EP151. The history of slavery in soapmaking

Soap has been the mainstay of personal care for millennia, but in recent years, it has gone from household commodity to luxury cosmetic in homes and hotels. Soapmaking is thriving too as an artisan hobby and has launched many entrepreneurial beauty businesses. Formula Botanica graduate Sandra Velasquez started her successful Latinx heritage bath and body brand Nopalera in 2020, helping elevate soap to new heights.  But, let’s just stop for a moment. Do we ever ask ourselves about the history of soap? It is worth doing so as there is a whole era of soapmaking that has been almost erased from the records of social history. In this episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier discovers the murky past of soapmaking with guest Dr Candace Parrish, whose studies in public relations, health communication, and visual communication led her to unearth a shameful period of American history and its enslaved soapmakers. Candace went on to create her soap and candle brand Odelia, Marie & Patrice to honour the legacy of African-American soapmakers, and as a platform to support activism for Black and people of colour in America today.