Original Soap

[BentonClay]

My shaving soap fantasy.
What if shaving soap was discovered, not invented? Textbooks attribute the invention of shaving soap to the Egyptians or some other historical people. But what if it is not an invention, but literally a gift from the heavens? Here's how it could have gone down:
In hundreds of campfires scattered across the globe, repeated over hundreds of generations, they cook their meat over a fire. The delicious fat sputters and lands on the ground. Later as the fire cools, someone says, "looks like rain" and they rush for the shelter of their tents. The next morning they see a sparkling deposit of bubbles in a shining layer atop of the previous nights ashes. And so it begins...
This original soap would have been closer to shaving soap than many modern formulations. Why? Because many shaving enthusiasts acknowledge the special role of both tallow and/or stearic acid and potassium hydroxide in differentiating a shaving soap from a cleansing soap. And these exact two things -- beef fat (tallow), and the ashes from a wood fire (potash) -- are our primal, campfire ingredients that only had to be activated by the trickling rainwater to show our ancestors the future of shaving soap, down through history, one campfire at a time. I for one am grateful for that gift.

 

[nemo]

I'll have some of what you're having, although it's not yet noon here on the west coast.

 

[frozenoak]

I think this is plausible. It makes sense as all the ingredients are there. It takes mixing for quite some time to get soap from the ingredients but I can see soap being a byproduct of a cooking fire in the open. The question becomes, how did they figure out that the weird stuff on the ground could be used to clean? And, who was shaving back then?

 

[SliceOfLife]

That’s literally how archaeologists think soap was discovered.

 

[BigJ]

My shaving soap fantasy.
What if shaving soap was discovered, not invented? Textbooks attribute the invention of shaving soap to the Egyptians or some other historical people. But what if it is not an invention, but literally a gift from the heavens? Here's how it could have gone down:
In hundreds of campfires scattered across the globe, repeated over hundreds of generations, they cook their meat over a fire. The delicious fat sputters and lands on the ground. Later as the fire cools, someone says, "looks like rain" and they rush for the shelter of their tents. The next morning they see a sparkling deposit of bubbles in a shining layer atop of the previous nights ashes. And so it begins...
This original soap would have been closer to shaving soap than many modern formulations. Why? Because many shaving enthusiasts acknowledge the special role of both tallow and/or stearic acid and potassium hydroxide in differentiating a shaving soap from a cleansing soap. And these exact two things -- beef fat (tallow), and the ashes from a wood fire (potash) -- are our primal, campfire ingredients that only had to be activated by the trickling rainwater to show our ancestors the future of shaving soap, down through history, one campfire at a time. I for one am grateful for that gift.

+2! Me too! Glad someone figured that out before I came along!!

 

[FarmerTan]

My soil is wonderfully loamy. It suds up like that with a good rain.

I should start selling mud baths!

 

[lancre]

My shaving soap fantasy.
What if shaving soap was discovered, not invented? Textbooks attribute the invention of shaving soap to the Egyptians or some other historical people. But what if it is not an invention, but literally a gift from the heavens? Here's how it could have gone down:
In hundreds of campfires scattered across the globe, repeated over hundreds of generations, they cook their meat over a fire. The delicious fat sputters and lands on the ground. Later as the fire cools, someone says, "looks like rain" and they rush for the shelter of their tents. The next morning they see a sparkling deposit of bubbles in a shining layer atop of the previous nights ashes. And so it begins...
This original soap would have been closer to shaving soap than many modern formulations. Why? Because many shaving enthusiasts acknowledge the special role of both tallow and/or stearic acid and potassium hydroxide in differentiating a shaving soap from a cleansing soap. And these exact two things -- beef fat (tallow), and the ashes from a wood fire (potash) -- are our primal, campfire ingredients that only had to be activated by the trickling rainwater to show our ancestors the future of shaving soap, down through history, one campfire at a time. I for one am grateful for that gift.

That’s literally how archaeologists think soap was discovered.

Coincidentally, my wife and I were having a discussion along those line at dinner last night. Wine was involved.
She's a retired chemist, and we met on an archeological dig.

 

[SliceOfLife]

That's like inceptioncidence.

 

[GaryTha]

A recipe for soap is in the bible:

Num 19:5
And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

Num 19:6
And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I would have assumed that was directions on how to perform an animal sacrifice.

 

[GaryTha]

I would have assumed that was directions on how to perform an animal sacrifice.

You might have, but it's the sacrifice of the red heifer. The purpose of the sacrifice is to make lye soap, which was used to purify areas where dead people had been. Given the small quantities used, it was probably symbolic.

 

[BentonClay]

That is awesome - a chemist and an archaeologist!

And great quote from scripture, adding depth to the idea that a sacrifice is meant to cleanse.

 

[GaryTha]

That is awesome - a chemist and an archaeologist!

And great quote from scripture, adding depth to the idea that a sacrifice is meant to cleanse.

In this case, yes. Reading further, you find the ashes from the red heifer were mixed with water that was used to cleanse people who had been in contact with dead people. Red heifers were rare, and it was sometimes generations between seeing one. Every hair had to be red. The heifer must have never done any work or had a rope around its neck.

The red heifer was called an "elevation offering" or in some translations a holocaust offering. The sense was it was transformed from physical to smoke. It was a symbol of elevation to sanctity in the service of G-d.

Other sacrifices were to recognize that a sin had already been forgiven. It's sort of like having a picnic at the king's palace after getting caught up on your taxes.

The Pesach (passover) offering was symbolic of throwing off the Egyptian false god and celebrating being "skipped over" by the Angel of Death.

There is no concept in Judaism of sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. There was no physical sacrifice for serious sins except for a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

 

[Ad Astra]

Thought the Celts invented soap. Hm.


AA

 

[Atlantic59]

No one really knows where soap came from originally, but it was known to the Babylonians and they left traces of it.

I think it might have been discovered when people were cleaning their cooking pots using wood ashes.

 

[Chandu]

I think Thag and Grok had a conversation about the campfire soap.

Thag: Grok, you try.
Grok: No, me did, no face feel
Thag: Next base better
Grok: When drop

 

[dmshaver]

I wonder if they had free shipping to get it into more homes caves. And what about online ordering?