SHAVING SOAPS and CREAMS are made either with soda or potash, of fine tallow or cocoanut oil, which has the property of making a strong lather. MOTTLED SOAPS owe their variegations of color to the use of iron oxides. It is said that these cannot be effectively applied if the soap contains an excess of water, and that more skill is required to make good blue mottled soap than any other. The more any soap is worked over, or remelted, cooled, etc., the better it becomes.
There is a great variety of soaps upon the market, and language has been ransacked to find appropriate names for them. Among them are “FAMILY,” “LAUNDRY,” “IVORY,” “BEST SOAP,” “ELECTRIC,” “OZONE,” “BORAX,” “SAND SOAP,” “SILVER SOAP,” “SAPOLIO,” etc., and many scouring and detergent articles, as “PEARLINE,” “SOAPINE,” “SCOURENE,” “WASHING COMPOUND,” “WASHING CRYSTAL,” etc.
In Toilet Soaps there is an equally wide range of choice, embracing every color and variegation of color, and every perfume that is agreeable to the smell. Soaps are also charged with disinfecting substances, as carbolic acid, etc., and variously medicated with sulphur, camphor, glycerine, and other materials for softening and healing the skin.
Laundry starch is mostly made from corn. The grain is crushed and fermented to a degree, when the starch is washed out and allowed to settle in large vats. The best qualities are washed and settled again and again; the number of washings grading the strength, purity and cost. Potato starch is more costly than corn starch, and, as it gives a softer finish to fabrics, is chiefly used by manufacturers. Corn starch for culinary purposes is thoroughly washed, purified and deodorized. Laundry starch should never be eaten.
The best laundry starch is in large, hard, flinty crystals; such indicate a stronger starch, containing less moisture than that with small or soft crystals. Laundry starch comes in bulk or boxes, and in paper packages. There are many fancy proprietary brands of starch, as “IVORY,” “IVORINE,” “GLOSS,” “SATIN GLOSS,” “SILVER GLOSS,” “GLOSS POLISH,” “ELASTIC,” etc. Some of them are powdered, and contain borax, wax, or gum, etc., and are scented with winter-green, etc. Such come higher than the better grades of laundry starch in crystals, but it is a question if they are proportionately superior for family use. STARCH POLISHES are preparations of spermaceti, wax, or paraffine.