January 1st, 2010
Just look at those hands!
Did you actually think
That the dirt would come off, my daughter,
By wiggling your fingers
Around in the sink
And slapping the top of the water
Just look at your face!
Did you really suppose
Those smudges would all disappear
With a dab at your chin
And the tip of your nose
And a rub on the back of one ear?
You tell me your face
And your fingers are clean?
Do you think you old Dad is a dope?
Let’s try it again
With a different routine.
This time we’ll make use of the soap!
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December 26th, 2009
As The World Turns
As the World Turns, Proctor and Gamble’s last soap opera is going off the air with it’s last episode (the 13,661st!) to air in September. Their other remaining soap opera, Guiding Light, was canceled in April, 2009. That ends their 76 years in the soap opera business.
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Posted in Soap In the Media | No Comments »
October 24th, 2009
I am reading a series of books by S. M. Stirling about what happens when civilization as we know it loses electricity, internal combustion, and gunpowder, as the result of an event the author calls “The Change”. In the years after the Change, the inhabitants of the Willamette Valley in Oregon have learned to cope, to raise crops, build water wheels, tan hides, prepare and store foods, weave and dye, but the author misses the boat on soap.
In one scene, a character is washing up after delivering a lamb with ” a chunk of strong-smelling lye soap” (at which his daughter “wrinkled her nose”) and he had to rinse well to get the “lye soap” out of his eyes and the “harsh soap” out of his mouth.
You’d think that the author would have done enough research to know that the science of making soap is something that is not affected by electricity, internal combustion or gunpowder. In fact, in the artistic and creative society he describes, the soap produced could (and most likely would) be not only good soap, it would be much better than “store-bought” soap from before the Change.
Authors, if you are describing handmade soap, here are a few facts to take into consideration:
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Posted in Soap In the Media | 2 Comments »
September 17th, 2009
International Clean Hands Week is September 20 - 26, 2009. This is part of a bigger campaign by the Clean Hands Coalition to help people, especially children, understand the importance of handwashing to stay healthy. As Martha would say, “This is a good thing.”
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September 15th, 2009
I was looking through my book of Hall’s Journal of Health (1859), and found an interesting article in the August issue of that year. It piqued my interest, so I did a little research.
Here’s the article:
Best Tooth Wash
On one occasion, a correspondent for a water-cure journal inquired if a statement of ours was true, that washing the teeth with pure white soap had a tendency to prevent to collection of tartar on the teeth. The editor replied simply, “It is all fudge.”
He, perhaps, could not conceive how such a thing a common as soft soap could keep the teeth clear of tartar accretions, which were so hard that a steel instrument is employed by dentists to remove them. He evidently did not know that recent chemical and microscopical investigations, carefully conducted with all the aids of dental science, had demonstrated that this tartar was the product of a living insect , upon which neither vinegar nor tobacco juice had any effect whatever, but which was instantly destroyed by soap-suds; and following up this fact, persons have kept their teeth perfectly clear of re-accumulations of tartar, by simply washing them with white soap and brush, night and morning. Now and then it will fail, because some tartar is made by an insect which is but little affected by soapsuds.
Okay, so the information IS 150 years old, and the “insects” he is referring to are probably bacteria. But there’s plenty of evidence to support the fact that soap kills bacteria.
So why isn’t all “toothpaste” made out of soap? Oh MY!! The controversy!! It’s as bad as Roswell and Area 51. Not an arena I want to step into here.
I did find some information that deals with research on the use of soap instead of commercial toothpaste formulations.
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Posted in Uses for Soap | 1 Comment »
May 8th, 2009
I’m off to the Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild 2009 Conference in Palm Springs bright and early tomorrow morning!
Very excited about it - this will probably be our best conference yet.
Leigh, the Conference Chairman, is already there and has created a short preview video. Check it out!
Posted in Soap Business | 1 Comment »
April 28th, 2009
Marilyn Chambers with her Ivory Snow box
I don’t follow the news much, so I missed the fact that Marilyn Chambers, star of Behind the Green Door, one of the first “main-stream” porn films, died earlier this month. I only found out when it was briefly mentioned in People magazine.
What I found interesting was the note that before Marilyn made her move into sexually explicit films, she was on the Ivory Soap Box.
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April 28th, 2009
In 1952, soap made it into the hit song parade! Johnny Standly had a mega hit song called “It’s In The Book”. The first part of it is a parody of Little Bo Peep in the form of a Southern Revival sermon, the second part is a song, called “Grandma’s Lye Soap”
I’ve edited out the first part (since this is, after all, a blog about soap trivia).
Listen to Grandma’s Lye Soap (mp3 file - most computers should be able to play it).
Enjoy!
Posted in Soap In the Media | 1 Comment »
April 26th, 2009
Here are some more EO blends from The Manual of Toilet Soap-Making by Dr. C. Deite.
The amounts given in the book are for scenting a soap batch using 50 kilos of oil; I’ve adjusted them down so the amounts shown below are for a soap batch containing 5 kilos (11 pounds) of oil. The names of the soaps are as given in the book.
Family Soap
11 gr. ginger-grass oil
21 gr citronella oil
7 gr lemongrass oil
7 gr cassia oil
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April 25th, 2009
Poster - www.washup.org
As we all know, washing with soap and water is one of the very best ways to prevent the spread of disease, including colds, flu, and other illnesses. The CDC has long been promoting the benefits of washing with soap and water. But a study by the The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) and the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) showed that:
- One-third of men don’t wash their hands in public restrooms
- 88% of women do lather up after using public facilities
- 92% say they wash their hands in public restrooms, but only 77% were observed actually doing so
So, the SDA and ASM have teamed up to produce hand hygiene educational brochures to help inform both adults and children of the benefits of hand-washing with soap and water. It’s another way to promote the benefits of soap.
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Posted in Soap Business, Uses for Soap | 1 Comment »
