Skin cleansers : A little bit of History

First, I want to thank you "Touchy" for your kindness and the book about surfactants you lent to me .. Merci à toi ^_^!!

For what's following, I will take the information as they are from that book, chapter "Surfactants For Skin Cleansers" PAUL THAU, Technology Surveillance, Inc., Clark, New Jersey.

<< Soap is the forerunner of modern-day skin cleansers and originated in the Ancient civilizations bordering the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians were certainly familiar with the use of soap as early as 600 B.C. They carried it to the South of France, and from there its use spread to Spain, Italy and Germany.

The importance of adequate skin cleansing to health was clearly proved after the soapmaker's art was lost with the fall of the Roman empire.

The soapless centuries between 500 A.D and 1500 A.D were notorious for the devastating plagues that nearly depopulated an unhygienic Western Europe.

Soap remained a rare commodity until about 1791 when the French surgeon Nicholas Leblanc discovered an inexpensive method of obtaining alkali from sodium chloride.

Within a decade, soap making techniques became available to all, and soap became an item of daily use. >>

After soaps, other skin cleansers appeared just as shower gels. We will see in the next chapter why all those skin cleansers are so important for hygien.