As always, it's so good to learn from you guys. Thank you for schooling me on these detergents from the past.

It's kinda sad how Colgate Palmolive pretty much just gave up in the Detergent game. Although I know they still have Sauvitel fabric softener, but still...

From what I've seen on here, it seems like Colgate Palmolive had a pretty strong lineup back in the day. (Sigh) Just wish they would've stuck around.

Possibly. Vintage TV ads on YouTube show use of a measuring cup but that may be for illustrating comparison to measuring other detergents. The caps on my bottles have two lines. Instructions say use the lower line (which I checked = 1/4 cup) for medium loads, upper line (maybe 1 tbsp more, didn't check it) for large or heavy soil.

Favorites from the 60's and 70's:

Tide

Cheer

Oxydol

Fresh Start

Gain

Salvo tablets

Dash

Ajax

Fab Lemon Fresh

Breeze

Wisk

Cold Power

They just don't make clean fresh non-perfumy scents like those anymore!

Tideman, The scents nowadays are super sweet and fruiti. The only fruit smell I want on my clothes is lemon.

1. Sunlight Original Lemon scent (Canada only)

2. Surf Sparkling Ocean

3. Tide Lemon scent (Canada only, no longer produced)

The only thing that stands out to me is the old Gain scent. I was at my SIL's house on vacation and her towels smelled fabulous so when I got home, I bought this and began washing with it...It wasn't long before I started breaking out in hives and my lips started to swell. That was my first experience with being allergic to laundry detergent. After that, I only used fragrance free and even that wasn't a guarantee that I would not be allergic. No fun scents for me...boohoo!

I’m in the U.K, but do use both U.K. and US detergents.

3 past favourites - as in companies come along and changed them :(

Persil - “performance“ Powder or Liquid

Bold - “Active Fresh” - the BEST scented detergent ever made.

Bold - “white diamond and lotus flower”

Current favourites

Tide original

Daz liquid

Kirkland liquid

arkansas girl, I'm so sorry you had that experience :-(

Thank you so much for your input! Always valued here :-) What Free and Clear detergent do you currently use?

krazynntreal, it's so good to hear from you again! I really do wish some of these companies can just leave good enough, ALONE and stop tampering with it so often.

I guess my favorite will always be Oxydol from the 50’s and 60’s. My grandma used it and I can still see in my mind and smell her wonderful sheets and walking up and down the rows of them on the clothes lines smelling them and watching them blow in the breeze, as if it was yesterday. Definitely one of my favorite memories ....

Hi MWJ, thank you, likewise :). Yes couldn’t agree more, I still haven’t forgiven P&G for ditching Active Fresh and it’s been 15 years or more haha

MWJ, I use the Persil...sorry, I could have sworn I said that...HA! I am very happy that I finally found a good fragrance free detergent!

MiMi, thank you for sharing. Always good reading your comments! This thread is the first time I ever heard of Oxydol. Love being educated about these older detergents.

arkansas girl, I'm so happy you found what works best for you! :-)

Wisk, Bold, Oxydol, Gain (the old original scent)

The original Tide Coldwater liquid Fresh Scent was to die for! I have a hidden bottle.

Any of the old school Tide powders.

Tide plus Downy April Fresh liquid, before they changed it

Tide Clean Breeze liquid, before they changed it

I have two favorites, both powders.

One was Tide powder from the 1980s and 1990s. I didn't get to use Tide powder in the 1970s, so missed out on that. That, was a clean and fresh scent. My absolute favorite. The current Tide powder smells nothing like that. P&G really blew it taking that away.

2nd, was a Safeway (grocery store) store brand detergent called "Bleach Alternative". Since I've attended and received my Laundry Degree from this laundry forum, I now know this means it had oxygen bleach in it but our clothes didn't fade any more than what I consider normal. It cleaned very well and smelled, oh, so, good. I had many contractors here at the house daily during the years I used that powder and they all, each day would comment on how good it smelled (top loader left to soak for a while on most loads).

jenfbc, I've been seeing a lot of comments on here about the original Gain scent. I know I was old enough when it was around but I so wish I could remember what it was like.

I wish SC Johnson would've bought Wisk from Unilever instead of Sun and eventually Henkel. I think they would've been a very good owner for Wisk. Especially considering they have Shout...my my my the possibilities!!!

SEA SEA, yeah P&G has definitely done a disservice to Tide and Gain.

It hurts me to see Gain performing so poorly now according to Consumer Reports (but then again I'm not really convinced of their assessment)

Oxydol dates to 1914, apparently was P&G's first laundry soap and is claimed to be the source of the term "soap opera" for sponsoring the Ma Perkins radio show. Introduction of Tide detergent led to competition against soap products and Oxydol was changed in the 1950s to a detergent formulation with oxygen bleach, a marketing first. I recall in the late 1960s Oxydol being *very* sudsy ... but all of them were except for the few low-sudsers such as Ad, All, and Dash.

Persil

Does anyone remember Duz detergent? I remember Dolly Parton doing commercials for Duz back when she was on the Porter Wagner show, back in the late 1960/early 1970s. I don't think my mother ever bought it.

