Do folks in Europe use the same detergent in top loaders (e.g. twin tub) as for front loader?

[aamassther]

1970's Persil

When my familyI lived in England at the end of the 1970's, Persil was a soap based powder containing soap as the main surfactant and phosphates as the water softener. I loved the fragrance, our neighbor used Persil in her Hotpoint top loader. I still remember the distinct soapy frangrance of her washing and the milky white wash water We had a Bendix front loader, which I used Persil Automatic in, before it was bio. It was a synthetic detergent. With both formulas containing oxygen bleach. Our whites were amazing even with a 60c wash.

 

[hoovermatic]

@aamassther

those are my recollections of Persil. The box with the strap line 'Washes Whiter And It Shows' is the one that i remember most clearly. Oddly enough, I have recently gone back to using Persil having been a life long Ariel user. I don't know if it is my memory playing tricks with me but I swear that the soapy fragrance that we both seem to remember is part of the appeal to me now. I LOVE the current fragrance of Persil so much more than Ariel. Unless P&G go retro and return to fragrances from 30 years ago then I shan't be using Ariel again. The gel smells ok but the powder, which I prefer, is RANK.

 

[mrboilwash]

@jetcone

Henkel`s Persil 59 which was introduced in 1959 was actually the first version of Persil with man made surfactants instead of soap.
However you`re right they had the first soap free detergent on the market in 1933. It was Fewa, a detergent for wool and delicates.

 

[launderess]

Stand Corrected and Chastened

Always thought Henkel's first Persil was sodium silicate,sodium perborate and some type of synthetic surfactant, not soap, but no I was incorrect. Sorry for spreading mis-information.

It would make sense that Persil "59" would be the first "detergent" as Germany was at war for much of the 1940's and then there was the post war aftermath to deal with.

Today most detergents sold in the EU and at least Tide sold on this side of the pond contain soap. According to P&G's Tide website the stuff is added because some soils simply shift best with soap.

Am going to experiment with adding some of my vintage Ivory Snow powder to various unscented detergents in my stash. Already do this using Savon de Marseille for bed linens and the scent is divine.

Every now and then boxes and or entire crates of Persil "59" pop up on eBay Germany and other nearby EU places. Guess as with persons here, housewives stored more than was required and then left this earth. Almost bid on one case but would have had my head handed to me on a platter if I tried to shoe horn any more detergent in here. Also since the stuff was *not* designed for front loaders, thought it best to quit whilst ahead. *LOL*

http://www.henkel.com/cps/rde/xchg/...ID=0000000GHM&brand=0000000GH6&param1=history

 

[aamassther]

@hoovermatic

It's amazing the things that stay with us through our lives. I can still smell the fragrance of both powders. Nothing has compared to that smell on wash day nor in performance either. I still use them as the gold standard after all of these years. I remember when Ariel was a higher sudsing powder, stated on the label you could use it in a frontloader but needed to use less. I used Bold Automatic in the bio programmes. I liked it for the enzymes but nothing could replace Persil or Persil Auto.

 

[jetcone]

Stefan

Thanks for the update on Persil, do they still make Fewa and does that have a meaning in German? Does "Persil" have a meaning? Ariel is just a name like Oxydol.

 

jon

 

[aamassther]

Persil- Sodium PERborate and Sodium SILicate.

 

[foraloysius]

FEWA: FEinWAschmittel (detergent for delicates).

 

[mrboilwash]

No, AFAIK Fewa is no more on the market in Germany, I believe when they came out with heavy duty color care detergents and more liquids appearing they had to cut off a brand designed for delicates due to loss of sales.
Fewa was actually made by Böhme in the 30s. Don`t know precisely how they were connected with Henkel back then.
The company history timeline is a bit inconsequent because they state Fewa as the world`s fist synthetic detergent in 1932 and if you read further it says in 1949
" The fine-fabric detergent Perwoll and the detergent Lasil were launched. These were the first synthesis-based Henkel detergents "

@launderess
I have seen small amounts of soap in modern detergents declared as surfactants (Tide) as well as suds suppressants and even as corrosion inhibitors in liquid detergents (Purex).

http://www.henkel.com/SID-8FDA4D38-E156177B/about-henkel/company-history-11789.htm

 

[jetcone]

Thank you Louis

I'm always on track when you show up!

