Bluette

[rpms]

I was listening to a radio show and they were talking about products that worked well but have disappeared.
One lady called in and started talking about blueing. She said her grandfather chewed chewing tobacco and his white beard was stained yellow and brown. Her Grandmother hated the look of it and used blueing on it.
More and more calls kept coming in about blueing. People said they used it on show dogs and horses to make their fur extra white.
Mrs Stewart's website tells you all the great ways to use blueing.
It is good for keeping alga down in your bird baths. It helps to relieve itching from bug bites. I have tried it and it works. You are stained blue though.
You can add a whole bottle to your swimming pool and it will be as blue as a lagoon and it helps keep the water clean.

 

[geoff]

Angus

They still carry Bluette at ShopRite in Stratford, Milford and Wallingford. I just picked up a bottle a few weeks ago. They still carry it for a good price as well, $1.99. Check out the Milford ShopRite on Cherry Street, They usually have at least 5 bottles on the shelf!

Geoff

 

[polkanut]

Charlie,

Your aunt sounds like my kind of lady, upfront & to the point.  Sounds like you always knew where you stood with her.

 

[retromania]

Forget it!

I found Carbona online this morning. We used to have a bottle of it under the sink in the laundry room along with some of the other products we have discussed. It was great for removing stains and especially oily stains. I was thrilled to see it is still available. I was not thrilled to see it cost about $5.00 for 1.40 ounces. I did not order.

 

[angus]

Geoff: I will try those Shop Rite stores since the ones in Fairfield, Shelton, Norwalk and in the Italian section of Stamford (surprisingly enough) don't carry it. Our Fairfield Shop Rite is one of the smallest I have been in. But it replaced an aging Shaw's supermarket and they had significant footprint limitations.

If I can find Bluette in those stores, then I have learned an expensive lesson. But truthfully, I stopped looking for it in the stores long ago so my two year stash has finally been depleted!

To the comment about different uses for bluing, women have used bluing on their hair for years to combat yellowing. Put those women behind the wheel of a car and you understand that is where the phrase "killer blues" originated!!!!

 

[polkanut]

When my mother was still working she would periodically have to use Nexxus "Simply Silver" shampoo to keep her hair looking Barbara Bush white.  It is a purple colored shampoo that helps keep silver, white, and gray hair from yellowing.  She said that with working under fluorescent lighting it made it especially important to keep her hair looking as brilliant as possible at all times.

 

[retromania]

My mother has a friend who's hair turned white at an early age. It was becoming to her. She used a product that she bought at Kmart. Can't remember the name, but it was in a silver gray plastic bottle with a pink top. It had mink white written on it. Doesn't some white hair tend to yellow if exposed to the sun? My mother said that was one reason her aunt wore a sun bonnet when she went out in the yard.

 

[geoff]

Andy

I believe you are thinking of Fanci-Full hair color rinse.

Geoff

 

[retromania]

Thanks, Geoff.

I bet that was it. Looked like something in a stereotypical beauty shop like my mother still goes to with all the hair dryers along one wall.

 

[angus]

Well, I was in another ethnic supermarket yesterday, Food Bazaar (Bridgeport) (nothing else to do in the driving rain and 50 degree temps) and they had the 32 ounce Bluette for $1.79. So I just paid over $2.00 per bottle plus shipping from Malco Products for no reason. I don't know where I got the idea that Bluette was being discontinued. I seem to have heard that over a year ago, but apparently, it is still out there. I guess it is just not something that most grocers will carry. For a while places like Compare Foods and some local Shop Rite stores would carry the 16 ounce size, but that is gone as well. So I must shop carefully.

I also discovered that any liquid starch is quickly disappearing. The Linit brand, formerly from Best Foods and now Malco Products has been dropped by Stop & Shop since no one actually buys it. Once in a while I can find Sta Flo at Wal Mart or Family Dollar, but that is hit or miss and I don't really like either of those brands.

As I mentioned earlier, I prefer Faultless liquid which is much more concentrated and it is simply not available in NY or New England. Interestingly enough, it is available at the New Jersey stores of Wegman's for $3.29 per 64 ounce jug - as opposed to $5.75 per jug from the Agelong Brands website (and let's not forget the ridiculous shipping charges). The nearest Wegman's to me is 80 miles away in Woodbridge, NJ so it is either make the trip or pay the shipping.

Not to digress, but I can't figure out why Wegman's isn't hitting Connecticut/Westchester county. They are in upstate NY, parts of NJ with a new store opeining in Montvale, NJ sometime this year. Montvale is the first NJ town over the Tappan Zee Bridge and borders Rockland County, and they are already in some Massachusetts towns as well. So they are circling me but won't land here. Too bad, we could really use a "better" store.

 

[imperial70]

optically white without bluing

I've been using a warm enzyme boost soak (BIZ)with all clear/free followed by a tap-hot wash on my Frigidaire front loader (GLTF2940). I have to fake out the soak temperature by filling it on the "normal" cycle, canceling that and switching over to the soak cycle. Otherwise it uses tap cold. Too cold in New England Winter/Spring/Fall. The wash cycle has an extra rinse selected too (4 rinses).

Oh and I line dry to avoid shrinking. I find that is where my clothes shrinking problems occur the most.

This seems to work for this machine.

my 2.5 cents.