how did people keep themselves clean before soap was invented?
I found this text that mentioned that before soap people used different plants for cleaning: “Some plants can be used to help in washing clothes (such as the yucca, or “soapweed”), and these were commonly used before soap was available. The removal of oil from wool, called “fulling” since it also involved softening and felting the wool, used fuller’s earth, usually diatomaceous earth, which adsorbed the oil and was then washed out, again demonstrating the cat’s principle. A lye of wood ashes was popular for washing clothes, and probably for greasy dishes as well.” ——– Now I’m just wondering what did they use to get the plant smell off… Sources: http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/bubbles.
