It was originally developed by the Waltke Company of St. Louis in 1893
Unlike typical hand soaps, Lava contains ground pumice, which gave the soap its name. The soap and pumice combination is intended to scour tar, engine grease, paint, and similar substances from the skin.Lava soap is available in two forms, a bar (5.75 oz.) and a liquid form (7.5 oz. pump bottle). The liquid form also contains moisturizers and recently the bar form added moisturizers into its formulation as well.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee referred to it on multiple occasions as only soap used in his household while growing up, saying, "There are people paying $150 for an exfoliation. I could just hand them a bar of Lava soap.
In the movie, Pulp Fiction, when Vincent and Jules were washing their hands of blood, after Vincent accidentally kills Marvin, Vincent says "Blood's real hard to get off. Maybe if he had some Lava [soap], I could have done a better job."