Lava Soap Advertising Cover. New Purchase.

You asked for it:

Lava Soap was invented and marketed by William Waltke & Co. since 1893. Proctor & Gamble acquired the brand in 1927 and sold it off in 1995 to the Block Drug Co. of Jersey City, NJ, makers of 2000 Flushes, a toilet-bowl cleaner, Nytol sleep aid, Polident denture cleanser and Sensodyne toothpaste.



http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...octer-gamble

The word comes from the Latin verb "lavare" which means "to wash". The Spanish verb comes from this root as do many English, Italian, French and other language words. For example in English there is a verb "lave" which means to wash, or "lavatory" which is a wash room, etc.

I am not sure, but I think that the name of the soap, Lava, came more from the fact that they put ground pumice that comes from some kinds of volcanic lava into the soap. They were the first large brand to add pumice to their soap for the purpose of giving is greater scrubbing and hence cleaning power.

GREAT info. So, "lava" works as a reference to "pumice", and also for "to wash". That is a great coincidence. By the way, I think TOOTHPASTE also has pumice in it, to a degree.

Wow great info! Thank you!!

Cool cover.
Lava soap is still made. My father swore by it and I still use it to wash off heavy or oily dirt on my hands (after troubleshooting a balky lawnmower, for instance). But the pumice grit in it makes it rather harsh so you wouldn't want to overdo it on anything but your hands, I would think. Block sold it in 1999 to the WD-40 Company (per Wikipedia.)