A Brief History of Soap
Intro
People have been making soap for thousands of years, and we’ve come a long way. Yet the heart of the recipe hasn’t changed: fat meets alkali, time does its work, and soap is born.
At Rancher’s Render, we carry that tradition forward with modern techniques and quality ingredients. Let's explore how the method evolved, and try to understand why the key ingredients that make soap, soap, have stayed remarkably consistent.
The Origins of Soap
Babylon [ ~2800 BCE ] Archaeologists uncovered clay cylinders inscribed with a curious recipe: water, alkali (ashes), and cassia oil. It wasn't soap as we know it, but a primitive cleansing paste used for washing wool.
Egypt [ ~1500 BCE ] Ancient papyrus texts describe combining animal fats with alkaline salts. This mixture was used, not for bathing, rather for more practical purposes: washing textiles and treating wounds. Soap was medicine and household maintenance, not luxury.
Rome [ 1st–2nd century CE ] Legend tells of Mount Sapo, where animal sacrifices left fat that mingled with ash, running down into the river below. Women washing clothes there noticed their laundry came cleaner. Myth aside, Roman and Gallic recipes confirm the truth: real soap was being made from animal fat (tallow or lard) mixed with ash, forming the foundations of the soaps we recognize today.
The Middle Ages
[ 7th - 13th Century ]
*We're already 3,400 years from where our soap story began in Babylon.
To make soap, you must have a source of fat.
Soap makers in different parts of the world used the ingredients that were readily available to them. Geography became destiny. And, soap recipes split into two traditions:
Northern Europe: Hardy Practicality of Tallow
Cattle and sheep grazed the countryside, and their fat became the base for everyday soap. Soap here was about utility, not indulgence. These tallow soaps were perfect for scrubbing linens — but often too harsh for delicate skin.
The Mediterranean: Luxurious Indulgence of Olive Oil.
Further south, in trading cities like Aleppo, Castile, and Marseille, olive groves shaped the landscape. Local makers discovered that olive-oil soaps produced something altogether different: gentler, smoother, and fragrant. These soaps became sought-after trade goods, symbols of refinement as much as cleanliness.
Colonial America
[ 1600s–1700s ]
*4,400 years had passed since Babylon's first recipe.
Soap was common during this time period.
But, this was not the smooth, perfumed bar we imagine today.
Making soap was an annual chore for most families who would save animal fats for months, then hauled out heavy iron pots to mix them with lye leached from wood ashes. The result was a coarse, brownish soap that smelled of its origins. Colonial soap was rough and caustic, often reserved for laundry and scrubbing household goods.
Bathing with soap was uncommon, even frowned upon by many who feared frequent washing might invite illness. This was not the smooth, perfumed bar we imagine today.
Soap was essential. It lived on the farmstead calendar — something made once a year, rationed carefully, and used sparingly. The leap from seasonal utility to everyday necessity was still decades away.
The Industrial Revolution (1800s)
The Rise of Industry. By the early 1800s, soap was shifting from farm chore to factory product. Advances in chemistry and mass production transformed the recipe from something homemade and harsh into something milder, consistent, and more widely available.
Procter & Gamble. In 1837, a small Cincinnati company founded by William Procter and James Gamble began producing soap on a commercial scale. What had once been boiled in backyard kettles was now made in industrial vats, cut into uniform bars, and sold in stores.
A New Habit. As prices dropped and quality improved, soap spread into everyday life. By the mid- to late-1800s, more than half of American households were using soap for personal hygiene — a dramatic cultural shift from the centuries when soap was for laundry alone.
The Daily Ritual. Within just a few generations, soap went from scarce to ubiquitous. The annual soap pot was replaced by store-bought bars, and for the first time, washing with soap became a daily ritual instead of a seasonal chore.
Conclusion
The earliest soaps were born from animal fat and ash — functional, rustic, and essential to daily life. Time and geography forced soaps to evolve:
- Tallow soap = Northern European tradition (practical, hardy)
- Olive oil soap = Mediterranean tradition (gentler, luxury)
At Rancher's Render, our cold-processed tallow soap carries those ancient traditions forward using the same basic process & ingredients. It's the same chemistry discovered 5,000 years ago in Babylon, refined for today.
What's the difference? Modern techniques allow us to measure precise ratios and carefully balance our grass-fed tallow with olive, coconut, almond oils to achieve the softness and creamy lather those first soaps lacked.
