Whatever Happened?

[mrboilwash]

The vast majority of laundry detergents and FS have always smelled like "cheap lady`s perfume", right from the start when manufacturers decided to add scent to their products.

The thing is that the perfume market is very "fashion driven", similar to the clothing market. Trends and preferences change frequently and it`s always the younger generation who defines what`s in and what`s out.

Of course there are some timeless classics like Dove (yuck), Chanel No5, Arm and Hammer, Levi`s 501s (LOL) but to the majority of the younger generation any of these would smell like "cheap old ladies perfume"
See where i`m heading to? Our scent preferences for the most part form at young age just like our tastes of music do.
No surprise the majority who complain about modern scents in this thread are members of the older generation.
And whatever we frequently smelled in the past gave our brains a chance to adopt and get used to, which means we notice these scents much less today and just link them to clean and fresh. Whereas new scents which we hadn`t had the time to adopt to might be perceived as loud and obtrusive.

Then there`s changes driven by economics and regulations.
Have you older guys ever noticed the smell of your Cool Water (or whatever else) you find in stores today has next to nothing to do with the scent you used in the 1980s when you were young?
Some scent ingredients have skyrocketed in price others have been banned or limited in use forcing manufacturers to reformulate their products on a regular basis.

Getting old is a drama for all of us, and as much as I still enjoy some "dated" scents of my youth (among other things from the past) I also try hard to be open for new trends in order to keep pace with time.

 

[mrboilwash]

I also find it interesting how vintage detergent scents are often associated with "a light smell" or "clean and fresh" when basically they`re full of heavy musks and florals like roses and lily of the valley.

I mean some musks by themselves just smell like a clean anus. Clean but still anus and yet we`ve learned to link this perfume note with "just out of the shower"
But some of today`s fruity scents are unacceptable? LOL

In my opinion Arm and Hammer is one of the worst offenders in this perspective.

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

That reminds me,

As my mum is thinking about changing washing machine pods for something that actually is a bit stronger scented, I’ll probably try to get it to go for like Thai or something else. I’m honestly I’m not sure, something that isn’t normally sold here just because I want her to make use of her Costco membership more

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #21

In my opinion Arm and Hammer is one of the worst offenders in this perspective.

100% agree with this. I think Arm and Hammer detergent, both liquid and powder, stinks to high heaven. Also the powder leaves dust everywhere. I bought a huge box of it a couple years ago because it was on sale at Kroger, and I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Ryne

 

[yuccadew]

mrboilwash- I think everything you said is very true. I know they do that with haircare too, keeping up with perfume trends. Pantene is one that apparently tweaks the scent of their haircare as perfume trends change, and you often find long term users of their products upset when that happens.

With the American products, I do think some products just smell so *strong*, though. Palmolive and Ivory dish liquid are examples. The scents they updated to are so strong now, you can taste it on your dishes even after rinsing for an extra amount of time. I still have a little left of some Palmolive in the original scent, and it’s more mild smelling and I can’t taste it on my dishes after rinsing. For the most part, with American dish soap, I buy unscented now, unless I stop by the Polish market to get Ludwik. Some American “natural” brand scents also aren’t too bad.

Also I just received a package from makeupstore yesterday with raspberry scented bath & body products, and haircare, from Poland. It stood out to me as I was testing them out yesterday how much lighter the scents are than some American ones, like Bath & Body Works. Bath & Body Works gets copied a lot by other brands, and certain popular scents of theirs do as well (from around 2000, their lavender vanilla and eucalyptus spearmint scent profiles have been copied a lot across all kinds of products), and I just personally find the potency of the scents to just be too much..

 

[yuccadew]

*also I meant to add, I notice it too with hand soaps. The Bath & Body Works strength, and the American mass market ones (with the exception of maybe Jergens), the scents are really strong and stay on your hands. The ones I received yesterday smell light, and I can only smell the scent when washing my hands.

 

[littlegreeny]

"...just smell like a clean anus."

OMG, I was laughing at this statement! So so true!!

 

[moparwash]

I noticed that Tide with Bleach Alternative has a stronger scent now, so I switched to Tide Free and Clear

 

[ea56]

Re: 24

I use nothing but Palmolive Original Ultra Strength dishwashing detergent to wash our dishes and I haven’t noticed any change in the scent or that the scent is strong. I love it!

And remember all those old TV commercials with Madge the manicurist using Palmolive to soak her patrons hands before the manicure? Well ever since I began to wash our dishes by hand over 5 years ago my cuticles have never looked better! No more hangnails or rough, sore, bleeding cuticles. I used to have the most miserable looking cuticles, now they look like I have regular manicures, which I don’t, I just cut my nails about every 10 days with nail clippers, and I don’t even use any hand lotion, just Palmolive and lots of hot tap water.

So I guess there was some truth in advertising in Madge’s old TV commercial.

Eddie

 

[yuccadew]

Eddie- Palmolive confirmed the scent changed about 6 years ago. I guess that’s how companies do it, though. They change the scent to appeal to a modern market, and oftentimes it’s subtle enough that many people don’t even notice, or aren’t sensitive enough to scent changes for it to bother them.

