Check it out at the Blount County Public Library

We have a dynamo in the house. One who chases the cat to pet it. One who rearranges all the spices in the spice drawer. One who makes piles of stones in the gravel. One who swishes dead leaves all over the yard. One who likes to play in the dirt. One who sometimes needs a bath.

Toddlers’ hands easily lose hold of slippery bars of soap, which disappear under the water and refuse to be found. The solution? Ivory Soap! Remember Procter and Gamble’s Ivory Soap slogan? “It Floats!” We needed floating soap. So, to the store, we went.

But our dynamo was not impressed. Ivory Soap no longer floats. After more than 100 years, Procter and Gamble had changed the recipe — without asking me!

Would I let a simple thing like Procter and Gamble’s recipe stop me? I need floating soap! So, where’s the best place to get information? The library! The Blount County Public Library (BCPL) has many books on soapmaking and a few on Procter and Gamble. “The Foxfire Book” (917.581 Fox) has interviews of women who made their soap the old way: using lye, stirring and boiling it outside. In the “Everything Soapmaking Book” (668.124 Gro), Alicia Grosso writes about soapmaking equipment, from safety gear to soap molds, adding fragrances and colors, and includes recipes. In the “Handmade Soap Book” (668.12 Cos), Melinda Coss uses natural ingredients and assures us it’s easy to make our own soap. The most useful gem I found in her book told me that I might be able to make floating soap by whisking and adding air to my soap mixture. Look out, Ivory!

My interest piqued, I next read about Procter and Gamble. According to “The International Directory of Company Histories” (Ref 338.74), Ivory Soap was named because of Psalm 45 — All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of ivory palaces, where they have made thee glad. The phrase “soap opera” even originated when they advertised soap products on the radio dramas during the 1930s. The Ivory Soap website says that since river bathing was customary for some people during the late 1800s, floating soap became popular. Imagine losing your slippery soap in the murky river — next, imagine how useful floating soap would be.

I have yet to make my floating soap, but I know to find the information — at BCPL!