Used to be making soap was a dirty job, especially something like ivory, which was discovered by accident, they stirred the fat too long or something. used to be homemade soap was rendered from fat and lye, farmer saved all the fat and then turned it into soap.
Actually, the story goes that someone at the Ivory soap factory forgot to turn off the mixer, thereby whipping air into the soap batch and rendering it floatable. It is not "purity" which makes Ivory float. It's merely air.
I make soap for a living, and even though I use only vegetable oils (no animal fat rendering for this vegetarian), it is truly still a dirty job.
