Thread Number: 33615
Old UK soap brands.
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Post# 505484   3/20/2011 at 20:30 (4,756 days old) by sudsreturn ()        

Anyone remember Albrite Blue washing powder from the 70's and 80's?




Post# 505770 , Reply# 1   3/22/2011 at 01:16 (4,755 days old) by richardc1983 (Leeds, UK)        
Radion Sunfresh

richardc1983's profile picture
I dont remember the above I was born in 1983 but who remembers Radion Sunfresh?



Post# 505816 , Reply# 2   3/22/2011 at 09:25 (4,755 days old) by paulc (Edinburgh, Scotland)        
My Grandma

paulc's profile picture
Used ALLBRITE for a while, she also used DRIVE in her Hotpoint Supermatic.

Hey Richard, I was a big fan of Radion, wish they would bring it back!


Post# 505910 , Reply# 3   3/22/2011 at 16:55 (4,755 days old) by richardc1983 (Leeds, UK)        
@ Paul

richardc1983's profile picture
Me too! Radion used to smell great.

Post# 505934 , Reply# 4   3/22/2011 at 19:03 (4,755 days old) by sudsreturn ()        

1983! Making me feel old lol. Mind you it was around that time my mum used it, I was only around 5 yr old at the time, but I think Allbrite went on into the 90's. It was one of those blue wash powders, and it worked wonders. Drive I can remember vaguely, and Radion, eurgh!!! The first smell was ok, but then there was a strong lemon smell brought out, and I remember KHCT (now Stagecoach, thanks to privatisation) did a Radion drive with all their bus tickets smelling of that lemon stuff! The smell on the buses made a change from the usual smell of piss and Monster Munch, but ukh, it gave you head ache!! I wish Dettol would bring out a wash powder, with that lovely clean Dettol smell!

Post# 505944 , Reply# 5   3/22/2011 at 19:12 (4,755 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)        
Allbrite

aquarius1984's profile picture
In the days of our Candy Domino4 104.4x when cash was short Mum would skip her usual Ariel Automatic and buy a box of Daz auto and a box of All Temperature Allbrite - Navy box with white and orange stripes.

Mixed them together to make the wash go further.

Later on when she had the Electrolux and my Dads business had gone bust she used to buy Safeway Savers powder and mixed it with a box of Ariel Handwash and twin tub to use in the auto. Saw way too many over sudsed washes for my liking!

Mind back then Ariel HWTT smelled so much nicer, have fond memories of that whirling round in the machine on a hot wash, mixed with the scent of Mums Berkeley Red's was divine and smelt like home.


Post# 506042 , Reply# 6   3/23/2011 at 04:22 (4,754 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)        
Oh Dear a sign of old age...!

ozzie908's profile picture
Does anyone remember the Square deal surf powder? Originally it was for handwash and twin tubs same as Fairy Snow which I can recall my Mum using in her Circa 1965 Servis Twinny. I still remember sitting on the draining board watching the steam rising from the washer.
On another note I remember working in an Old folks home and we got through a lot of Radion if you bought a big box you got a voucher for another one free, Of course as I did the shopping I had the vouchers did not buy any washing powder for some time...:)


Post# 506056 , Reply# 7   3/23/2011 at 06:50 (4,754 days old) by paulc (Edinburgh, Scotland)        
I remember

paulc's profile picture
Square Deal Surf. My Mum used it before she became a tester for Lever Bros and didn't need to buy washing powder.

Post# 507116 , Reply# 8   3/26/2011 at 23:14 (4,750 days old) by sudsreturn ()        

LMAO@Aquarius!!! Berkeley Red cigs, lol, my mum used to smoke them too, I can tell your a northerner!! Ariel TT powder smells gorgeous, a proper washing smell. And the Square Deal Surf, I remember the advert! A woman put her duvet on a bed and it had the square deal logo on it, and the same happened when she opened some blinds. Used to like Surf up until a few years ago, then they got onto the "weird object like crushed pearl smell" bandwagon. Allbrite, Surf and Fairy Snow whirling around my mums Colston twin tub, with the wash water a little too dirty for my liking (but hey, this was the 80's, we were skint)! Does anyone know why sometimes when you start your wash water with a boil, the water tends to be a bit grey? Never worked that out.

Post# 507159 , Reply# 9   3/27/2011 at 03:58 (4,750 days old) by hoovermatic (UK)        

The smell of Radion was lovely (why did they stop making it??) as was Drive from the 1970's but does anyone remember Radiant? I know there is still a detergent called Radiant in Australia but it disappeared from the UK 30 years ago, as did Tide and Omo. Also, detergents like Tide and Surf came in white and blue variants. Another blast from the past!

