As a manufacturer of cleaning products, we know more than anyone else about the great collection of products that is found in any home or commercial establishment: today the competitive market offers consumers: capsules, aerosols and other innovative and practical formats. Detergent has a privileged place in this range of products:
Before its appearance, the first “detergent” in world history was urine: for a long time it was used as such, since one of its elements, ammonia has an effect as a detergent. It was from the 19th century onwards that what we make in our facilities today began to take shape.
The first detergents appeared in the 19th century
In this century, the researcher S. Krafft had discovered several soapy properties in non-greasy components, a discovery that helped another inventor, Twichell, and the chemist Reyehler to find the way to the longed-for goal: a detergent that could replace soap with even more advantages. The solution seemed to be close in the year 1913, but it was still too expensive.
Three years later, the first synthetic detergent was developed in Germany, due to the urgent needs of the population during the First World War. It was a bad product, but it covered the great shortage and lack of soap at that time.
Massive marketing
After this disastrous war, tests to find an efficient and profitable detergent resurfaced, giving rise in the 1930s to a race for product evolution. First through the addition of phosphates to the existing one and then through the use of oil derivatives until fluorescent bleaching agents arrived, which were the key substance. The product worked, although it was not very well known why. In 1945, worldwide advertising managed to standardise the use of this product in anyone’s life.
On this already widespread basis, a large number of detergents began arriving to the market, which soon convinced the consumers: brands such as Vim, Persil, Skip or Ariel, between the 60s and 70s; these last two are still active today thanks to factories such as ours, Solimix.