Middle Eastern hair and skin

The first literary reference to soap as a means of cleansing was by the Greek physician Galen of Pergamos in the second century A.D. Galen influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.

After I went to Turkey and started using their traditional bar soaps, I realised that chemicals in commercial shampoo formulation was one major cause of the hair loss that I had struggled with for many years. My hair was much thinner back then, before switching to bar soap. I can be seen behind the pastor when he was prophesying over the altar.

Liquid soaps became common only in the last 200 years, with the advance of the petroleum and chemical industry.