Lava is a heavy-duty hand cleaner in soap bar form manufactured by the

WD-40 Company The WD-40 Company, originally the Rocket Chemical Company, is an American manufacturer of household and multi-use products, including its signature brand, WD-40, as well as 3-In-One Oil, Lava, Spot Shot, X-14, Carpet Fresh, GT85, 1001, Solvol, ...

. Unlike typical soap bars, Lava contains ground

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...

, which gave the soap its name. The soap and pumice combination is intended to scour

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...

, engine grease, paint, dirt, grime, filth, and similar substances from the skin. The original Lava soap (without moisturizers), which was a beige-colored bar, is no longer manufactured. Lava soap was developed in 1893 by the William Waltke Company of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. In 1927,

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

acquired the Lava and

Oxydol Oxydol is a brand of laundry detergent sold in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It was created in 1914 by Thomas Hedley Co. of Newcastle upon Tyne and purchased by Procter & Gamble in 1927. It was P&G's first laundry soap. In t ...

brands from William Waltke Company. P&G sold the Lava brand to

Block Drug Block Drug Company was a pharmaceutical company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, that specialized in dental care products. Its most popular products included Polident denture cleanser, Poli-Grip denture adhesive, Dentu-Creme dentur ...

in 1995. The WD-40 Company acquired the brand from

in April 1999.

References

External links

Lava Soap Official Website
Former Procter & Gamble brands Products introduced in 1893 Soap brands {{Product-stub