P&G sells soap brands to Unilever

[danemodsandy]

Andi:

Cashmere Bouquet is also still around, but hard to find. I have a few bars in my stash. When Cashmere Bouquet was easier to get, I used to keep Palmolive in the tub's soap dish, and Cashmere Bouquet at the sink for hand washing. Cashmere Bouquet leaves hands smelling very nice.

It took a long time, but the beginning of the end for a lot of toilet soaps was the 1955 introduction of Lever Brothers' Dove, the first mass-marketed "superfatted" toilet soap, and the introduction of Armour's Dial deodorant soap in 1948.

Dove was even more of a "beauty soap" than Lux, Camay, Palmolive and Cashmere Bouquet; women were very happy with its moisturizing qualities. Dial originally contained hexachlorophene, an antibacterial agent that was banned in the '70s. Dial then switched to triclocarban, which it still uses today. The idea behind Dial was to rid the skin of bacteria whose excretions are the cause of body odor. This is considered sketchy logic from a scientific point of view, but it has sold one helluva lot of Dial.

Speaking of Cashmere Bouquet, Colgate-Palmolive used to make other Cashmere Bouquet products. There was talcum powder (still made under license by another company) and hand lotion, long discontinued.

 

[jamiel]

I think that Dove was even more revolutionary than you've mentioned here; in that although it was definitely superfatted, I don't think it was primarily saponified oil (i.e. soap)...it was primarily detergents (as it is now). Lever cornered the market for beauty bar soaps at the time; and P&G/CP/Armour weren't able to compete. P&G used their detergent technology for Zest (which was unique at the time--Safeguard competed more with Dial). You later had some hybrid products (Phase III, Lever 2000) later which used the building-blocks of Dove and added deodorant. P&G tried to compete in the very early 80s with a bar product called Monchel (test marketed in Kansas City) until they came up with the Olay branding which has persisted.

 

[iej]

Over here, bar soap really doesn't occupy much more than a small niche on a shelf these days.
I occasionally use Dove, as I find it can be good if I've oily skin, but normally I use fairly environmentally friendly products.

The packaging issue is a big one, I can't understand why more producers can't simply sell refillable packs like Ecover.

 

[ronhic]

Give me Pears Transparent

...any time over any other bar soap.

 

It's one of the few that washes truly clean, not leaving a 'soapy' film on the skin and is mildly fragranced without any overtly floral notes.

 

It's a product that was often used on babies given it was quite neutral and hypoallergenic (original formula) and to this day reminds me of my little sister being bathed as a baby. They have, unfortunately, changed the formula twice since 2009 with the subsequent ingredient list being significantly less 'natural' than that used for the 202 years until 2009. Probably in the name of cost savings for at around $1.50 per bar, it is far from a 'cheap' soap.

 

Mind, even with all the changes, it's still the product I use to shower with. Nothing else comes close in my book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pears_soap

 

[jerrod6]

I am not sure the stuff we call soap over here is the same as it was.  Looking at the ingredients of the body soap I am using it contains what they call soap(sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate, sodium palm kernelate, sodium palmate) then this other stuff: water, glycerin, coconut acid, palm acid, tallow acid, palm kernel acid, vitamin E, Kiwi fruit juice however you get that, and Mango juice, so some of this may being used to adjust the Ph.

 

I tried body wash but the stuff never seems like it rinses off.  My skin feels as if it is coated in silicone or something.

 

I also use soap from a local maker a 7 streets away.  It contains coconut oil, olive oil, safflower seed oil, vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, water, sorbitol sodium oleate, soybean protein, shea butter.  This stuff cleans well enough and my skin feels great even better is the fragrance - moroccan cedar. Love this stuff. 

 

So perhaps we are using things and calling them soap but they are not the same as they were years ago. 

 

[retropia]

In the winter, I always had problems with itchy skin. Moisturizing soaps, shower gel, glycerin soaps, nothing helped. Following a shower with a moisturizer helped, but I found that to be a bother.

On a whim, I tried Trader Joe's tea tree oil soap. It eliminated the itching, and the need for a moisturizer. It's all I use now in the shower, year round.

 

[frigilux]

I've used Lever 2000 since its 1987 debut. Initally, its antibacterial properties were advertised. That isn't mentioned these days, so perhaps there's been a change in formulation. Not sure why I've remained faithful to it; habit, I suppose. It comes in packs of 16 bars at Sam's Club.

 

[arbilab]

I liked Lever 2000 too with the exception it tended to 'melt' thus didn't last long.

 

[alr2903]

Zest..

.

On January 4, 2011, it was announced that Procter and Gamble had sold the brand to High Ridge Brands Co.

 From Wiki

 

 

 

[arbilab]

What the hell is a "High Ridge Brand"??

 

[alr2903]

here.

http://www.sponsorship.com/IEGSR/2013/10/28/Zest-Soap-Cleans-Up-With-NASCAR-Program.aspx

 

[alr2903]

Brynwood,.

... who knew VO5, White Rain and other brands we are all familiar with. I love the part about "orphan brands".

http://www.brynwoodpartners.com/

 

[alr2903]

I thought the link in reply #40 was interesting with the % of sales by brand. alr