surfactant
noun

- a substance that reduces the surface tension of a liquid (= the natural force existing in a liquid that holds its surface together)

Cambridge Dictionary

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ORIGIN

The word surfactant is a clever blend of the chemical term SURFace-ACTive AgeNT.

The earliest records of bathing come from the Grihya-sutras, an ancient Indian book of domestic ceremonies in which bathing is seen as a hygienic necessity and a rite of purity.

Over the centuries, different cultures developed their own bathing rituals, from Japan’s hotspring steam baths to Turkey’s hamams.

Today, bath gels, salts, milks, soaks, and even fizzy baking-soda-based bath bombs, promise bathers an increasingly luxuriant experience.

We seem to be living in the golden age of bathing culture!

Rachel Syme in the New Yorker, coined the term “bathfluencers” to capture the rise of social media influencers who create aspirational bathing experiences.

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KEY NUMBERS

2.7 million kg of baking soda LUSH North America used to manufacture bath bombs between July 2018 and June 2019

454,000: Number of Instagram posts tagged #bathart

$20 million: Annual revenue for Da Bomb Bath, a bath bomb company founded by two preteen sisters in 2015

45 minutes every night beauty company founder Emily Weiss claims she spends soaking in an extra-hot bath

$55: Price for an 8.4-ounce bottle of the Santa Maria Novella bubble bath

$36 billion: Estimated size of the global bath and shower product market by 2023