Fels Naptha Changes again.

[stan]

Noticed today that Fels Naptha Soap has changed again and now appears to be owned by Summit Brand.
Zout at top.
The last time I noticed a change was 10 years ago. The change 10-11 years back I think was for the better..in that they added dipentene along with some anti fungal ingredients. The dipentene (orange oil solvent)
Back at that time it came closer to the original Fels but with a safer solvent.
This new bar I came across today is absent of that ingredient.
I’m not crazy about scented laundry aids..I’d prefer little to non, however the Fels always had a sort of sharp clean pleasing scent that I didn’t mind.
This new one has an absolutely horrible scent! Nothing like what I remember and nothing compared to the old bar I still have.
With these new changes, I can’t see it cleaning as well as the old version that had the dipentene.
I’m not going to even test it because of this new scent (atrocious)
The scent is like..well I don’t know what but I had to get it out of the house and Im going to have to throw it out.
Below is pics of old package with ingredients and new package with ingredients.
But y’all..it’s stinks so bad!
Pic 1 is Pyrex Dial Corp (old version)
Pics 2-4 are new

 

[ea56]

That’s a shame Stan! Why do they always have to fool around with products that are tried and true for performance. We still have an unopened bar of Fels Naptha that must be 20 years old. We use it so seldom that the opened bar is only 1/2 used. The unopened bar should last us for the rest of our lives.

I’ll be that the folks that make their own laundry detergent using grated Fels Naptha, Borax and Washing Soda are gonna be pissed when they learn that the Fels Naptha isn’t the same anymore.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 4/16/2024-08:48]

 

[gyrafoam]

A "go-to" for Poison Ivy exposure!

Two or three repeated scrub-downs with a bar of Fels is a great way to reduce or eliminate the effects of poison ivy exposure if you catch it right away.
I don't know if it is a "Suthun" thang or not, but, I have known to do this since I was child.

I always have a bar at the ready by the set-sink in the summer months.
Oh, and WHITE towels, as a hot water wash with Clorox will not transfer the poison ivy after the towel has been laundered.

 

[launderess]

Happily have nice stash of vintage FNS of old (by Purex) so aren't bothered.

As for this current incarnation, it was bound to happen wasn't it?

Naptha was great back in day for shifting oily marks and soils on laundry, as was Stoddard solvent. Neither are environmentally friendly nor without health risks due to exposure. More so when you consider persons are grinding Fels soap up to make various concoctions.

At one time it was considered proper to add kerosene or gasoline to wash water (over an open flame boiling pot at that), and or use either for home "dry cleaning". That was stopped.

Perc was once a household staple as well. Sold in various forms from textile spot removers to typewriter platen cleaners. That's gone as well.

While Fels and other "naptha" soaps were a wash day marvel back in their day, time has marched on. Detergents have replaced soap on wash day, and there are a vast and bewildering array of adjunct products such as pre-spotters, in wash boosters, etc... that all do what FNS did or does.

Fels Naptha: History and Use

Uses for Fels-Naptha 1959 Fels-Naptha History Fels-Naptha soap has stood the test of time. It has been around for over 100 years. It was in the Fels family until 1964 when it was sold to Purex. It used to come in not only bar form, but in liquid, granule and chips form (Gentle Fels, Instant...

frugalsos.com

 

[ea56]

Back in ‘72 when I bought my first washer, a Maytag Model J wringer washer I used to buy Fels Naptha Powdered Soap for washing my laundry. It was marvelous! It left everything so clean, SOFT and sweet smelling, even when it was lined dried. Probably one of the very best products I’ve ever used for washing laundry. It came in a foil paper covered box with the same white, green and red log that is in the label of Fels Naptha bar soap.

Eddie

 

[launderess]

Have a vintage box of powdered Fels somewhere in my stash.

Package looks like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4047251031...-QBrflNAdLY3tp2KaRaOO0S179ArVjGxlmZvQMhCkcD5I

 

[stan]

From what I gathered

It looks like Purex sold to Summit Brans in 2022.
Today I went to my Mom & Pop hardware store and saw Fels on the shelf with the Purex logo. I’m sure it’s been sitting there a while.
I grabbed a bar! And took a whif..smelled right!
On closer inspection this bar is something different from what Purex made 10 years ago and what ever this other mess I got yesterday is?
This one has a different formula than the other two and this actually contains a solvent, and not the Dipentene (orange peel oil) but Monomethel Ether?
The bar has that sharp clean scent (like it should) but not over powering.
That other en I threw out in the yard to see if the scent would fade but it didn’t! I’m throwing that out cuz
that scent would knock a buzzard off a shit wagon.
What strange is that there’s been several formulations? It’s not that difficult to stick to a soap formula?
Dose someone come and throw what ever happens to be laying out in the yard to make laundry soap, and then just say we’l call it Fels Naptha (with no actual naptha) ?