Duz for a while had glassware in the box (various sizes depending on the size of the box) as a "gift" .. which of course took up space that could been occupied by detergent.

Bonus had towels.

I LOVED Solo back in the 80s. Liquid Bold replaced Solo until it was later discontinued. Original Tide powder back in the 90s smelled great too.

And I have to admit, Fresh Start smelled wonderful. When I was a child, I talked my mom into buying a jug and wow that was some pretty fragrant detergent for the time!

Current bottom of the line detergents from Purex and Sun smell pretty darn good too. They have that "old fashioned" scent many of us remember. Too bad they clean so poorly.

Love this thread- a trip down detergent memory lane!
I always use unscented; when my DD was little she got a rash from some random scented detergent when we were on vacation, and I never used scented again. Fresh clean clothes smell good.

I never really noticed detergent scents until they started getting obnoxious. Like Persil, Gain & the super loud Ariel.

I bought a box of Gain at a rummage sale a couple of summers ago. With the first load, I understood why it ended up at rummage. Was the first and only time that I was ever actually happy to see the bottom of a box of detergent!

1/4 cup Dynamo from early 80's and Lemon Fab powder. I believe Dynamo was the first 1/4 cup liquid made.

"The little blue jug is Dynamo!"

Gain is WAY too much for me. Last two detergent purchases have been Kirkland liquid detergent, not too strong unless you use too much.

Loved Lemon Fab powder...did it not have borax in it? It was the bomb for towels and permanent press.

Mark...don't you remember the song "oh Fab, I'm glad, there's lemon freshened Borax in you".

George

To this day I still sing that song whenever I see a bottle or box of Fab detergent !

Ahhh, Fab w/lemon freshened borax. When detergents smelled good. I'm sorry but I don't want my clothes smelling like spring waters, mountains, oceans, islands, or meadows.

Well in '81 I was 15 years old. I did my own laundry at that age. Yes I seen commercial, although I forgot the jingle. That was some great detergent though.

My very favorite scent is plain old Tide Free liquid. Sooooooo nice.

Pat z5/6 SEMich, you're a hoot!! And I agree 100%. Hope you're well and staying safe.

Another vote for Oxydol. Every time I have seen this thread that is the scent that enters my mind more than any other. Duz as well. Somewhere on ebay there has to be an auction for a collection of Duz glasses. So I just checked ebay and there are a dozen or more listings, original boxes and all. Wow!

Oh how I wish I was around when Colgate-Palmolive's detergent brands were in their hay day...

bea, i am well and staying safe. and the same to you.

isn't it strange without mama here?

bea, do you think Method cleans as well as Tide?

Pat. yes, it's strange without mama, she is surely missed. We've had both our shots. As for your?, I've never used method, I did try the FS one time but wasn't thrilled with it. With my COPD, I can't so scents Tide F/G he turbo is really all I can use. All is the devil to rinse out, so I just stickwith Tide.

bea, I didn't see your comments above last year as I must have been just gettin' into some pretty serious caregiving at that time. I hope you are well and wonder if you and larsi still have beagles.

I am 82 now and I remember the wonderful scent of the Oxydol my Mother used. I never thought there might be any other detergent than that one. And she hung our crisp white muslin sheets outside to dry -- to think how many times she walked up and down those basement stairs to hang the laundry outside.

I only love my ALL and TIDE free/clears too, bea.

Persil 💕 Just enough makes it non-overpowering (and people ask what scent I use in the house! I laugh and tell them it’s the detergent)

Fab w lemon freshened borax fans, take a whiff of Arm and Hammer Clean and Simple Crisp Clean. Another discussion warned me it's not highly regarded for cleaning, though. A&H makes a laundry scent, Clean & Simple Light In-Wash Scent Booster Crisp Clean that I plan to try with unscented Persil to evoke the Fab that I smell there.

none. hate em all! :)

TBL from CT,  Arm and Hammer Clean and Simple was what I used almost exclusively about 2-3 years ago, then they stopped selling it at my local Walmart. So now I use Arm and Hammer Clean Burst for my Liquid and Arm and Hammer Fresh Scent as my Powder. I see Amazon and Home Depot has Arm and Hammer powder in the Crisp Clean scent. I'm thinking about going with it once I'm out of my Fresh Scent powder.

@MWJ '90 thanks for the A&H info. I see it on Amazon - 290 loads will last me a very long time! When I checked Home Depot, I didn't see the Crisp Clean powder there. Do you feel that the powder cleans better than the liquid Clean and Simple, and does the powder rinse well? (ALL free and clear powder just doesn't rinse out well for me.)

I recently found the A&H Clean & Simple Crisp Clean at Big Lots. I love that stuff for my darks.

All this talk about crisp clean I *need* to buy some…

TBL from CT from my experience I haven't had any issues with A&H powders as they are much finer in consistency than the P&G or Henkel powder brands which tend to be more grainy. A&H powders are very similar to the consistency of baking soda.

A&H powder contains a high proportion of sodium carbonate / disodium carbonate (washing soda), typically 60% or more.