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Who could forget the scent of SALVO tablets and VIM tablets? I liked the smell of VIM better because it was a sweeter scent. To me, SALVO smelled like cheap perfume!
 
Firedome - that's sounds like a creative idea - from a magazine or the stencil manufacturer? Anyway-

I tried finding the glass wax at three AceHardwares and none local to me carried it. But at last, the one in Cumming, GA. had it - $4.29, not the web price of $5.49. Have yet to try it.

danemodsandy: Thanks for mentioning Sandy -will be trying it out soon.

Phil

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Phil:

Tinting Glass Wax and stenciling it onto windowpanes for Christmas decorations was very popular in the '50s and '60s; the Glass Wax people even provided stencils for the purpose. Seeing the stencil promotion each year was one of the ways you knew Christmas was coming.

If you didn't care to use the stencils or go to the trouble of tinting Glass Wax, you could still do something Christmasy with it - a lot of people used it to simulate little snowdrifts at the bottom of each windowpane or frost riming the edges of each pane. All you needed for this was a sponge.
 
We did the Christmas stenciling with Glass Wax when we were kids. We never tried tinting it, though.

It worked pretty well, unless the weather got super-cold outside and the windows would build up condensation on the inside, in which case your Glass Wax designs would melt.
 
Glamorene Rug Cleaner

Growin up, we had room-size rugs made out of wool that could not get wet. Before holiday season, parents would have the rugs picked up and dry cleaned. I remember they used to spot clean the rugs with this suff called Glamorene. Came in a jar and looked like wet sawdust. You sprinked it down, massaged it into the nap and let it dry. In about 20 mins, you vacuumed it up and carpet was clean. I recall that it really did work well.
 
Our Rugs

Our rugs in the front hall and living room were wool also. Persia Rug Company would come pick them up clean them and bring them back. My mother also had that wet saw dust stuff and the fumes-ugh! The jar of spot cleaner was one of three different kinds of rug cleaner. They came packaged in a cardboard keeper with a handle. Mom would sprinkled the stand with the wet saw dust looking stuff, lightly work it into the fiber with a stiff brush and after it dried vacuum it up. I seem to remember the key was to treat the stain as soon as it was discovered. The man that owned Persia Rug Company was a friend of our family. Since my father was in the building business they did a lot of work together. Even after he retired and closed Persia Rug, he would come to the house and pick up those rugs to clean them.
 
Every year around the 15th of December out would come the Glass Wax stencils. Gold Seal had four or five different stencil sets. I think they were either $0.19 or $0.29 per set. And a set would last you several seasons before you would have to replace it. My mother was great at using the stencils to whip up some new designs.
Part of two or three and you'd have a new design. Look at Ebay and the stencils are still only a few bucks.

But the thing I remember most is the particular smell of the Glass Wax. With the reduction of VOC's nowadays I don't think they could have that today. But the entire house would smell from the Glass Was for a couple of hours after it was used. That smell reminds me of Christmas.

The way you applied the Glass Wax was to soak a sponge in water, then wring it almost dry. Then pour out some Glass Wax on a small plate and dab on the stencils to apply.
 
Allen,

Is the can of Glass Wax spray part of your "secret stash"?  One more thing to keep an eye out for when at estate/tag sales.  I know I've mentioned this before but 2 other products I truly miss are Blu White and LaFrance powdered bluing.  I've recently started laundering our communion linens at church.  The elderly woman who has been doing them doesn't pre-treat to remove the copious amounts of lipstick that some women seem to put on just before going up.  I'm alternating between Biz and a vintage box of Blu White along with hanging them on the clothesline.  The other women in our altar society have already noticed the improvement.  I pre-treat with Oxi Clean spray.

[this post was last edited: 8/27/2013-08:49]
 
Unfortunately, that can is not part of our collection. At this time we only have about a years worth of phosphated DW detergent left. We use the new Cascade complete powder for normal loads and the older stuff for really dirty nasty loads. The Maytag 300 series DW handles everything just fine. We have out hot water tank set at 140F.
 
