The Birth of Laundry Detergents During WWII, the fats and oils that were used to make soap became scarce because they were being used instead to manufacture nitro-glycerine for explosives, and so another chemical source for cleaning agents had to be found. We were finding petroleum all over the place by this time, and scientists discovered that they could make thousands of new chemicals from this petroleum, including what they called detergents. Detergents soon became a regular household item because there was no alternative during WWII. Petrochemicals, which are the synthetic chemicals made out of petroleum, are found in the ingredients on laundry detergents such as fragrance, phthalates, artificial colors and NPEs. Corporate Brain ‘Wash’ Detergents are still much cheaper to manufacture than true soaps, and marketing has ensured that a majority of the population is absolutely convinced that detergents are safe to use. Would you be surprised to learn that the vast majority (great...