Housey Soap

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Oliver
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Real Name: Oliver Underwood

Housey Soap

Post by Oliver »

What soap is used in the dormitories of CH in 2021? I have no idea, but I strongly suspect that it is not the soap used in the 40s, 50s and probably for long after that period. Then the soap, most distinctive and called Housey Soap, was a crude, concoction, effective, though unattractive in appearance and smell. Irregular, cuboid blocks were supplied, mainly red, but usually with streaks of lighter colour included. This soap was unscented. It was manufactured at CH I presume, and like all soaps, from a strong alkali mixed with fatty substances. (I do not know much chemistry.) Again I presume the fats were inedible pieces available after meat had been prepared in the kitchens. Another presumption; complete sides of beef were bought as an economy measure and that the better cuts were served in the masters’ and other non-pupil dining rooms. With complete sides of beef available (in those days we were fed hardly any non-beef meat) there must have been plenty of appropriate fat scraps available for soap making.

Today does Housey Soap exist? (If so, possibly only in the CH Museum.) If not, it has probably been replaced by cheap bars, supplied in bulk from China. Another more likely possibility is that with increasing prosperity most pupils supply their own soap; coloured and scented to their liking.
Pe.A
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Re: Housey Soap

Post by Pe.A »

Oliver wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:44 pm What soap is used in the dormitories of CH in 2021? I have no idea, but I strongly suspect that it is not the soap used in the 40s, 50s and probably for long after that period. Then the soap, most distinctive and called Housey Soap, was a crude, concoction, effective, though unattractive in appearance and smell. Irregular, cuboid blocks were supplied, mainly red, but usually with streaks of lighter colour included. This soap was unscented. It was manufactured at CH I presume, and like all soaps, from a strong alkali mixed with fatty substances. (I do not know much chemistry.) Again I presume the fats were inedible pieces available after meat had been prepared in the kitchens. Another presumption; complete sides of beef were bought as an economy measure and that the better cuts were served in the masters’ and other non-pupil dining rooms. With complete sides of beef available (in those days we were fed hardly any non-beef meat) there must have been plenty of appropriate fat scraps available for soap making.

Today does Housey Soap exist? (If so, possibly only in the CH Museum.) If not, it has probably been replaced by cheap bars, supplied in bulk from China. Another more likely possibility is that with increasing prosperity most pupils supply their own soap; coloured and scented to their liking.
Not sure about the answer to the question - but i am sure the soap has a more reputable origin.

The subject of soap making (which you are correct - fatty substances and caustic soda) always reminds me of teh film Fight Club, where the protagonist raided the bins of liposuction clinics to make top class soap.
Foureyes
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Re: Housey Soap

Post by Foureyes »

"Not sure about the answer to the question - but I am sure the soap has a more reputable origin."

The statement that the soap was made at Housie is correct - at least in the late 40s/early '50s. It came from a building beyond the gymnasium and was an ecologically sound product from waste - but don't ask me how.

David :shock:
Pe.A
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Re: Housey Soap

Post by Pe.A »

Foureyes wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:15 pm "Not sure about the answer to the question - but I am sure the soap has a more reputable origin."

The statement that the soap was made at Housie is correct - at least in the late 40s/early '50s. It came from a building beyond the gymnasium and was an ecologically sound product from waste - but don't ask me how.

David :shock:
I was actually referring to today's soap - which i reckon is probably of the liquid sort.

But i am intrigued - there was an in-house(y) soap factory...?? I know in my mother's rural Spanish village back in the 50s-ish, soap was made in the village from pig fat, olive oil and caustic soda, and used for clothes washing amongst other ablutions. Very good soap - I always bring some back when i am there.

So maybe in a school of CH's size, the run-off of the rendered meat fat was used...? Lard maybe...? Maybe vegetable oil (if they had it in the late 40s/50s)?
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