Editing Soap (section)

===Modern period===
Industrially manufactured ''bar soaps'' became available in the late 18th century, as advertising campaigns in Europe and America promoted popular awareness of the relationship between cleanliness and health.<ref>{{cite book |last=McNeil |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxsOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA203 |title=An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-415-01306-2 |pages=2003–205 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505145316/https://books.google.com/books?id=uxsOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA203 |archive-date=2016-05-05 |url-status=live}}</ref> In modern times, the use of soap has become commonplace in industrialized nations due to a better understanding of the role of [[hygiene]] in reducing the population size of [[pathogenic]] [[microorganisms]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ahveninen |first=Anna |date=2020-03-31 |title=Hand sanitiser or soap: making an informed choice for COVID-19 |url=https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/hand-sanitiser-or-soap-making-informed-choice-covid-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805233531/https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/hand-sanitiser-or-soap-making-informed-choice-covid-19 |archive-date=2020-08-05 |access-date=2020-08-04 |website=Curious |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Dobbins' medicated toilet soap, advertising, 1869.jpg|Advertising for Dobbins' medicated toilet soap
File:Palmolive soap 1922 advertisement ladies home journal.jpeg|A 1922 magazine advertisement for [[Colgate-Palmolive|Palmolive Soap]]
File:Liquid antibacterial soap.jpg|Liquid soap
File:Pexels-pixabay-433624.jpg|A soap dispenser
</gallery>

[[File:langtry cartoon.png|thumb|upright|Caricature of [[Lillie Langtry]], from ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', Christmas 1890: The soap box on which she sits reflects her endorsements of cosmetics and soaps.]]
Until the [[Industrial Revolution]], soapmaking was conducted on a small scale and the product was rough. In 1780, [[James Keir]] established a chemical works at [[Tipton]], for the manufacture of alkali from the sulfates of [[potash]] and soda, to which he afterwards added a soap manufactory. The method of extraction proceeded on a discovery of Keir's. In 1790, [[Nicolas Leblanc]] discovered how to make alkali from [[common salt]].<ref name="Foreman" /> [[Andrew Pears]] started making a high-quality, transparent soap, [[Pears (soap)|Pears soap]], in 1807 in London.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pears, Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFlJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA100 |title=The Skin, Baths, Bathing, and Soap |publisher=The author |year=1859 |pages=100– |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504074628/https://books.google.com/books?id=yFlJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA100 |archive-date=2016-05-04 |url-status=live}}</ref> His son-in-law, [[Thomas J. Barratt]], became the brand manager (the first of its kind) for Pears in 1865.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glenday |first=Craig |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/200 |title=Guinness World Records 2014 |year=2013 |isbn=9781908843159 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/200 200]|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited }}</ref> In 1882, Barratt recruited English actress and socialite [[Lillie Langtry]] to become the poster-girl for Pears soap, making her the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product.<ref>{{cite news |title=When Celebrity Endorsers Go Bad |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2002/02/03/when-celebrity-endorsers-go-bad/260776e6-d38c-4319-b683-eb466c499dce/ |url-status=live |access-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116081428/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2002/02/03/when-celebrity-endorsers-go-bad/260776e6-d38c-4319-b683-eb466c499dce/ |archive-date=16 November 2022 |quote=British actress Lillie Langtry became the world's first celebrity endorser when her likeness appeared on packages of Pears Soap.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Jef I. |title=A History of Advertising: The First 300,000 Years |date=2022 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=286}}</ref>

[[William Gossage]] produced low-priced, good-quality soap from the 1850s. [[Robert Spear Hudson (soap)|Robert Spear Hudson]] began manufacturing a soap powder in 1837, initially by grinding the soap with a [[mortar and pestle]]. American manufacturer [[Benjamin T. Babbitt]] introduced marketing innovations that included the sale of bar soap and distribution of [[product sample]]s. [[William Hesketh Lever]] and his brother, [[James Lever|James]], bought a small soap works in [[Warrington]] in 1886 and founded what is still one of the largest soap businesses, formerly called Lever Brothers and now called [[Unilever]]. These soap businesses were among the first to employ large-scale [[advertising]] campaigns.