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Black Country Museum

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
 
I thought the green soap was cold tar Pete?

Who remembers soft soap?
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.

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.
 
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.
it a lot like my mom mort.:grinning: the softsoap today is nothing like it.the stuff i remember was a thickgreen liquid,
 
Rain water, rather than tap water, was considered essential for keeping hair in tip-top condition.
Interesting that Alan, my paternal grandmother used to keep a bucket under the downspout for rainwater for her hair too.

Lots of houses had Sweetwater tanks either under the kitchen floor or in the entry. There are a few in the houses of the Black Country museum.
 
The old Library in Dudley is being dismantled and re-built in the Black Country Museum.
once again well done to the ever forward thinking black country..forward thinking for saving so many of their historical buildings over the past 50 years

lyn
 
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