Do you remember...

Newspaper in the toilet, vosene for hair, cheap no brand soap for the bath, palmolive washing up liquid for the dishes, Omo for clothes, washed in a twin tub, whites, towels, nappies etc, boiled in a gas fired boiler, also used to heat bath water, washing up water and for hair. Coal fires, hand me downs, and freedom.
Looking back, by todays standards, it was a hard life, but we were kids, we played outside, had friends houses to go to for lunch or dinner, they came to us for egg and chips, we're clothed and had shoes on our feet. Late 50' - 60's, we didn't know or want anything else.
Today I have a bathroom full of different toiletries, and just received some more today for my birthday.

I remember the very first Twinkle comic for little girls.
It had a free ladybird ring which I wore with such pride.
Nurse Nancy used to look after the toys in the doll’s hospital with Doctor Jolly. I wanted to be Nurse Nancy!

My mother used Sunlight soap for the laundry, our hair and in the bath. Sometimes had Pears soap to wash hands. Had to sit in front of fire to dry our hair it was then done up in rags. Toothpaste in a tin. washing up was done in hot soda water which made your hands sore so there was a tablet called Melrose to rub on them. Shiny Izal toilet paper. When I started my periods there were no sanitary towels. Had towelling pinned on to belt round the waist and it had to be washed out.
Walls ice cream man came round on a bicycle. Buthcher and baker all delivered. Milkman came round with a churn and you took you jug out to be filled. Sunday’s barrow came round selling winkles (what has happened to them) cockles and whelks.
Everything was sold either loose or in paper bags even eggs.

Vosene shampoo , pears and lifebouy soap were the only soaps we had . If we stayed at my Aunties house she had Zest

Ditzyme, I remember my (much older) brother in law saying that Germolene was the best contraceptive in the world. I was horrified until I realised he meant the smell. My sister used it on her facial blemishes.

urmstongran my mum also used Cremolia hand cream. We loved the smell. My sister and I used to eat it when she wasn’t looking as it had glycerine and rose water in it! DM was the same about hair washing at ‘that time of the month’. Something to do with bending over the basin making you feel faint.

I used to buy the Bunty every week and cut out the figure and the clothes and dressed her in different outfits, so exciting I loved it.

Such simple pleasures then.

I wasn't allowed outside after I'd had a bath or a hair wash - "you'll catch your death" was the warning. Also not only could I not wash my hair while menstruating, but I wasn't allowed to bath ?. What on earth was that all about?

I remember orangeade powder, which we mixed with water to make a weak, sugary drink. It was bought by the quarter pound (only in summer - the rest of the year we had water if we were thirsty) and sat in the larder in a brown paper bag. If it wasn't used quickly it would become a horrible sticky mess. Probably chiefly because we kids used to lick our fingers when no one was looking, and dip them in the bag to suck the powder ?

Anyone remember Drene Shampoo, my very glamourous aunt used to use it. It came in a small cushion shaped sachet which was filled to bursting.

We had our hair washed once a week as children. Mum would buy a sachet of shampoo which I think was called Drene. The first bottle of shampoo I saw was beer shampoo which we were very wary of! I too got a pair of summer sandals in the spring and a pair of brown Clarkes shoes for the winter. I had a Gaberdine coat for school and a posh coat for Sunday school. Mum knitted my cardigans and dad's socks, also sleeveless jumpers he wore under his suits on cold days. Dad liked a trilby hat so he had one for work and a better one for going to church. We had enough clothes to get by, and everything was bought for a purpose and had to last.

missdeke, I have just seen your mention of Drene shampoo!

So many memories here. Also remember Junkett, Glymiel jelly in a tube for chapped hands - smelt of lemons. Recketts blue dolly bags for the washing. Tide and Omo washing powder and later Cadum soap - cadam for madam was the slogan. White canvas shoes in summer - cleaned with a little pot of liquid with a foam brush and left outside to dry.

Loved the smell of Vosene as a kid ...couldn’t stand having hair washed though as mum was a bit rough. I was youngest of six and by time she got to my bath/hair wash I think she’d had enough. My dad always used coal tar soap on face and hair....he had a full head of it all his life so didn’t harm him much! We also used Euthymol toothpaste in a tin. But what about Izal loo paper ...oh my goodness , give me squares of newspaper despite the print !!

