Forgotten bar soap brands

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kenmore1978

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Sep 8, 2004
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I was in a Big Lots! store today, and lo and behold there were two-bar sets of Lifebouy and Lux soap. I'm not so surprised to see Lux, but teh Lifebouy was a surprise, I thought it had gone away a long time ago. Checked the labels, and it the both said Unilever, with a US address, so it wasn't imported stuff.
 
I found white Lifebuoy in a supermarket several years ago and haven't seen it since. Did Big Lots have white Lifebuoy or the classic "carbolic red"?
 
Forgotten soap brands

As a child, we used Jergens and Ivory bar soap (what was it; 99 and 44/100 % pure?).

I hate to admit it, but we now use liquid hand and bath soaps. There is no squirting of the bar soap out of the washcloth, scummy mess or useless soap slivers.
 
Who remembers Phase III or Vel,or the liquid soaps,Liqua-4 and Bare Elegance?And while we're at it,a shampoo with a big lemon cap called Lemon-Up?How about Rejoice Extra Mild shampoo for long hair folks with greasy roots and dry ends?Or Protein 21 shampoo,Yucca-Dew shampoo,or Earth Born natural pH balance shampoo, demonstated not to turn the litmus paper dark?
 
Kirks Hardwater Castel

OMG!! I HATED this stuff. My grandma on my dads side used it. If we stayed on Saturday night at her house we had to take a bath with this soap. It was like 95% lye and 5% battery acid. If you got it in your eyes you would be blind for several minutes... I missed several hours of the 1960's because of Kirks soap! LOL
After the bath (if we survived) we could stay up to watch(if we could see) Jackie Gleason (how sweet it is!!) on the Magnavox "Magnacolor" console color tv and have treats of ice cream bars or watermelon.

Boy oh boy was that soap bad news!! My brother and I still talk about Kirks Hardwater Castel. A couple of years ago I saw some at Kroger. It still looks and smells the same! Still the same paper wrapper and everything. I bought a bar and wrapped it up and gave it to my brother for Christmas!! We had some laughs over that!! LOL

Rick
 
I remember...

Phase III, Yucca Dew, Earth Born and Lemon Up. Seems to me that in the 70s, there was a new shampoo about every five minutes. When I was in grade school, the rumor was that Protein 21 "drowned your roots" and made you go bald. If I remember correctly, it was Protein 21 that coined the term "The Frizzies" for split ends.
How about Tame creme rinse? Alberto Balsam? Halo? (the blue kind. I have a bottle and it still smells great!) Everynight? (Helene Curtis, I think,) Breck Basic?
Don't get me started on shampoos of yesteryear!
We used Dial soap in my house, and often Dial shampoo, too. Anyone remember that? It had a cool dispenser cap and a plastic bottle, way back in the 60s.
I have a bar of Spree soap at home that I'd never seen before. Anyone remember "Skin Mist"? It was called "The soap of Desirable Women". Guess they wouldn't get away with that today!
I still miss good old-fashioned Prell shampoo with the pearl in the bottle. That's what clean hair smelled like. The current stuff just isn't the same.

veg, who's still living in the past
 
shampoo showtime

Yes veg, you remember well,PROTEIN 21 shmpoo "helps add the body that beats the frizzies",and was, by the way one of the best shampoos ever IMHO,darned those silly rumors.Breck Basic was a texturizing setting lotion,kinda like diluted hairspray in a small bottle.How about" bathing your hair in a garden of earthen delights"with the original Clairol Herbal Essence green shampoo.But wait, there's more.Wella Balsam,Wella Herbal Care,Body On Tap beer enriched shampoo,Faberge Organics with pure wheat germ oil and honey,GEE,Your Hair Smells Terrific,Twice as Nice with two layers, a golden conditioner floating atop a blue shampoo that you shook to mix, Nestle Egyptian Henna,Meta Henna care, For Oily Hair Only, Dimension,Agree to escape the "greasies",Jheri Redding MILK 'N HONEE,Prell concentrate in an unbreakable tube, blue Halo into the early eighties, Hair's Daily Requirement,UltraMax,the first shampoo for blow dryer users,The original salon formula Vidal Sassoon,Silkience, the science of silkening your hair, and that's not greasy kid stuff,Bright Side(coldspott, you were right,and it was clear and golden),liquid Prell, in a glass bottle, with the pearl dropped in to show its thickness,Dial shampoo,department store PANTENE with gold caps,Milk Plus 6,The pH Principle by Clairol, Condition by Clairol,Touch Of Yogurt by Clairol,Alberto Beyond pre-shampoo conditioner,Loreal Ultra Rich, Loreal Mermade,Ogilvie Heavenly Body,Short n Sassy shampoo, Long n Silky conditioner,etc.etc....
 
Well, since it looks like the thread's already been hijacked...