 

[stan]

And the color

Of the bar from the hardware store looks normal too

 

[launderess]

This is what you want: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225695059739

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156157406621

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1551996587...lp:2332490&itmmeta=01HVN0NHD2FPC66QFYEWCW1PT1

As you yourself noted over years, there have been changes made to Fels.

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?45388_4

For one thing Stoddard Solvent had to go.

https://www.whatsinproducts.com/types/type_detail/1/1463/standard/span style="color:

Replaced by "Hydrocarbons, terpene processing by-productsTerpene processing by-product"

https://www.whatsinproducts.com/types/type_detail/1/1503/standard/span style="color:#a9a9a9;">Fels-Naphtha%20Heavy%20Duty%20Laundry%20Bar%20Soap-10/26/1998-Old%20Product/span>/04-002-047

 

[circlew]

Eddie, I think the product you were using was probably Instant Fels. My mom used it when I was little. I always thought the box looked like Christmas wrapping paper.

 

[ea56]

Tom,
The Fels Naptha Powder that I used to buy in ‘72 looked just like the box that Laundress posted a photo of in reply #5.

Eddie

 

[stan]

Dear

Forgot that, thanks for the remind.
I guess I haven’t paid that much attention since then.

 

[circlew]

Yeah Eddie, that's the box I remember! They also made a dish detergent called Gentle Fels, but I don't think it contained naphtha. Ruth Lyons, a famous Cincinnati TV personality, advertised Fels products on her show. She was known for only having sponsors whose products she had personally tried and liked.

 

[launderess]

What differentiated Fels and other "naphtha" soaps was inclusion of a solvent.

Originally this was some sort of petroleum based mineral spirits. That has gone by the wayside for various reasons. As explained many threads ago on this subject for Fels "Naphtha" soap to keep that name it has to contain some sort of solvent. Otherwise at very least consumers might be correct in questioning if not outright bringing legal action against makers of Fels for false advertising.

Fels has cycled through various solvents including Stoddard over years. They're now down to one of most benign possible solvents; terpene.

Terpenes are hydrocarbons widely found in nature from citrus to cannabis. If you know "Goo Gone" or "Citra Solv" among other products, you know citrus based hydrocarbons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpene

Sales of Fels must be strong enough makers see profits. This explains why stuff is still being produced and it being worth going through R&D to reformulate.

Personally love vintage Fels of old. Those golden bars remove everything from lipstick to motor oil to bicycle grease marks and more.

 

[frigilux]

There was always a bar of Fels Naptha at the laundry room sink when I was a kid in the early to mid 1960s. It’s a scent you don’t forget! I remember my mom rubbing it into greasy stains on clothing. Must have worked well or she wouldn’t have kept using it.

 

[stan]

Dear

Problem is this new bar contains no terpen, dipintene, mineral spirts or “Naptha”
So no solvent at all..plant derived or otherwise.

Now is just appears to be a bad soap formula with a obnoxious scent added (kind of a baby lotion smell)
Searching on the Summit website..they claim they’ve made no changes to the Purex formula they acquired!
But clearly they have.
You should see the customer reviews on their own webpage of their new bar.
Amazon customer reviews aren’t good either.
Below is a pic of the reason for my trip to the old hardware store. Don’t know who all is still using this.. but as you can see this old time product contains Limonene (solvent)

 

[rinso]

Too bad for the changes. I always used Fels to remove salad and cooking oil spots and stains from my knitted polo shirts. The only other thing I've found that removes them is the spray New Dawn dishwashing liquid.

 

[angus]

I actually still use Spic & Span powder on my floors and yes, it's only available in hardware stores here in CT. I have tried other products (Mr. Clean and Fabulouso liquids) and they don't compare. Most floor cleaning solutions require rinsing though. So that is a bit of a pain. I also used a white vinegar and water solution for a while until I realized that all that does is damage the finish on wood floors.

 

[launderess]

Original formula of "Spic and Span" was loaded with phosphates (TSP mostly).

Know this because spied several boxes many years ago on shelves of local hardware shop's going out of business sale. As per the place was a gold mine having been in operation for well over 50 years.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175830434819

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325179879417

Germ killing Spic and Span

https://www.ebay.com/itm/404338034760

What became known as Spic and Span was invented by two Michigan housewives in 1933.

Initially sales were door to door affair but word of product spread as did its fame. Both families ran the "Spic and Span Products Company". On January 29, 1945 Procter & Gamble bought Spic and Span for $1.9 million.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyc...is a,sodium carbonate and trisodium phosphate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spic_and_Span