Ivory soap’s longevity flies in the face of a notoriously fickle market for personal beauty products where new trends can appear and disappear in a flash.

To help complete the project, Rushton’s wife, Leanne, went to 15 stores to buy every bar she could find of Ivory soap, the brand Rushton said is the softest.

Ninety-nine and 44/100% pure—the commercials proclaimed. It was the soap that floated, but not anymore. Yet, Ivory soap decided on a formula change that altered this long trusted bar soap.

This iconic cake of soap, invented almost 150 years ago, has become a part of Americana largely by advertising its two strange merits: “It Floats” and it’s “99+44⁄100% Pure.” The ...

Today, in Ivory Coast, informal workshops with students are underway to promote the instrument and highlight its African origins. Alain Amontchi looks at this unique instrument in this story ...

A bar of soap, invented almost 150 years ago and still selling in stores today, has become a part of Americana largely by advertising its two strange merits: It floats and its “99+44⁄100% Pure.” ...

But the building wouldn't budge until it became slippery with soap, Rushton said. To help complete the project, Rushton's wife, Leanne, went to 15 stores to buy every bar she could find of Ivory ...

Ivory soap has become so iconic that in 2001 P&G donated a collection of its Ivory Soap artifacts to the Smithsonian Institution, including its earliest advertising and a bar of unused soap from ...