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I remember coal tar soap and Lifebouy.My dad swore by Lifebouy but when I was pregnant the smell really made me nauseous.
We also had a soap factory on the local commercial estate and the original Yardley factory and offices. The smell at certain times was wonderful. Most of it was demolished to make way for the Olympic park though the Art Deco Yardley building was saved.
 
boffy said:
Could never use that alcohol filled liquid. Can you imagine the damage done breaking down the skin with the harsh ingredients? Would make you skin even more prone to all infections through cracking and burning.
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I got really bad dermatitis from using antibacterial soap and hand gel every five minutes. Never had it before, and I'm still getting it recurrently. Nasty stuff
 
Brissles said:
I remember granny (and mum before she got her washing machine with a wringer, which she used after untangling the clothes that the agitatorwould mangle !) ) scrubbing away on the rubbing board in the sink with the block of carbolic. And yes, Shield had a great fresh smell.
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My Gran had one of those!! My favourite thing as a child was to catch all the clothes as they came through the wringer and I had to fold them all in the clothes basket then we'd go and hang them all out on the line. I think she had a scrubbing board as well and it was that sunlight soap. The good old days.

CC
 
candycane said:
My Gran had one of those!! My favourite thing as a child was to catch all the clothes as they came through the wringer and I had to fold them all in the clothes basket then we'd go and hang them all out on the line. I think she had a scrubbing board as well and it was that sunlight soap. The good old days.

CC
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So did my Granny. And yes, I did the holding the bedsheets and curtains coming through the mangle.
 
Mum used a washboard for years when I was a child. When we eventually got a washing machine she was beside her, despite the fact it was a simple top loader with an agitator. My first washing machine, as a newly wed, was given to us by a family friend who was emigrating to Canada. That was also a top loader with agitator as well and it was emptied out into the sink via a piece of hosepipe. We then saved up for a spin dryer.

Those were the days. 😂
 
Okay, shock moment. I still have a top loader, otherwise known as a twin tub. The first one I had was a Hotpoint bought in the 80, and it only died in the mid 00s. My flat is council, and they did not have a place for a normal washing machine, I would have had to remove cupboards to get one of those. Current one is made of strong plastic you fill from the hot tap, it does not have the agitator but the inside bottom bit turns. Now, I do not have to wait for the hot water to heat up, already from the hot tap. I can do two washes in the same water lights first then darks. I can do both within 30 minutes. Spinning 1600 same as a normal washing machine, there is a hole and I just fill straight into it from the cold tap. So one wash and spin about 15 minutes.
 
donna255 said:
Okay, shock moment. I still have a top loader, otherwise known as a twin tub. The first one I had was a Hotpoint bought in the 80, and it only died in the mid 00s. My flat is council, and they did not have a place for a normal washing machine, I would have had to remove cupboards to get one of those. Current one is made of strong plastic you fill from the hot tap, it does not have the agitator but the inside bottom bit turns. Now, I do not have to wait for the hot water to heat up, already from the hot tap. I can do two washes in the same water lights first then darks. I can do both within 30 minutes. Spinning 1600 same as a normal washing machine, there is a hole and I just fill straight into it from the cold tap. So one wash and spin about 15 minutes.
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My mum loved her twin tub. The council flat I grew up in in the 70s/80s was the same, when it finally died my dad got rid of a cupboard to accommodate a new one although she preferred her twin tub. You brought back a happy memory there.

I've loved the soap discussion. Yardley English Lavender soap also reminds me of my mum, she used to get it every Christmas.

Nowadays I like the convenience of liquid soap but I also have bars of soap for hand washing as well, I have both in the bathroom and alternate. I remember Shield and Camay when I was a child, we had Imperial Leather, I thought we were so posh!

During Covid shops round my way were running low on soap, wasn't as bad as toilet rolls though. And bear in mind that only essential shops could open at one point which limited the availability. I treat myself to nice bars from TK Maxx and make sure I have a couple of spares in case we go back to those bad days of shortages.
 
Silver Fox said:
My first washing machine when I married ( the machine far outlasted the marriage) was a Hoover with the key plate that you slotted in.
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Love that marriage bit, mine was the same! I recently bought a mini twin tub for when we live at the caravan and I can tell you it's ****** good. I fill it up from the shower so instant hot water, then it all empties and drains into the shower. It has a brilliant spinner on it as well where the clothes come out nearly dry. It's a bit of a faff as you have to "attend to it" but it has saved me a fortune in using a launderette.

