ABSTRACT
Although the origin of soap is not very clear, it is widely accepted that some form of primitive soap making methods existed several thousand years ago dating to as far back as 2000 BC. For many centuries, soaps were made by heating a mixture of animal fats (tallow) with lye, a basic solution obtained from wood ashes (1). Until the late 18th century, soap was considered a luxury item available only to the royalty and the social upper class. Today, soaps are produced using a variety of much more refined processes and different fats and oils, resulting in finished products that deliver consumer-relevant performance benefits with desirable aesthetics (1). In this section, the authors will discuss the chemical and physical properties of commercial soap bars with a focus on skin cleansing, the raw materials needed, the manufacturing and process requirements, and the final finished product performance evaluations.
