Subscribe to the OSS Weekly Newsletter!

Register for the OSS 25th Anniversary Event

The World’s First Commercially Available Laundry Powder

28 Jul 2022

It was a scientific breakthrough. Persil, introduced by the German company Henkel in 1907 was the world’s first laundry powder. The name derives from perborate and silicate, two key components in...

Washing your hair? In Vancouver soap will work, but in Montreal it has to be shampoo.

2 Jul 2021

Did you know that in Vancouver you can wash your hair with soap but in Montreal you need shampoo? Why? Because Vancouver water is soft and Montreal water is hard. That makes a big difference when...

Why does an orange taste so horrible after brushing my teeth?

6 Jun 2019

If you have ever taken a good look at the back of a tube of toothpaste during those long two minutes of recommended brushing time, you may have noticed sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) and sodium...

Why do we use hot water to wash clothes?

25 Oct 2018

Temperature is just a measure of how quickly, molecules are moving. When a substance dissolves in water, its components, be they ions or molecules, form stronger attractions to water molecules than...

Why are people popping laundry pods?

25 Jan 2018

Dousing oneself with a bucket full of ice water isn’t much fun, but at least that craze was cool. It had a point: raise money for ALS research. Biting into a laundry pod has no point, other than to...

The Dirt on Laundry Balls

27 Apr 2017

As you can imagine, the ad caught my eye.  “Earth Smart Laundry CD works on the principles of quantum physics, not chemistry.” I had to have it. So I sent in my sixty dollars and waited. A couple...

A Solution to Skunk Pollution

20 Mar 2017

I remember the first time I ever smelled the fragrance of a skunk.  I thought someone had let off a stink bomb.  You see, even back then I was a lot more familiar with emissions from test tubes...

Why is sodium sulphite added to laundry and dish-washing detergents?

20 Mar 2017

Sodium sulphite is not added for cleaning purposes, at least not as far as the laundry is concerned.

Pages

Back to top