Post# 508109 , Reply# 10   3/30/2011 at 03:40 (4,747 days old) by zanussi_lover (Nottingham, UK)        
Radion

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They Only Made Radion from 1989-1999, Unilever were seeing a drop in Sales so they decided to axe the brand and focus on Surf, which is their budget brand.

Radion

Bright orange boxes aren’t enough

Many of the brands in this section have failed because they were too far away from what the consumer wanted, but sometimes products fail because they aren’t different enough from other popular products. This is certainly the case of Radion washing powder. Along with Pear’s Soap, Radion was one of the many Unilever brands for the chop when the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate announced it would be narrowing its scope on 400 ‘power’ brands. Launched 10 years before the February 2000 announcement, Radion had struggled to capture just over 2 per cent of the UK detergent market. One of the reasons for this, as with most brand failures, is that the public’s perception of the brand was far from clear.

Although the product’s vibrant design (Radion came in shocking orange packets) meant that the brand was easily identifiable on supermarket shelves, consumers were less than sure why they should buy it. It wasn’t the cheapest, it wasn’t considered the best quality, it wasn’t the oldest or the original. It was simply the brand with the brightest packaging. And that, in the end, is rarely enough.

Unilever’s final decision was to amalgamate Radion into its brand, and it continues under the banner Surf Fun Fresh.

Lesson from Radion

* Be different. Brands need to have a strong point of difference from their competition. After all, this is the very point of branding in the first place. Garish packaging was not enough to win over consumers.


Post# 508111 , Reply# 11   3/30/2011 at 03:51 (4,747 days old) by zanussi_lover (Nottingham, UK)        
Surf

zanussi_lover's profile picture
I actually miss the Old Surf Packets with Waves on them

Surf Cotton Fresh - Original Fresh Line Dried Cotton Scent
Surf Sunfresh - Light Citrusy Fruity Scent
Surf Lemonfresh - Light Lemon fragrance
Surf Naturefresh (limited edition

Both Came in Powder and Tablets

We used to use Surf in 1999/2000 when we had the Whirlpool.

My Favourite one was the Sunfresh, Surf Sunshine didn't cut it for me, didn't smell the same.


Post# 508115 , Reply# 12   3/30/2011 at 04:27 (4,747 days old) by vacbear58 (Sutton In Ashfield, East Midlands, UK)        
Radient

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I certainly remember Radient, as I recall it came out in the late 1960s as Lever Bros answer to P&G Arial. And we once had Tide, Omo, Oxydol and Rinso as well, the latter two disappearing in the mid 1960s - dont remember when Tide and Omo went - Tide first I think, probably early 1970s.

Way back at the end of the 1950s the old powdered version of Flash was promoted as being suitable for laundry as well.

Then of course there were the domestic block soaps - I remember both Sunlight (bright yellow - Lever Bros) and Fairy (dark green - P&G) - my mum always had a block of Fairy by the kitchen sink for giving collars and cuffs a scrub. I know there was also Puritan soap, but dont remember ever seeing that.

I can even remember Fanny & Johnnie Cradock advertising block Fairy soap - Fanny's opening line to Johnnie while waving a grimey shirt cuff at him "Been down the coal hole?" Happy memories

Al


Post# 508118 , Reply# 13   3/30/2011 at 04:42 (4,747 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

My late Grandma, and my great-grandparents, always used to use Radion - it still lived on until very recently in the yellow variant of Surf before they changed it.

 

The new Persil 2in1 smells quite similar, but still not quite the same!

 

Jon


Post# 508119 , Reply# 14   3/30/2011 at 05:11 (4,747 days old) by zanussi_lover (Nottingham, UK)        
Jon

zanussi_lover's profile picture
Great picture :D

Im thinking its Yellow Box Surf Rebranded, and the Purple box is Lavender Surf Rebranded.



Post# 508121 , Reply# 15   3/30/2011 at 05:17 (4,747 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        
Im thinking its Yellow Box Surf Rebranded, and the Purple bo

Not really... smells different to the Surf variants and actually cleans unlike Surf :-)

 

Jon


Post# 508127 , Reply# 16   3/30/2011 at 05:58 (4,747 days old) by zanussi_lover (Nottingham, UK)        
Jon

zanussi_lover's profile picture
were you ironing that shirt when i came round and you were doing laundry

Post# 508129 , Reply# 17   3/30/2011 at 06:05 (4,747 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

Erm probably, I don't remember... lol


Post# 508131 , Reply# 18   3/30/2011 at 06:20 (4,747 days old) by ronhic (Canberra, Australia)        

ronhic's profile picture

I never had a problem with Surf when I was in the UK in 2001-2004....everything seemed to come out fine and I certainly don't remember pretreating anything or rewashing...


