Fullers earth
There used to be, and I believe still exists, something called "dry shampoo". When I was a lad, my grandmother, who had suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on one side, lived with us. My mother washed her hair with a dry shampoo, because we had a very small house with no luxury facilities and she got my grandmother in & out of the bathtub as seldom as possible because grandma was a bigger woman than my mother. The shampoo was a white powder which you brushed into and then out of the hair; it apparently absorbed the oils and, with it, dirt.

The method of clarifying soup is described in a classic Italian cookbook which I have at home. After making your stock (being careful not to let it boil hard, but stay always at a simmer), you strain it and skim off as much fat as possible. If you have time, you refrigerate it overnight so the fat gets hard and can be completely removed. Then you beat several eggwhites until frothy and pour them into the simmering soup, stirring once only, and turn off the fire. After 5 minutes, you very carefully ladle the soup, disturbing the eggwhites (which will have risen to the sruface) as little as possible, through a double thickness of cheesecloth. Properly done, you wind up with a broth which will have a nice color but clear enough to read the newspaper through. The eggwhites absorb any grease remaining, and trap any remaining fine sediment.