 

 

 

[hoovermatic]

Bold

Bold was one of the best fragrances ever for a modern laundry detergent until it changed from Bold 3, as it was known in the UK. Since then, it has never quite got it right and all these bizarre combinations of 'smells' they have now are a turn off - Sage and Onion/Bacardi and Coke etc etc. I think it is all about the fragrance and little to do with cleaning.

 

[MrX]

I have to say I agree, the current Ariel and Bold products in this market just smell way too strong.

I have tried Bold on a few occasions and I really can't see the attraction to it. The fragrance combinations are just odd and totally made-up marketing garble e.g. "White diamond and lotus flower" ... "Ruby Jasmine" etc etc

Meanwhile, Ariel has gone for a sort of punchy citrus / pine with a hint of cheap car air freshener!

It's not horrible, but it is kind of headache inducing, which isn't what I look for in a scent !

Daz smells quite nice, in an old-fashioned detergent style.

Persil smells fantastic. The powder is a kind of soft 'baby powder' type scent while the liquids have an artificial, but very pleasant aroma that is very hard to describe. It's nice though, which is the main thing!

Surf, which has become Unilever's special scented range, is quite nice. I prefer their aromas to Bold. They are somehow closer to actual essential oil type fragrances where as Bold has a definite hint of Fabreeze!

 

[passatdoc]

Thinking back to the 1960s/70s in the USA

I remember seeing directions on detergent boxes in the USA (e.g. Tide) that advised using half the normal amount of detergent if using a front loader. Westinghouse still sold FLs, though they had only a miniscule market share by that time, plus there were surviving machines of other makes (e.g. Bendix) in US homes. Typically the directions for Tide read "1/2 cup for top loading machines, 1/4 cup for front loading machines" (i.e. 200 ml or 100 ml). We did not have two varieties of Tide, because the market was >95% TL.

 

There used to be a low-sudsing detergent called Dash which emphasized its lower sudsing properties in advertisements. It was readily available in all supermarkets, was regularly seen on tv, and was not what I'd call a hard to find, specialty item. We never owned a FL, but I wonder if perhaps FL owners knew about Dash and gravitated toward it, rather than using half doses of Tide. If so, Dash would have served as our de facto "HE detergent" during those times.

 

Given the fact that both FL and TL are common in USA (FL sales now exceed TL sales, but if you count existing machines in US homes, TL are still in a majority though shrinking), we are in the same situation as UK was in the 1960s, with both varieties of detergent on the shelves of stores.

 

(as a kid growing up, I first began helping with laundry in secondary school. I was not allowed to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">operate </span>the washer, but did have the responsibility to remove clothes from washer to dryer, start the dryer, and then remove and fold clothes from dryer. My mother was fearful I would "ruin" the load if allowed to run the washer myself. On the other hand, I was<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> loading/unloading/operating</span> a KA dishwasher from age six!! I learned to operate a washer the night before I left for university! At any rate, I used either Tide or Arm&Hammer detergent during college, and I remember the Tide package having two dosing recommendations, for both TL and FL).

[this post was last edited: 6/12/2011-10:42]

 

[aquarius1984]

Glad im not the only one whos finding Biological Ariel's scent way too much these days, but also finding its cleaning performance absolutely useless.

Anyone wanting a retro clean soapy smell might want to bag a box of old Tesco Bio before the new style box takes over shelves which I gather has a different scent.
found it cleans really well, make me wonder about Which's results thats for sure.

Jon bought some of the Pink Bold gel, now thats gorgeous too and not over powering or nasty. Shame its not hot on cleaning whites, but its great for coloureds.

Persil seems to be way ahead with scents and im finding the new tablets similar in scent to Persil Performance and the cleaning is nothing short of excellent.

Im a convert back to Persil,