THE GREATEST DETERGENT EVER SOLD

[MikeS]

So Many Detergents, So Little Time

When I was a boy, I was assigned the laundry duties--even though Mom was the one that picked out the detergent. Still, in the 60's, I can not remember ever using Tide, even though just about everyone else on the block did (you could tell by the smell of their freshly-washed clothes.)
I loved Ajax ("Stronger Than Dirt"); when Bold came out, that's what my mother used. She also bought Cheer, Gain, All and several other brands if they went on sale. I also remember using the detergent sold by Alpha Beta stores in California; it had a nice citrus-like smell. So did a low-priced brand called Vogue.
These days, I like nice-scented products that do a good job--Ariel, Purex, All, and Kirkland Signature. But I sure miss the old Bold and Ajax of my youth.

 

[david]

Here's the bugaboo about Tide...

I have always heard this including from loved ones; "Tides too strong for me" As in itching from Tide-washed clothes? I don't know; it never has bothered me. But I suppose some people are sensitive to it and use other brands. A washer with better rinsing would take care of that-and I must admit our Kenmore 70 is a crappy rinser. For such a small amount of suds generated, the rinse cycle is still full of suds. I have learned to reset for a second rinse. Brighter and whiter, I say!

 

[kenmore1978]

MikeS

Sounds like your Mom was one of the "sensible, thrifty" people who bought whatever was on sale and wasn't loyal to any one brand, realizing that most every detergent gets most clothes clean, with differences between brands only showing up on clothes that were extra dirty or had stains. Apparently, she also wasn't picky about how a detergent smelled, either.

 

[westytoploader]

I am VERY picky about the scent of a detergent. One of the reasons I don't really prefer Gain is because of it's strong "bath soap" smell; I personally like the original scent of Tide w/Bleach, "After the Rain" scent of Purex (not too nauseating despite the name), Surf, and "Dark" Cheer.

Original Scent Tide w/Bleach is the clear winner for me though. Really makes the washer smell "new", plus I vividly remember the scent during laundry day when I was 4. Nothing else like it in the modern world.

Smelling vintage Tide is another reason I can't wait until the Convention...

 

[rickr]

Detergents

I have tried just about every name brand available around here. Cheer is ok,Purex is cheap and smells nice,All is middle of the road pricewise,and does a nice job.I used to use Gain in the 1980's and 1990's because it was cheap and smelled good.(at least I thought it did) It used to suds lock my 1971 1-18 at times.(the machine ate up three clutches, HUMMMM) I like Tide HE,even though it is more $$$.
Whisk was horrible,and I even returned it to the store. Right now I have: Two jugs of Purex,one jug of Tide HE,and one jug of All.
I guess like the Tide HE the best. It does a good job,is a low sudser,and seems to rinse clean. I use them all. Tonight it was: One load in the 56 WP--Tide HE/ one load in the 65 KM--All/one load in the 64 Filter Flo:Tide HE
I will launder the bed sheets with Purex later this weekend. I guess it's all about choice.
Rick

 

[westytoploader]

For clarification: I pretty much stick to powdered detergent (except for Dark Cheer which is liquid), but I do use Tide w/Bleach liquid once in a blue moon.

 

[mrcleanjeans]

did anyone like PUNCH detergent, phosphated of course?Who remembers DRIVE with the complimentary stain stick in the box and was that product any good?

 

[geoff]

As for me?

If it's got to be clean, it's got to be Tide!!

 

[angus]

Well, there is no comparison for the vintage phosphated detergents, that's a given.

I do use a fairly wide array of different products. I really think that Fab powders do the best overall job, they are low sudsing and there is hardly any powdery white residue left in the washer (even with proper water temp and rinsing - seems to be more of a problem with the P&G powders). However, their formula has changed once again and no longer contains enzymes. Plus, they are almost impossible to find as Colgate has stopped distributing them in the NOrtheast. ONce in a while you can find some in a dollar store...

I do use a fair amount of Tide with and without bleach and of course it does a grand job. And I actually like the All Citrus Breeze liquid. It leaves a great light scent on the clothes and it does a fairly good overall job. Not great on stains though - even with "stainlifters".

For vintage laundry - there is nothing like the Tide of old. But Punch, Ajax, Cheer, Oxydol, Fab (pre lemon freshened scent) and Rinso with Color Bleach were also favorites. I do recall that somewhere in the 60's we used Bold with the green and blue power granules. Then somewhere in the 80's it started with the fabric softener stuff added and the scent changed (not for the better!). Today's Bold powder does smell remarkably like the Bold of the 70's but it is hard to find and getting harder. My local Shaw's told me it was discontinued, but they say that about everything they don't like to carry.

