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Birth of the Hardest Working Hand Soap!

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In 1893, a bar soap formulated with volcanic pumice particles for extra scrubbing power was created in St. Louis, Missouri. Lava® was chosen as the name to remind consumers of the pumice it contains.

In 1927, advertising helped build the Lava Brand as the brand that gets extra dirty hands really clean.

In 1967, reformulation makes Lava more appealing with better scent and its signature green color.

In 1999, Lava became part of the WD-40 Company.


WD-40 Company made several enhancements to the original line for merchandising purposes. Home centers could not stock loose bars of soap on a shelf – the fixtures and cluttered environment would not make this viable. Therefore, display boxes and other shipping configurations were created to meet the needs of a larger, more diverse group of retail environments.

The Original

Callout - Lava Bar

The Lava Bar is the original heavy-duty hand cleaner. Since 1893, do-it-yourselfers, coal miners...

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