Kōrero: Washing, cleaning and personal hygiene

Many 19th-century housewives made their own soap from cooking fat. This recipe for laundry soap was included by Mrs William in her book Facts: or, the experiences of a recent colonist in New Zealand (1882). She advised that the soap was not suitable for ‘bed-room use’ – meaning that it was too harsh for skin and should not be used to clean bodies. At the time people often washed in their bedrooms at washstands.