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.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
Mrs Williams, Facts, or, The experiences of a recent colonist in New Zealand, 1882. Yalding: Mrs. William, 1883, p. 47 (B-K-1021-47)
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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