How about Tandem, which came in a divided bottle--shampoo with one side first, then the other.
Starlight Puffs--weird shampoo and conditioner in little foam squares.
Dove shampoo that came in a can like shave cream.
Lilt shampoo for perms.
Various brands of egg shampoo.
Enden dandruff shampoo and Rinse Away dandruff treatment.
Breck creme rinse with coconut oil.

I could go on... Bethann's probably rolling her eyes ;)
 
We used to have a brownish-colored bar of soap in our laundry room. It smelled industrial and my mom used it to rub into stains on clothes (although I don't believe it was designed specifically for that purpose). I seem to remember the bar being severely rectangular, possibly with a raised edge. It came wrapped in paper (although most bars did, back in the day...)

My description isn't great, but does anyone else remember a bar soap from the mid-1960's like this? Name?
 
taking the hair care chair

sorry veg,didn't mean to hog the thread,hey,I was thinking of the Breck creme rinse with coconut oil that you mentioned, it was in a pink bottle and had a distinct smell like one just stepped out of "Betty Boufant's Beehive Beauty Boutique",how cool was that.Do you remember "SASSOONING" or Victoria Principal touting JHIRMACK,who's bottles were boxed?Don't remember the ones you mentioned except for Enden and RinseAway,how about pink Lustre-Creme in the 60s?What others were there?
 
YOU FOUND LIFEBUOY!!!! once I learned that Lever was discontinuing the brand, I began stockpiling it until I could no longer find it anywhere. Even my local Biglots doesn't have it.

It is my absolute favorite soap and I am now rationing my bars carefully. The Vermont Country Store carries the UK version of Lifebuoy but it has a very different and medicinal smell. It is also over $3.00 per bar and the bars are the 2 ounce hand size.

I would be happy to pay someone to send me some Lifebuoy from California.......
 
well how about this, yall?

Remember woodbury and cashmere bouquet? And the dreaded Palmolive Gold with hexachloraphene(which was jerked off the market and suspected of causing brain tumors)? How about Gee your hair smells terrific!? I had to sample soap scents everytime we went to A&P and bath soap was one of my favorites. I enjoyed each whiff of soap and the detergents and dishsoaps as well. I tried not to let anyone see me do it; seldom ever did I get caught in the act. But it was just so pleasurable for me. I still like to sneak a whiff of soap when I can. Yes, Jergens smelled very nice, CB too perfumey, lifebuoy, sweet but strong; safeguard nice but boring; Ivory (?), camay, like my grandmothers bathroom. Citicura-now there is a soap like no other-she bathed with it. Very mild.
 
Lifebouy and Cashmere Bouquet

Angus,if you want it, would be glad to pick it up and send it to you. I didn't notice if it was the white or orange version, you have a preference? I'll check and see what the price is andlet you know.

David, didn't mention Cashmere Bouquet, but it was at Big Lots!, too. As a child, I remember my maternal Grandmother buying it as a talcum powder brand, not a soap.

In additon to Lifebouy bar soap, she always purchased Jergens Lotion, Tussy cream style underarm deodorant, and Dr. Lyons tooth powder instead of toothpaste. Shampoo was always Alberto VO5. As for laundry and dishes ALWAYS Joy, Tide, and Clorox bleach.
 
Such Memories Of The Bathroom

I remember the commercials for some of these shampoos:
Bright Side ("makes your hair shine like the light of the moon"); "Twice as Nice" ("I just washed my hair and I can't do a thing with it"); and so many others--including my favorite, Prell Concentrate in the plastic tube.
As for soaps, I loved the smell of Zest (the modern version doesn't seem to smell the same)
And maybe the time is right to bring back "Mint Refresher Lifeboy" ("drives wives wicked")! Would it work on men?
 
MikeS--I'm all for anything that might drive men wicked!

Ah, Cashmere Bouquet. The current stuff (soap and powder) doesn't smell anything like the original. Luckily, I still have a few bars of "the good stuff" and bring it out every now and then for a whiff. There was an old ad saying to sprinkle CB talc on your sheets for those sultry summer nights. I tried it and to this day, CB smells like summer to me.

Irish Spring--Manly, yes, but I like it, too! Hmmm. Come to think of it, I liked the lumberjack-types they featured in the commercials, too!

Hexachlorophene! Man, that stuff used to be in everything. I have a tube of Ipana toothpaste that has "Hexa-Fluoride" in it. Wonder how many mutants it caused?;)

The original Sassoon shampoo. Best smell--like Jergen's lotion. Remember "If you don't look good, we don't look good. We take pride in youuuuuuuuuu. If you don't look good, we don't look good--Vidal Sassoooooooooon!"

Yeah. Obscure jingles, I can remember. My middle name...

veg. A mind is a terrible thing to waste
 
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