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Black Country Museum

Morturn said:
Good old carbolic soap, an integral part of working on the building site. There would always be someone who dropped it on the floor, so it was all gritty when you washed your face with it.
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a bit of grit in the soap help remove the dirt.:grinning:
we used lifebouy carbolic soap.... the stuff you get now removes your skin as well as the dirt.1601310148239.png
 
Well clearly Pete, you were a posh boy. The stuff we used came in an enormous extruded lumpy block that was cut up into chunks.

None of this posh in the box stuff for us builders
 
Astoness said:
alan i am using wrights coal tar at the moment and i love the smell of it :D
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I remember the smell of tar when I travelled over the raised section of the M5 at Oldbury. I think the company was something like Midland Tar Distillers.

Regards from Redruth

Arnold
 
The company had initially, a head office in Cannon Street. Later their head office was at Oldbury where I guess most remember it.https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Midland_Tar_Distillers
A report after the serious fire in 1962:
www.macearchive.org

Midlands News: 30.03.1962: Midland Tar Distillers fire

Aftermath of fire at Midland Tar Distillers Ltd in Oldbury. Reg Harcourt interview with Mr Easton about the blaze.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
 
I can remember the green Fairy being used for washing clothes. The red carbolic for faces and hands. Odd bits were put in a perforated plastic container with a handle to shake in the washing up water before Fairy liquid was invented
 
Morturn said:
I thought the green soap was cold tar Pete?

Who remembers soft soap?
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no mort is was washing soap.cold tar was brown. I remember soft soap we used it to put tyres on . and i give my wife it when i wanted to go to the pub.:grinning:
 
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They still sell what is sometimes called coal tar soap, though this is a soap described as having "coal tar fragrance", that is a compounded smell probably having nothing to do with coal tar.
 
mw0njm. said:

no mort is was washing soap.cold tar was brown. I remember soft soap we used it to put tyres on . and i give my wife it when i wanted to go to the pub.

mikejee said:
You put tyres on your wife??
[/QUOTE no just a load of ss
Dictionary entry overview: What does soft-soap mean?

• SOFT-SOAP (verb)
The verb SOFT-SOAP
1. persuade someone through flattery
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Thanks Pete.

I have this family story where my grandmother was given a bottle of soft soap to wash her hair. Good for the shine they said. She was told only to use one teaspoonful. Apparently, she poured half the bottle on her head and massaged it in. It set solid like a cake.

My mom said the more water they used to try washing it out the worse it became. Mom said they had to use several gallons of water to get it all out.

My grandmother was prone to doing things to excess and never reading the instructions. Like the day she drank half a bottle of syrup of figs, then half hour later took off like a tornado to the loo.
 
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