Sudsy Starts | Portland
Did you know people have been using soap for up to 5000 years?
It's true, according to ancient cuneiform tablets, Sumerian people were using a combination of ash and fat to clean up tough messes. Ancient Egyptians recorded recipes for soap on papyrus scrolls in 1500 B.C.
Soap use declined after the fall of the Roman Empire- as a matter of fact, it's believed that the decline in hygiene was in part responsible for the rise of the bubonic plague, aka the Black Death. Many people blame the Catholic Church for discouraging daily bathing (apparently too "pagan,") but the truth is- early soaps didn't smell very good. It's true, boiled animal fat and ash don't always smell awesome.
Today, our soaps smell great, or like nothing at all if that's what you want. You can choose if you want a lot of suds, or hardly any. We have come a long way from beating our clothes against rocks near a river to get them clean.
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