Soap: back in the day

[salkehatchie]

OK...the Mrs. was getting our gear ready for Ft.de Chartres and...she was asking what they would have used for soap back in the 1700's. Lye soap, got it. "Dish" soap and the like? I know they used sand and the rushes for scouring pans.

Thank you!

 

[Woods Dweller]

“Kirk's Castile” bar soap was manufactured and sold for public use in 1839. But it was around much longer. It is still sold today, and can be bought at stores.
I get it at Publex Supermarket. It makes a great lather and is great for the hair.

The Rody's I have gone to always have someone selling home made soap. There are also recipes on line.

 

[salkehatchie]

Woods:

Thank you. Jogged the Mrs. memory banks. She thinks she has seen it at our local "hippy" store as she calls it.

 

[Birdman]

not many worry to much about "what" kind of soap ya use, just take dish soap, put it into a different style container thats more correct n feel free to use it. We all want to be as correct as possable , thats a given but health/cleaness n such is one thing EVERYBODY bends the rules on. Personally I use Ivory bar soap here at home as well as at events, ya can't get much more PC with a commercial made product then it is, for the pots n dishs we usually have a small glass bottle with Dawn in it.just some thoughts YMHS Birdman

 

[matt denison]

Kirk's Castile is the way to go. It works for washing up, you can wash your hair with it, do dishes with it, I've even used it a weeklong rendezvous to wash out a smelly shirt or two and it works. And it is as PC as anything you can buy commercially. We use it at home too. No bad perfumy smell, rinses clean, is inexpensive. I'll bet you could brush your teeth with it if need be. We get it at the local grocery store.

 

[cynthialee]

My honey makes lye soap. Good stuff. Other than the scents added and the molds used it is pretty much old tyme soap.
I love the stuff and use it for hand soap. Lathers well and gets things clean.
It is actualy not to difficult to make. The hardest thing for her to make the soap is finding pure lye. Seems the druggies are using it to make dope and as a result it is getting harder to find.

If you want a pc/hc soap then do some research online, secure the ingrediants and give it a go. Home made soap is simple to make. Just be aware that lye is DANGEROUS. Follow any instructions faithfully and wear protective gear.


Edit to add: or just buy some home made soap. Etsy.com has plenty of hand crafted stuff like soaps.

 

[jamesthomas]

I've been using lye soap for past 3 or 4 years, my older brother and his wife makes it.

 

[William O.]

I buy home made lye soap at local historical events and such but you can also order them online, including New Castle; http://turkeyfootllc.com/Handmadesoaps.html http://www.lyesoap.com/ http://www.smokymountainlyesoap.com/ http://www.texassoap.com/item_11/Old-Fashioned-Lye-Soap.htm
Here's instructions for making lye soap;
http://www.grandpappy.info/wsoap.htm

You can make soap flakes with a cheese grater and a hard lye soap, good for washing clothes with in that period correct, 10 gallon tin basin- :haha:

 

[crockett]

The Castile soap- I think was on some of the inventory lists of goods sent to the mountain men/ rendezvous. The old Foxfire books had a chapter on lye soap making. On the campfire comments, I've been told the wood ashes from the campfire and the grease in the pan sort of make a soap.

 

[cynthialee]

My granny used to make a soap from greese and ash. It was used as laundry soap.

 

[buford87]

When everything you had was what you made lye was made from water run through a wooden barrel of wood ashes. The water was caught and mixed with some type of fat over a fire and then poured into a shallow pan or into some type of mold and allowed to cooled then cut to size..............watch yer top knot..............

 

[jbtusa]

Kirk's would also work for lather if you use a straight razor.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I have made both Castile soap (olive oil for the fat) and regular lye & lard. They work well, but they do need to age a bit before use, so don't necessarily whip up a batch today for use next weekend. Two weeks to a month in some cases is needed.

As for shaving soap, any soap will work this is true, I have tried plain bar soap, and even baby oil. However, actual shaving soap for a straight razor that is applied with a shaving brush often/usually has bentonite clay mixed in, as well as several different fats/oils. The clay really helps to protect the skin from too much exfoliation.

I also use lye soap to wash my 18th century clothes, though not my uniform coats.

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

When everything you had was what you made lye was made from water run through a wooden barrel of wood ashes

True, but, I believe, more often the ashes were placed in a large 'V' shaped contraption (I forget the term :redface: ) and water poured through that. The lye water would be collected at the bottom and mixed with hog lard for soap. Other fats might have been used but hog lard was the best.
At ronny's, other events, I prefer real lye soap. I use it after being in the woods. Washing soon after a woods experience will take off poison ivy before it has a chance to ruin yer day. When I had my farm I would buy real lye soap whenever I could and shower with it whenever I came in from working outside.

 

[Jim Blair]

A little history
http://www.alcasoft.com/soapfact/historycontent.html

 

[crockett]

The V shaped trough with a crack in the bottom- that's the set up they gave in one of the Foxfire books on how to make wood ash lye.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well IF you do it with wood ashes, you get KOH, potassium hydroxide, and that gives you when used with lard..., soft soap. I am told. I am also told that soft-soap was the common soap that was home made.

Castile (Spanish) soap was/is a hard soap. Olive oil was the fat base, and they may have used some sea water in it to make it harden. (I am told that adding some salt to the water in traditional soft-soap will help it harden up.) Castile would lather with sea water when washing clothes, so was popular with sailors, which then resulted in it being traded to other ports outside of Spain, and it became popular with the public..., who could afford to buy soap. Hard soap is easier to transport too.

The soap that I have made is with potassium hydroxide (NaOH) aka Lye, and that makes a hard soap. This is what most folks today use, dissolved in distilled water or in rain water. Minerals in tap water will mess with the formation of the soap.

Use whatever you need to wash dishes. IF you are really worried about having some clear soap, perhaps bright green or bright blue..., look for a dish soap that is milk white.

I draw the line at food-born-illnesses when it comes to authenticity :shocked2: . So use what you need to use first; worry about appearances later.

LD

 

[Black Hand]

The soap that I have made is with potassium hydroxide (NaOH) aka Lye, and that makes a hard soap.

NaOH is Sodium Hydroxide
KOH is Potassium Hydroxide
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/...ydroxide-Naoh-And-Potassium-Hydroxide-Koh.htm

 

[George]

I've used various lye soaps over the years, for everything needed on a trek or in camp. They work better than most people think.

From upper left clockwise, plain brown lye soap, plain white lye soap, lye soap with bayberry added for the smell and oatmeal for m'lady's skin, Castile soap from Colonial Williamsburg.

Plain brown suds:

Plain white suds:

They lather fairly well in cold water.

Spence

 

[pargent]

What is soap ?