It was an incredibly sad time in 1986 or so when Dash became a "value priced", high suds, lemon scented product. That was the beginning of the end and it left the world around 1996 or so.

THe vintage detergents are incredibly difficult to find here because the damp basements of the coastal Northeast turn any vintage box of powder into a solid mildewy brick.

One detergent I recall because it was available only briefly before all that phosphate craziness started was "Brillo Enzyme Detergent". We never used it, but I remember the endcap display at the local PAntry Pride. Great graphics - bright pink, white and blue box - and a lovely blue powder inside. I liked the commercial - a late model Philco duomatic that was designed as a box of the detergent - and the slogan..."New Brillo enzyme detegent - - with enough power to shake up every washer in America" Then after phosphate mania, it became one of those awful early 70's detergents (like Ecolo-G, PFD - pollution free detergent)that didn't dissolve, didn't clean and carried about 500 warnings on the box because of all the harsh replacement chemicals. UGH!!!

 

[richm]

Tide powder

I have multiple chemical sensitivities and Tide Powder is the only detergent that doesn't bother me. (unless I use one of the detergents from the health food store...tried them all and unfortunately have not found one that cleans well). I use it in my Neptune and 1/18, no problem with oversudsing and/or rinsing ever. I do use the extra rinse always though....

 

[doityrselfguy]

Punch and Drive

Hi Mrcleanjeans, my Mom used Punch regularly during the '70s. I remember the big green and blue box, and red letters. It had a rather mild scent to it, and the powder was all white. I brought it up years later, and she said it was a really good bargain - about $1 for a regular sized box. She used Drive a few times. I remember the scent being very strong and soapy.

Pete

 

[david]

Just thought of one..

Who remembers Bonus? I believe they contained free towels and washcloths. Wasn't it a Proctor and Gamble product? I can't remember using it. I saw it in some peoples laundry rooms.

 

[spiralactivator]

My mom is also one of those "sensible, thrifty" people--and also a liquid freak. She uses either Purex or Dynamo, depending on which is cheaper. Both my aunt and my cousin's wife lust after Tide, even though it's out of their price range. I remember my aunt having a box of "Snap-Top" Tide in the '80s.

When I was a kid I harped at Mom to experiment with detergents. We used Instant Fels and McCrory's Kleen powder a couple of times (both discontinued now). As a starving college student, my brand is 1-cup formula Sun. I've used both Xtra and Fresh Start with good results. The Fresh Start bottle is very convenient and keeps the powder from lumping up.

 

[retromom]

Am I dreaming this up or what.....

When I was a kid, there was a product called LaFrance. Was this a detergent, starch, or booster. It seems like it came in a dark green box, and may have even had a flower on it somewhere. Surely I didn't imagine this. Did it really exist?

 

[veg-o-matic]

You didn't imagine it. LaFrance was powdered bluing. It came in a dark blue box, but I don't remember the flower. Maybe you're thinking of the daisy that used to pop out of the Final Touch bottle?

We always had a box of LaFrance in the house. It may have had detergent mixed in with it, can't remember.

It was made by, like, General Foods? Some non-detergent company anyway.

veg

 

[hoovermatic]

When I was a kid my Mum used to use Omo which used to smell gorgeous and then they stopped making it. I used to love Bold but they have messed about with the fragrances so many times they have ruined it. The most consistantly reliable detergent that requires virtually no pre-treatment of any kind and smells good too, the award has to go to Ariel, liquid or powder. I don't do gel caps or tablets as the dosage is too high and with a mains softener I use so little any way. As for the dishwasher, I always use Sainsbury's own and it is better that Finish/Sun/Glist and all the other brands (plus it is recommended by Wedgwood)

 

[doityrselfguy]

La France

This was available in Michigan until about two years ago - dark blue box with white and pink accents. I never used it, but know from seeing boxes at a laundromat that it was a very fine blue powder (like the consistency of baking soda).

 

[cehalstead]

anyone remember Dolly Parton hawking Breeze detergent with its premium of a towel...different size towel for each size box of detergent? As Dolly would say:..."and you can only git them in boxes of Breeze". And of course, Duz detergent with its free dishes....."DUZ does everything". Most detergents used to give instructions for washing floors and dishes with them. My grandmother NEVER used anything but Tide for her dishes....after all, her UniMatic was right next to the sink(and drained into the sink with frequent hose accidents giving her the cleanest floor in town), so why have two boxes cluttering up the kitchen...????

