Self-bleaching laundry detergent (Persil)
Detergente autoblanqueante (Persil)
- Date
- 1907 · confidence high
- Place
- Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Credited to
- Henkel & Cie (Fritz Henkel)
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A washing powder mixing soap, silicate and sodium perborate that bleaches laundry when boiled, without scrubbing or sun-bleaching. It was named Persil after its components (perborate and silicate) and was the first household detergent of this kind.
Truly synthetic detergents (soap-free) came later: Dreft (1933) and Tide (1946).
What it led to
- household washing without sun-bleaching or scrubbing
- synthetic and enzymatic detergents of the 20th century
- advertising of household cleaning brands