Soap

From various sources of research done over centuries, it seems that the Babylonians invented soap around 2,500 BC. They used to mix the fat of animals with shavings from wood and water. They used this mixture to clean the fur and skin of animals and to wash cotton, but they never used it to wash themselves. Then in around 1550 BC, the Egyptians were found to mix the fat of animals with oil taken from vegetables, mixed with salt, and they used this mixture to cure skin diseases and the wash themselves. The Greeks and Phoenicians invented something similar which they used to wash themselves. A soap factory found near Pompeii showed that the Romans also used soap. The kind of soap we use today was invented by the Arabs, and was a mixture of olive oil and other aromatic oils. They added perfume to their invention and so the soap became colorized and also smelling pretty nice. Their first soaps were both in the solid form as well as the liquid type. Liquid soap was not invented until the nineteenth century; in 1865, William Shepphard patented a liquid version of soap. In 1898, B.J. Johnson developed a soap derived from palm and olive oils; his company, the B. J. Johnson Soap Company, introduced 'Palmolive' brand soap that same year. This new brand of soap became popular rapidly, and to such a degree that B.J. Johnson Soap Company changed its name to Palmolive.