Post# 508140 , Reply# 19   3/30/2011 at 07:10 (4,747 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

Unfortunately (in my opinion anyway) that's not the case anymore - Surf is more a laundry perfume than a detergent nowadays it seems.  Up until 2 or 3 years ago I would occasionally buy Surf Sunshine (loved the fragrance, as mentioned before similar to Radion), and it wouldn't lag too far behind Persil in performance... nowadays for me it doesn't seem to be able to wash anything more than lightly soiled clothes.

 

Jon


Post# 510486 , Reply# 20   4/9/2011 at 19:08 (4,737 days old) by sudsreturn ()        
Flash for laundry.

I can't remmber Flash being used to laundry, but I do remember that Stardrops could be used to laundry, I still think it has dosing instructions on the back of the bottle. The Fairy household bar, still buy it in Tesco. Lol. I must admit, there is nothing better than the smell of carbolic on your shirts, which is hard to find unless you get it off the internet.

Post# 510874 , Reply# 21   4/11/2011 at 17:41 (4,735 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)        
Radion powder

ozzie908's profile picture
Now I know its going back to the old thread but I have up untill moving to Lincoln from Newark been able to buy Radion from a small cash and carry up Bowbridge Road its meant to be sold in Portugal I believe but its as good as it was in the 90's...:) Now what I want to know is was it made to be an alternative to Ariel?

Austin


Post# 886323 , Reply# 22   6/21/2016 at 16:03 (2,837 days old) by rfitzhen (United Kingdom)        
Breeze Automatic

Who remembers Breeze Automatic made by Lever?

Post# 886801 , Reply# 23   6/24/2016 at 17:25 (2,834 days old) by Michael (London /England)        
Whisk automatic liquid

I have a vaugue recollection of , I think, the first liquid automatic washing detergent, called whisk.. I'm sure Maureen lipman advertised it.

Post# 886803 , Reply# 24   6/24/2016 at 17:46 (2,834 days old) by liamy1 (-)        
Wisk

Yes we had Wisk.

Here is the launch advert for it.


CLICK HERE TO GO TO liamy1's LINK


Post# 887018 , Reply# 25   6/26/2016 at 10:28 (2,832 days old) by hoovermatic (UK)        
Wisk

Yes, I remember Wisk very well because my mother used it for a while. However, if I remember correctly, it didn't have a lot going for it. It smelt fabulous, rinsed easily and created very little suds - made the water kind of milky. As far as stain removal was concerned it was useless. I was working in a large hotel and five white formal shirts a week went in the wash and invariably the collars and cuffs came out the same as they went in! Mum dropped Wisk and went back to Ariel or Persil.

Post# 887033 , Reply# 26   6/26/2016 at 14:40 (2,832 days old) by AquaCycle (West Yorkshire, UK)        

aquacycle's profile picture
We were discussion ACDO over on Service Wash the other day. Anyone else remember it? It's still on sale as a Sensitive Non-Bio through Home Bargains, but back in the day, it was available as both a bio & non-bio and as an Automatic and Twin Tub detergent.

My Nana (great-grandma) always used Acdo as it was the only detergent our local corner shop sold.


Post# 887046 , Reply# 27   6/26/2016 at 16:00 (2,832 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)        
Wisk making little froth

launderess's profile picture
How ironic because the American version (from Lever Bros.) was known to create tons of froth and not being easily rinsed from fabrics. Something that hasn't changed until rather recently if at all.

Recall purchasing several bottles of Wisk a few years ago because they were on sale and liked the scent. Despite the "HE" designation the stuff frothed up my Miele terribly, and was that hard to rinse away. All unopened bottles were returned....






Wisk liquid detergent's claim to fame was unlike powders which then relied upon alkaline builders such as washing soda, phosphates and borax along with surfactants, the thing was mostly anionic surfactant.

While highly sudsing anionic surfactants are good at removing grease, oil, fats, and other such soils from fabrics. The famous "ring around the collar" (aka "City Dirt" which gave housewives and laundries so much worry is caused by sebum (skin oils) combined with dirt and sweat. The common way to treat such soils was to rub with a bar of soap like Fairy, Fels or whatever. Well anionic surfactants are the man made version of soaps. They have similar properties but anionic surfactants aren't affected to a certain extent by hard water like soap.











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