Fels-naptha...

[Heather]

...is the best thing since sliced bread! I recently started making my own laundry detergent & I picked up a bar of this for stain removal. It's no wonder it's been around for such a long time. I almost think I like it better than bleach, something I never thought I'd say!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Actually, it'd be even better than sliced bread, if it didn't melt in the toaster.

But seriously, it really is a great product. These days, I chip it straight into my washing machine, throw in half a cup of washing soda, and half a cup of vinegar in the rinse water, and everything I wash comes out *really* clean.

And it also makes a great cure for poison ivy. And it can also be used to temporarily stop up a leak in your car's gas tank, or so my grandfather insisted.

What's really amazing is that it hasn't had any serious national advertising in almost fifty years -- and yet it's got a cult following. Grassroots marketing in action!

 

[Heather]

LOL! That's an interesting point about the advertising. I hadn't thought of that! I can't remember how I found out about it. Doing reasearch on making laundry detergent maybe? Anyways I was pretty surprised my local hannafords carried it but boy was I happy when I found it! :-D

 

[Geesie]

What do you use to chip it? Cheese grater? Barlow knife?

 

[John in Covina]

It was mentioned in another thread that Fels-Naptha applied with a toothbrush will wipe out pretty much any ring around the collar on white dress shirts. It was always a mom's favorite. We always had a bar of it at my parents house and my mom broke it out for many a ring around the collar and tough stain.

 

[LizzieMaine]

What do you use to chip it? Cheese grater? Barlow knife?

A genuine "Use Fels Naptha Soap" grater -- it was a mail-in-the-wrapper premium my grandmother sent away for in the thirties, and I inherited it along with most of her other kitchen gizmos. I also use it for cheese, but I wash it first.

 

[Heather]

A genuine "Use Fels Naptha Soap" grater -- it was a mail-in-the-wrapper premium my grandmother sent away for in the thirties, and I inherited it along with most of her other kitchen gizmos. I also use it for cheese, but I wash it first.

oh my gosh, how neat! I'd love to see a photo!

 

[LizzieMaine]

This isn't mine (photo cribbed from Google images), but mine is exactly the same.

These are very easy to find -- they must've sent out a million of them, and if you dig around any flea market table full of kitchen stuff you're likely to turn one up.

 

[Midwest Boater]

when i was a child back in the 60s my family camped out on vacations, well if you can call the KOA camping out. At some campground right off the highway we were camped near some "bikers" that got rowdy and were kicked out.
before they left the came over to our site and offered my dad
the supplies they would not be needing, ice , hot dogs, some beer, and Fels-naptha . it was the first time i ever heard of the stuff and my father explained that it was "biker soap"
i really didn't know how to use the stuff or what it was until i saw this post here. thanks for letting me in on this and bringing back a feeling of nostalgia.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I took a supply of bars with me to the Amazon, where I did my laundry on a washing board in the river...so I didn't grate it....but just used the bar to soap up the item before the washing board stage.

It gets the mildew out! Everything in the amazon eventually is mildew ridden (try line drying clothes in the constant rain) and even if the stains don't come out you at least like knowing its -clean-.

 

[Heather]

when i was a child back in the 60s my family camped out on vacations, well if you can call the KOA camping out. At some campground right off the highway we were camped near some "bikers" that got rowdy and were kicked out.
before they left the came over to our site and offered my dad
the supplies they would not be needing, ice , hot dogs, some beer, and Fels-naptha . it was the first time i ever heard of the stuff and my father explained that it was "biker soap"
i really didn't know how to use the stuff or what it was until i saw this post here. thanks for letting me in on this and bringing back a feeling of nostalgia.

your response put a smile on my face.

 

[Miss 1929]

It is the best!
I usually just wet the bar and gently run it over the insides of grimy shirt collars, and they get spotless, even in cold water.

And recently used it for washing vintage fabric gloves (white ones that got terribly grimy on the Queen Mary, that nasty Long Beach oil well pollution), and they washed so easily!

It's the best.

As I recall, my mom used it on the dogs if they got a skunk too.