Historical developments

Man’s approach to hygiene has a long and colourful history. Our oldest evidence of hygiene awareness comes from the Sumerians, who made the first recorded use of soap. Later, in Greek and Roman times, personal hygiene was sometimes raised to the status of a cult among the upper classes.

A period of darkness then settled over the western cultures for a thousand years as hygiene was largely neglected - in part because the Christian church disapproved of too much attention to the body, an alleged source of sinful thoughts. Perfumes and powders were available only to the rich to hide away the effects of their unclean habits.

A systematic approach to cleanliness in the western world started around the middle of the 19th Century. This new development coincided with the discovery of the importance of bacteria.

Living conditions improved enormously in the last centuries and as a result the average lifespan of western men and women has doubled in the past 150 years. Not all this progress can be ascribed to improved hygiene – clearly, nutrition, vaccination, the availability of antibiotics and other factors have contributed – but hygiene has played a major role.

Hygiene not only refers to safety of our surroundings but also to our general well-being aswell. The laundering of clothes and other fabrics is strongly related to well-being and comfort. Every day, millions of Europeans depend on detergents, cleaning and maintenance products as indispensable auxiliaries of hygiene. These products contribute to the quality of life and to our general state of health. In private households as in public institutions (hospitals, schools etc), represented by our Industrial and Institutional (I&I) sector, cleaning and disinfection are increasingly important. In modern society, better equipment and better cleaning and maintenance products are increasingly available to carry out effective cleaning on a routine basis.

Good hygiene implies regular attention to the home environment and is an everyday task, which for the best results should be focused on the times and the places that matter most. The industry takes great care to ensure that our products do not damage the environment, or pose any risk to human health.

Soaps, detergents and maintenance products make a valuable contribution to maintaining hygiene, health and well-being and preventing disease in the home.