary to complete the saponification.
This first stage of the operation lasts about four hours. To obtain a perfect soap, add a new portion of 10 lbs. of lye of potash at 16° B., and be careful to keep the mixture very uniform by a continual stirring. Keep the temperature below the boiling point, and as much as possible between 60° and 65.5° C. (140° and 150° F.).
The saponification is finished when the paste has acquired a very thick consistency; at this point turn off the heat.
Many perfumers prepare this soap in iron kettles with a double bottom, heated by steam; some use silver kettles which are preferable, because the soap will retaiu in them all its whiteness.

Almond Shaving Cream.
Take a few pounds of the above soft soap, introduce it into a marble mortar, and strongly triturate with a wooden pestle. The operation is finished when the soap forms a soft and homogeneous paste; the more it is beaten, the finer it will be. To perfume it, incorporate from \\ to 2 drachms of oil of bitter almonds per pound.
Thus prepared, this soap forms an unctuous paste very soluble in water. When it contains some cocoa-nut oil, it is yet softer.

Rose Shaving Cream.
To give this soap a slight rose color, when pearling add one-quarter to one-half a drachm of vermilion per pound of soap, perfume with otto of rose; it then takes the name of rose shaving cream.
Ambrosial Shaving Cream, Crime d'Ambrosie. — Perfume with liquid storax and benzoin, oils of bergamot and cloves, and color purple with tincture of archil.

Shaving Cream By Boiling.
In some instances, a soap by boiling will prove more satisfactory, particularly when it is mixed and milled with a soda soap to form shaving tablets. The cream is rarely of so white a color as that made by the cold process. To proceed, take 30 pounds of white grease to 45 pounds of potash-lye of 17° B., and boil gently while stirring, until a paste is formed, when boil more briskly until the vapors nearly cease, and the soap forms into an almost perfect jelly when it is finished, and when cold it should be almost neutral.
Source: A Technical Treatise on Soap and Candles ©1881