 

[spiralactivator]

Dolly Parton sold detergent?!?!

Was this early in her career (when she sang with Porter Waggoner and wore her real hair)? Dolly is a goddess, but I never knew this bit of trivia.

 

[geoffdelp]

I was always a fan of vintage Oxydol - only on the white clothes. Tide has been my stand-by for years. Vintage Blue Cheer was also a great product and it's what my mother used to use. It always smelled so good.

I used to use Whisk - used to be a great pre-treater.

BTW ... LaFrance used to be a super product. It was a bluing that you added at the start of the wash with your detergent. I liked it because it smelled good and it didn't "spot" like liquid bluings can if they are not mixed right.

 

[cehalstead]

real Dolly hair

Spiralactivator: Yes, Dolly sold detergent and it was at the same time she sang with Porter.....her hair was real, and so was everything else...before the nip and tuck....

 

[lightedcontrols]

OXYDOL'S MY CHOICE!

Love Oxydol!....and it's still available at Restoration Hardware even though it's on the E X P E N S I V E side. Tried to use Tide HE with the new Maytag Neptune Top Loader, but it's still too sudsy ( as the washer tells me after EVERY load!)... so I usually end up using All/Surf with a little hit of BIZ. Never use chlorine bleach. I really don't like using Tide as they are STILL TESTING ON ANIMALS! Doggies and kitties are MUCH too precious to support this kind of testing for laundry detergent. Mark

 

[DADoES]

I can't stay definitively which is best, but Tide was king when I was a kid @ home. Breeze and Duz were sometimes in the picture, I remember the towels and glasses. My dad used Tide as a general-purpose detergent at his business as well. When I got to the point of having enough clout (LOL!), I managed to convince Mom to try various other detergents. I can recall Punch, Bold, Fab, Bold II (was that it, with built-in softener?), Dash, All, Cold Power (whoo-wheee, that stuff was high-sudsing, maybe a psychological thing related to the cold-water washing?), Salvo, Gain, Cheer, Yes, Wisk, Dreft, Era, Oxydol, Fresh Start, Surf. Also FM, which was the house brand of FedMart, a discount store in the area back in the day, they had both regular and concentrated/low-suds. Amway SA8 (that one wasn't my idea, LOL). Clorox 2, Biz, Borateem. Downy, and gallons and gallons of SweetHeart! Rain Barrel (didn't last long on the market). Probably am forgetting some. What was that sponge softener sheet, ClingFree? And what was the one in the form of a pad that adhered to the dryer drum?

For myself, I used Fab for many years. Have now been stuck on Ariel for a while. Haven't used Tide or Surf in years . . but some really nice people bought a box of Tide to me yesterday, so . . ..

 

[geoffdelp]

Which Oxydol?

Mark ... Is Restoration Hardware a website? They still sell classic Oxydol? Wow ...

Geoff

 

[gansky1]

Vintage LaFrance

I find boxes of LaFrance at estate sales constantly, I wish I found as much vintage Downy! One sale netted a ton of vintage finds including LaFrance. It is a bluing you add to the wash water and does have some surfacants in it to aid cleaning and make lots of frothy blue suds!

 

[westytoploader]

YAY! Great find/Convention gear! ;-)

 

[geoffdelp]

Great Collection, Greg!

Hi Greg ... wow ... those look like a lot of fun!! I still have a box of Dash just like those; haven't used it yet. After watching Robert use Dash freely at our wash-in a week ago, I'm "itching" to try it!!

I was bummed when LaFrance quit production a few years ago. I loved using it; especially on my white sheets in the summer time. Fun product. There is another one out there that is in liquid form it's called "Blueite" (I think that's the name). You use it at the start of the wash; it smells very clean, also. You have to make sure that it is mixed thoroughly in the wash water first, however; I've accidentally put blue streaks on sheets because I didn't mix it well first!!

I'm still able to pick-up Soilax at our local hardware store.

Have not run across any vintage Downy yet ... love the smell of it AND vintage Final Touch ... my two favs.

Geoff

 

[retromom]

Great Collection

Greg:

This is super! I knew that I remembered LaFrance. I guess the "yellow flower" was really the yellow circle or starburst.

Are these items still "powdery" after all these years? Will we get a chance to see how they suds in June?;-)

Venus

 

[kenmore1978]

Death Valley Days

Anybody still using 20 Mule Team Borax in their wash?

 

[retromom]

Laundry Boosters

I was using Borax until I started buying Biz about six months ago. I thought it did a great job. I would alternate between the Borax and Arm and Hammer washing soda. Our water is very hard here, so I need all the help I can get.