Soap Making Overview Making soap requires the chemical reaction of an acid and a base.
Water is added to the process.
Animals were sacrificed on alters with fire. Eventually the rains would wash the animal fats and wood ashes down the mountain into the Tiber River. The soap mixture was found useful for washing clothing, fur and skin. By 312BC soaps were used in the Roman Baths when it was deemed good for cleansing and general health. By about the seventh century soap making guilds began to spring up with closely guarded trade secrets.