Another 'You May Be A Member of AW.org', If:

Who remembers Big Wally?  I don't think it's made anymore & I don't even know when its manufacture stopped...

 

I remember scrubbing a white wall in the house with it and using one of our red wash cloths by spraying a bunch of the white foam with it, going in a circle w/ the cloth, and then making a huge red streak...

 

Found a commercial for it & to me the label doesn't look like the one I remember:

 

 

-- Dave

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHt5ad2TTi4
 
I miss

Lux: dishwashing liquid...I loved the smell when I'd help my mother do the dishes..I also liked it because it was pink..idk why

Peach Thrill: dishwashing liquid...loved the smell and it always reminded me of my favoriate aunt..I miss her and Peach Thrill

AJax...the "White Torando"

Dash: laundry detergent

Purex Bleach:...it smelled like bleach but was different than clorox
 
re: Oxydol with green crystals - original scent

What I remember most as a kid is my Mom using the old formula Oxydol and then hanging everything outside on the clothesline. Getting into bed at night with that wonderful aroma made me feel so safe & loved.
 
I'm not sure I miss anything in the sense of "what a great product, and I wish I could still buy it and use it!"

But out of sentiment, I miss Cheer of ca. 1980. I know the name survives, but one assumes it's not the same product my mother used. The box certainly isn't the same. I also miss Fresh Start, another one my mother used for a period.
 
I miss spray Jubilee. You could put a shine on anything and just wipe it off and buff with an old towel quickly. It would make your vehicle shine like it just came out of the showroom. Many people used regular furniture polish to make their car or bike shine but Jubilee spray was wax and didnt melt off the first rain on your vehicle. Plus you could use it on the black trim that regular wax got into it and made a mess. If anyone knows if there is some anywhere, let me know, please
 
I think most would agree

Any of the products in the 50s and 60s were way better than anything made today, especially washing and dishwashing detergents.In my area, Super Suds was a big seller, but real Wisk in the old metal cans smelled and cleaned wonderful, that junk that purports to be Wisk today just doesn't cut it, it smells ungodly!
 
Trend or Rinso... I remember the big boxs and the smell
Surf from the 80's... Loved that Stuff
Purex when it came in a wierd shaped bottle
FRESH START was my favorite.. Just not the same now... In the Belt drive it went.. I made mom believe i was deathly allergic to tide every time she brought it home... (or any other laundry soap i hated, I also did this with BOUNCE as well)....

Cling Free Dryer Sheets.... I think they where the ones that where PINK and looked like foam.. They smelled so good

Publix Dryer Sheets on a Roll.. Another favorite of mine from the 80s to the late 90s, Publix had the best smelling dryer sheets

Spray and Wash... I tried to eat some as a kid..... It looked like snot, it was very bitter and yeah (I ate many chemicals unbenounced to mom, Im still here) you couldn't eat it... We called it PRAY and Wash...

We used whatever was on sale for Dishwasher soap or dish soap..I remember when sunlight gel and sunlight dish soap got confused in the Whirlpool Power Clean... Bubbles every where

Fantastick was always around, so was scrubbing bubbles and soft scrub... I don't remember how the floors where mopped.. Endust in a red can... Windex..

We always had very basic stuff, unless it was like Amway for the tile floors or something odd...

Oh and I remember she tried the first round of Eath friendly cleaners from Bi Lo in 1991... That whent over so well, they wound up ALL in the trash can a few weeks later

My actual mom was addicted to Pine Sol, Windex, Arm and Hammer, Snuggle, Shout, Ajax Dish soap and scrubbing powder, and Vinager/Water.... There where a couple odd things, but those where the main stays..
 
There was the Soft 'N' Fade for blue jeans that kept 'em from fading--I remember the commercial showing the pants marching themselves into the washing machine & coming out looking new...

Wonder if something like that is still around...

-- Dave
 
This is currently in my stash.

The original Spray 'N Wash ©1982 from Texize.  Pic #2 has petroleum distillate listed as the first ingredient.

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