Soap & Loofah Vendor

The profession of the soap and loofah seller was one of the traditional women’s trades that flourished in old Baghdad. Women would walk through alleyways and popular markets carrying baskets filled with handmade bathing essentials.

They sold traditional soap, made from olive oil or laurel, with its light, fragrant scent, and loofahs crafted from palm fibers or hemp used to cleanse the body during bathing. These items became an integral part of daily hygiene rituals in Baghdadi households.

With the passage of time and the rise of modern industrial products, this profession gradually declined. Yet it remains vivid in the collective memory as a nostalgic detail from the old markets of Baghdad.