Tide - The Smell Of Clean

[mrboilwash]

Interesting timeline about the evolution of Tide`s scent.

At the beginning in 1946 Tide was unscented just like Persil of that era.
Then it got a light rose-fougere scent throughout the 50`s.
In the 60`s it became a rose-lily of the valley scent with a heavy dose of musk.
In the 70`s it was a woody floral scent with jasmin notes added to the well known base, still heavy on musks.
Some changes also had to be done in order to make the scent compatible with the detergent`s chemicals.

http://https//www.fragrantica.com/news/World-Perfumery-Congress-2018-Tide-The-History-of-the-Smell-of-Clean-in-North-America-11011.html

 

[liamy1]

Interesting...

Read, and I always find it really interesting how companies like PG develop scents and how they determine what scent will appeal to as many users as possible.

What I also find interesting, is how PG/Unliver etc determine what scents embody clean/appeal in different markets around the world; I have used USA Tide and Gain quite extensively in all 3 formats and various scents, and they smell nothing alike any of the PG products over here in Europe - UK specifically for me. Ariel, Daz Fairy and Bold - not one has a smell reminiscent of or even close to Tide or Gain (or even Cheer, which I had a couple of bottles of years ago).

Also, interestingly, Japanese Ariel smells almost the same (but not quite exactly the same) as Tide, but it certainly doesn’t smell anything like U.K. Ariel.

 

[iej]

One of the major drivers of the scent changes, certainly in Europe, has been regulation and an avoidance of certain synthetic musk fragrances that were popular in the past but are considered to environmental hazards as they accumulate in the environment and do not biodegrade very well.

As a result, a lot of the fragrances avoid musk.

The other big change is people's noses have genuinely become more sensitive to different smells, largely because of the massive reduction in smoking due to changing attitudes and bans in public spaces.
The general atmosphere in developed countries is also a lot less smokey than it would have been decades ago.

All of that has impacted the choices of scents being used by detergent makers.

 

[abcomatic]

I don't like many of the "new" smells in laundry compounds. I remember detergent from the '50's and those are the smells that I like. Tide, Oxydol, Rinso Blue, Breeze, American Family detergent, Cheer, Duz are the smells that I associate with clean. None of them were that flowery or whatever you want to suggest was the scent.
I don't mind the scent of Tide Pods, but everything, no, not so much.
We use Bubble Bandit detergent and did use Sears powder. The scents that are used in these detergents is much more to my liking.
If a retro smell came back to Tide or others, I would try it. Happy washing, Gary

 

[supersuds]

It is a good article, though I can spot a few errors/oversimplifications. A version of Tide without phosphates was introduced for some markets in the 1970s, but you could get Tide with phosphates as late as 1993!

But it establishes that P&G knows exactly what scents Tide used over the years, and if it doesn't smell as good as it used to, it's totally by their choice.

The author was given a scented postcard with a reconstruction of the original scent of Tide, which he describes as "amazing," and asked for a special retro edition of Tide -- I'd buy it!

 

[mrboilwash]

Iej, I think you`re spot on. Some synthetic musc compounds not only accumulate in the environment, they also have been found to accumulate in the food chain and even worse to be carcinogenic, thus have been either banned or otherwise regulated.

As a member of the Fragrantica website I have been aware of this for a long time and it doesn`t surprise me at all that it is not emphasized in the article.

Companies like P&G would never admit frankly they had to change a scent because they were no longer allowed to put their customers at a serious health risk.

So many times I read here someone can`t stand the new floral (feminine?) scents of today`s laundry products.
According to the article Tide has always been a floral scent inspired by popular perfumes of the decade it was sold.
So I guess the problem is not the floral theme per se but the fact that some have a hard time to adapt to new trends in the fragrance industry that differ from what we`ve learned to like in our childhood.

 

[liamy1]

Ah yes,

mrboilwash, that makes sense.

I don’t know how accurate this is (going off memory from something I read on here a few years back), but somebody mentioned that Tide wouldn’t be approved for sale over here due to a certain compound or other.

Never really thought about that aspect as we can get Tide over here pretty easily as long as one is prepared to fork out for it and as never had any customs issues when having it shipped over, didn’t know how correct that was (unless it’s because it’s just one user as opposed to regular, repeated use if it were on the main market).

 

[rolls_rapide]

I think the ingredients for specific markets might also cause the fragrances to be different. For example our TAED bleaching activator might cause a 'fragrance shift' that US formulations might not suffer because they use NOBS. Maybe certain detergent components require a selection of fragrances to counteract them?

Personally, I still miss the fragrance of 1970's Ariel twin-tub powder, 1980's Ariel Automatic powder, 1980's Ariel Liquid, and 1990's Radion Automatic powder.

There was an odd after-scent I recently detected from laundry washed in current Ariel powder - not mine, I hasten to add. It was a powdery floral-like note, as if it was mixed with old scented talcum powder, which had since gone off.

 

[golittlesport]

Vintage Tide

Interesting article. I remember loving the smell of Tide in the 60's. My grandmother used it. But my mom couldn't stand the scent of Tide. She said it was "too strong and flowery and stunk."
Of course, using a Westinghouse Laundromat to do her laundry, she couldn't have used Tide if she wanted too, as Tide was VERY high-sudsing in those days. (Folks then associated mounds of suds with clean.) Mom used Dash and later Salvo when it arrived on the shelves. She would say Salvo had a light, fresh, clean scent.
Funny that nowdays it seems so many detergents have a stronger scent than ever. My favorite is powdered Tide HE --- light and fresh. (Like Salvo -- haha!)

 

[gusherb]

I don’t particularly like the smell of Original Tide as it is now but don’t mind it as the finished product is one of the lighter and least offensive scents to be found these days. The current Mountain Spring aka Old Original, smells just like it always has in the liquid form but I’ve noticed it tweaked a few times for the powdered form. The liquid form has always been very musky and has a sort of powdery scent to it that makes me gag if I happen to be sick. The powdered form has gone from a lighter scent, to more musky to the current version under the Mountain Spring label that smells more similar to Gain Original.
The current Original smells the same to me whether it be liquid or powder form.

 

[askolover]

I am quite fond of the new Tide botanical rain scent.