Soap is known to have been used as a surfactant for washing clothes since the Sumerian time in 2,500 B.C. In ancient Egypt, soda was used as a wash additive. In the 19th century, synthetic surfactants began to be created, for example from olive oil. Sodium silicate (water glass) was used in soap-making in the United States in the 1860s, and in 1876, Henkel sold a sodium silicate-based product that can be used with soap and marketed as a "universal detergent" (Universalwaschmittel) in Germany. Soda was then mixed with sodium silicate to produce Germany's first brand name detergent Bleichsoda. In 1907, Henkel also added a bleaching agent sodium perborate to launch the first 'self-acting' laundry detergent Persil to eliminate the laborious rubbing of laundry by hand.
Soap is known to have been used as a surfactant for washing clothes since the Sumerian time in 2,500 B.C In ancient Egypt soda was used as a wash additive. In the 19th century, synthetic surfactants began to be created, for example from olive oil. Sodium silicate (water glass) was used in soap-making in the United States in the 1860s, and in 1876, Henkel sold a sodium silicate-based product that can be used with soap and marketed as a "universal detergent" (Universalwaschmittel) in Germany. Soda was then mixed with sodium silicate to produce Germany's first brand name detergent Bleichsoda. In 1907, Henkel also added a bleaching agent sodium perborate to launch the first 'self-acting' laundry detergent Persil to eliminate the laborious rubbing of laundry by hand