A Brief History of Soap
References to soap have been found in Sumerian clay tablets dating back as far as 2500 BC, and it is believed that the Babylonians were making soap as early as 2800 BC. At the ruins in Pompeii, archeologists uncovered a complete soap-making factory, with whole finished bars of soap still intact.
The earliest soap recipes were crude mixtures of animal fat, wood ashes and water (a blend known as potash) boiled in a cauldron over an open fire. The resulting soft soap mixture was used for the cleaning of clothes and the body.