No More Dingy Laundry!
Persil, the world's first commercially available laundry power, used SCIENCE to clean
Our header today comes from a 1950’s UK television advertisement for Persil laundry detergent, taken from the amusing YouTube channel The Laundry Lab. The Laundry Lab archives British TV advertisements and programs focused on household products and appliances.
While laundry powders hit the market in the 1880’s, in 1907 Persil, manufactured by German company Henkel, was the first modern-style laundry detergent to be commercially available to the public. As opposed to the prior formulations of laundry powder, which were basically just pulverized soap, what made Persil different was the inclusion of new agents that helped the soap work more effectively. Sodium silicate was added to “soften” the water, eliminating the soapy residue that could otherwise be a problem to rinse with hard water. Sodium perborate was also added, and acted as a bleaching agent, eliminating the time-consuming task of needing to lay clothing out in the sun in order to break down colored stains.
Joe Schwarcz at McGill has provided a further explination of the science behind Persil in his brief but informative article, linked below.
McGill: "The World’s First Commercially Available Laundry Powder" by Joe Schwarcz PhD, 7/28/22
Nice!
Now I kind of want to work for the Laundry Lab.
I can't believe I completely forgot about Wonkette today. I had a busy day and somehow just never got over here. And just now I was a half hour late with the cats dinner! The horror.
The gif is sweet. I didn't realize that laundry soap was that old. Of course washing clothes was a horrible chore in those days. My maternal grandmother had an old wash tub with a wringer in the basement of their house. They also had a modern washing machine because it was the '60s. I guess she kept the old one to remind her how hard it used to be. Thanks Martini.