I noticed it right away when it happened, it’s like they infused it with apple or some other fruit note?

I do remember those Palmolive commercials. Palmolive softens hands while you do dishes, and makes them look younger!

 

[ea56]

Renia,
Well if they changed the scent of Palmolive 6 years ago that explains why I didn’t notice a change in the scent since I began using it daily for the dishes a about 5 1/2 yrs ago. And you’re correct, I just took off the top and took a sniff and it does smell slightly fruit like, but it’s not offensive to me, everyone’s different. I happen to hate Dawn, which most people seem to prefer, go figure?

Myself, I’d rather use detergents with a pleasant scent, rather than unscented.

Eddie

 

[yuccadew]

Eddie- Yeah it’s not a bad smell necessarily, but I think for people who were used to how it smelled before, the change was kind of jarring. It’s like if you took how it smells now and took out that fruity/ apple note, and made the over all scent softer and milder, and that was the smell it had.

I know what you mean about Dawn, that has a very distinct smell too, and I can see how some people wouldn’t like it.

 

[Marky_Mark]

I personally perceive Persil ProClean liquid sold in the USA to have the strongest scent of any laundry detergent that I can ever remember.  To me it's a unique smell -- totally different to anything in Europe or anything else in the USA that I've ever come across.  I like the scent but boy is it strong.  Although (fortunately) very toned down after drying.  It's an excellent detergent.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Thinking about it, the scent of the Persil ProClean might not be stronger than other detergents at all, but perhaps I just notice it more for some reason.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #30

Eddie, I normally use Palmolive as well but a few grocery runs ago I got Dawn. I don't care for the scent of Dawn much but it doesn't super bother me.

Stacye does water color paintings a lot as kind of a hobby, and she always washes her hands afterword with Mrs. Meyer's dish soap, because she likes the scent. Well, she ran out of the Mrs. Meyer's, and I didn't think much of just letting her soak her hands in some Dawn after a particularly messy painting session. She's like, what the hell is this soap? It smells horrible! I told her it was Dawn and she said she never wanted to soak her hands in it again and that it smelled like an old lady, or a hospital. LOL

Ryne

 

[fisherpaykel]

Persil liquid strong scent

Mark your first comment saying Persil blue liquid scent is super strong agrees with my perception. The one and never again time I washed bedding with it I had to get up at night and remove that gosh awfully strong smelling pillowcase! I have a supply of their pods still, not used in a while, to me scent is a bit different and slightly toned down, but in future using up supplies they won't be on pillowcases nor shirts, and won't be repurchasing. Anything needing deep cleaning or whitening I have ample supply now of Resolve Crystal White powder and Resolve powder for colours, removed the dried on spilled mustard on white shirt recently no problem-I did soak for a while after wash prior to rinse. I think it is TAED as oxygen bleach activator that it contains.

Angus, sounds like your detergent stash almost rivals that of Launderess!

 

[angus]

Most of my real vintage products have no scent left, but they do work. The only ones that have some noticeable scent at all are a few boxes of Ajax 2 and Cheer, as well as the few cans of Wisk liquid. Obviously the liquid Wisk held its scent pretty well. And those powders were sealed in plastic when I got them so that may explain it. I also have a few boxes of Instant Fels that have a very slight scent, but they are the ones from the 60's that contained "Stoddard Solvent" so they kind of smell like cleaning fluid. That was from my mother's own stash. She tried Instant Fels a few times but wasn't happy with the results of washing with soap instead of detergent. So while she never discarded the few remaining boxes, she never used them except occasionally for dishes.

 

[volvoman]

@ angus

I'm surprised that the Wisk liquid held up after all these years. You'd think that the scent would have "turned", and that the liquid would have separated. Is this not the case with "vintage" liquids?

 

[stan]

Walking down the detergent aisle

Is an adventure.. certainly an assault on the o factory’s and it has nothing to do with one’s age or what one got use to as a child.
I don’t remember smelling the obnoxious and over powering scents until the last 15 years or so.
Remember..these new and artificial (engineered) scents used in laundry products have noting to do with effective cleaning or stain removal.
I’ve found my own ways to effectively launder without obnoxious scents.
This involves good basic laundry habits..exposer time, temperature, rinsing temperature, load size and all while excluding overly scented products.
Theres also nothing that smells as good as lined dried when possible.
@eddie I use green Palmolive too. Now and again also wet my kitchen sponge and put it in the microwave for 2 min….Just incase theys a cootie embedded in er LOL

 

[angus]

Re: reply 37: I can't say that the Wisk liquid looks exactly like it would have when it was "new". But it hasn't separated at all and maybe the fact that they were in metal cans and not plastic jugs was helpful; or maybe they were carefully stored and tightly capped; or maybe all of the above. I had one plastic jug and the contents had some crystallization but still was dissolvable. Conversely, I had an old plastic quart of "Cold Water All" and it actually had separated and wouldn't come back together regardless of how much I shook it up. So who knows?