The Development and Efficacy of Handmade Soap

During the Song Dynasty, a type of artificially synthesized detergent emerged. It was made by crushing and grinding natural soapberry pods (also known as soapberry, hanging knife, or soapberry pods, commonly known as soapberry), adding spices and other ingredients, and making them into orange sized balls specifically for facial cleansing and body bathing, commonly known as "soap balls". The Song Dynasty's "Wulin Old Stories" Volume 6 "Small Brokerage" records that there were already merchants specializing in running "soap operas" in Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty scholar Li Shizhen recorded the method of making "soap balls" in his "Compendium of Materia Medica".

4000 years ago, the ancient Greeks used animals to worship the heavens. Due to the use of wood when burning animals, the ash of wood mixed with animal fat to produce a soap like yellow substance. There are records of using oil and plant ash containing potassium carbonate to make potassium soap and washing wool with this soap as early as 2500 BC. Since the 19th century, due to the development of the Loubulan alkali production method, soap production has entered an industrialized stage and reached its peak in the mid-20th century. In the late 1990s, the market share of domestic soap gradually expanded. And liquid soap, also known as shower gel, emerged.

The function of handmade soap is to clean and wash the skin. When used on the skin, it naturally removes dirt, skin secretions, excrement, chemicals, bacteria, and so on. In today's emphasis on beauty effects, removing cosmetics, skincare products, or drugs from the skin surface is also one of its main uses.