CC
 
My first ever washing machine was a sit up and beg type with wringers on the back and just a single tub. Someone gave it to me when I married in 1973. We lived in a tiny flat and the washing machine took up a big chunk of space in the kitchen. I didn`t have a spin dryer so when the clothes were washed and put through the wringers I had to hang them on a pulley rack over the bath. We had no outdoor space, no central heating so it often took days for things to properly dry.
My Mum was old school and loved her twin tub but one Winter she suffered a bad fall and broke her arm in 3 places. She couldn`t hoist the wet clothes from the tub to the sink to be rinsed and then to the spin dryer. We kids all clubbed together and bought her an automatic washing machine and asked Dad to take her out for a couple of hours whilst my late hubby plumbed it in. To say she was far from impressed is an understatement.
I showed her how to use it and she insisted that a) it didn`t wash proper, b) it took ages to get to a "hot" temperature which she loved for her towels, c) it took forever and she said she could have done a whole week`s wash in her old twin tub in the time it took the new machine to do one load, d) it didn`t have an agitator so in her head something which simply turned in a circle couldn`t be washing stuff "proper". e) she didn`t reckon the low suds powder for automatics cleaned as good as her original powder and block soap for collars and cuffs and finally f) she`d watch the electric meter and tell us the wheel whizzed round like "its arse was on fire" because of the time it took the machine and the fact she`d to do several loads.
As you can tell she was very much an old school lady stuck in her old Lancashire ways !
 
Not quite washing machines, but my mother has told me about “bag washes”.
She grew up in London, and from what I gather, you’d shove all your whites [linens etc) in a bag, the whole lot would go in a industrial machine still in the bag, to be washed and I presume spun dry and they’d then be returned to you in the bag to take home and dry.
 
Yep Madaunty absolutely true. My mum gave them a go.

Well, I married in 1979, and the flat was too small for a washing machine, so I used the local laundrette or did hand-wash. It wasn't until we moved in 1997 that I had my first washer at age 49 !!! It was like a dozen Christmasses all at once.
 
madaunty said:
Not quite washing machines, but my mother has told me about “bag washes”.
She grew up in London, and from what I gather, you’d shove all your whites [linens etc) in a bag, the whole lot would go in a industrial machine still in the bag, to be washed and I presume spun dry and they’d then be returned to you in the bag to take home and dry.
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That was exactly how it was when my son first joined the Army 27 years ago. Each soldier was given a large white nylon drawstring bag with holes in it, they`d write their service number on it in waterproof ink and they`d fill it with their dirty uniforms, hand it in to the laundry and the whole thing would be chucked into an industrial washing machine alongside many others.
Nowadays most barracks offer single rooms instead of dorms and each landing has a kitchen and a laundry so soldiers do their own washing. Some of the older camps aren`t yet in the 21st century though.
When he was in Afghanistan they did it the old way with the bag etc and seeing as Camp Bastion had soldiers from several different Countries it must have been a logistical nightmare especially as it was always over 40 degrees so uniforms were often changed more than once a day.
 
Vienna said:
Resurrecting this thread for a minute. The soap factory I grew up near and which I mentioned earlier in the thread are now selling their Christmas items and it`s free delivery for orders over £10. Here`s the link for anybody who may be interested.

Droyt Products

droyt.com droyt.com
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Those 1920s soaps! 😘😘😘😘😘 so beautiful… very tempted for a little taste of my much missed home county…
 
WinthropTuesday said:
Those 1920s soaps! 😘😘😘😘😘 so beautiful… very tempted for a little taste of my much missed home county…
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I get their newsletters Win and the mould for those soaps is an original 1920`s mould used way back by the factory so they`ve done a special run of them. They found the mould by accident somewhere around the factory. I ordered one of their Christmas boxes for a guest I have coming on Boxing Day, my youngest son`s future Mother In Law and I ordered 2 of the Christmas tree soap sets for the little girls next door.
 
Did anyone have one of those big metal sphere on a stand washing machine gadget things? You could put them on any surface, filled them with dirty washing, added soap and hot water then you had to turn the handle to agitate the clothes in the hot water before you changed it for a clean rinse. They saved tons on electricity, and my arms were like Popeye's. I saved up for a twin tub quickly after that experiment. I'm trying to attach a link of something similar called the Sputnik but mine was metal.
 

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