My mother bought the powdered shampoo too. Thanks for reminding me that it was made by Vaseline

When I was very small the local chemist made up his own shampoo. It was bright pink and smelt of almonds. It came in a glass bottle stopped with a cork.
And we sent the bottle back when it was empty to have it refilled.

We children used Pears soap and when I was a teenager they made shampoo too.

My mother used Palmolive soap ( I loathe the smell, strangely enough) and I think Daddy just used whatever was nearest!

When I was very small he used Old Spice aftershave..

My grandmother used Ponds Vanishing Cream on her face. I remember wondering what was going to happen to her face.

Bathing or washing hair during your period was supposed to increase the flow! So there was no way I was going to risk that!

My dad always used Sunlight or Fairy washing soap for his weekly bath and hair wash. He referred to it as ‘common soap ‘ and was convinced it was the best thing for us working people.
Mum liked scented soap which we would buy from the chemist, it was laid out prettily in a big basket, and you could choose your colour. Choosing a bar was a real treat for me as a small child, I loved the rose and lemon verbena scented ones the best.
Later on, Mum bought Imperial Leather soap- it was considered posh - and Dad used to get quite passionate about ‘people thinking they’re summat they’re not’. He stuck to his common soap.
I didn’t have a toothbrush or toothpaste until I was eleven. I bought them with my pocket money, and took myself off to the dentist. Dad didn’t hold with tooth scrubbing as he called it. He was convinced it wore your teeth away. Anyway, he had a full set of dentures which he found very satisfactory! I think I must have been decay resistant, as despite that early neglect, I have all my teeth to this day.
I was thinking yesterday how things have changed. I live very modestly, yet I enjoy a warm scented bath every day, and lovely body lotion to follow.
I can almost hear my Dad’s voice - he would have said “Ahhh - you do think you be royalty, my girl, a’washin of yerself all day long!”

Yes Wheniwasyourage. I remember the different coloured Gibbs Dentifrice.

We had Robert Hirst macs for school, quite expensive but Mum must have felt they were worth it. They had an attached hood, and a ‘penny safe purse’ in the pocket, to carry our dinner money, five shillings a week. Also in the winter we had little brown suede boots with a zip, real frumpy old lady type boots, but we lived in the country and needed sensible footwear, nothing fancy. Heaven knows what our trendy grandchildren would make of our outfits.

My DM was concerned about my dandruff and decided to take me to see an 'alternative' practitioner who recommended washing my hair with an egg (raw). Predictably, the egg cooked in my hair when it met hot water and the smell was horrible. Re-enter Vosene.

We had Zambuc (not sure of the spelling) and a tin of stuff called Pink Healing Ointment for cuts and bruises. Last year we went to a Howarth ( Bronte country) and there was an old fashioned chemist and they had bought the recipe for Zambuc and they still manufacture it!

Happy birthday, Jayelld , hope you enjoy your 'smellies'.
I remember how proud I was of my first pair of stockings. They were thick and beige. I used to sit with my feet up on the mantelpiece and admire them. Thinking back, they were too big for me as I was stick thin and short, and I am sure I looked like Nora Batty! They were worn with suspenders on a roll-on which Mum insisted on, as if I didn't wear 'control' I would end up with a flabby tummy.

The red soap brings back memories. It was used for washing up, washing clothes and washing me in the tin bath in front of the fire!
I wore hand me downs from the rich family my gran cleaned for, which was lovely if it was a dress or blouse but I hated the liberty bodices!

What a laugh I'm having reading all these memories....
Astral hand cream, which I must admit I used to lick, and I can still remember the taste....
Lemon meringue pie made with the little capsule, it must have been essence of lemon in the capsule I think....
Being allowed to put the clothes through the wringer and catch them the other side....
Washing woollies by hand in the sink, very gently, then mum rolling them in a towel which I was allowed to jump on and off....
Moth balls!....

The fields around our home being sprayed with ddt and all the wildlife dying, including our three cats, also the very hard winter in the early sixties, birds and small mammals just giving up and dying?

Does anyone remember that? (sad)

Shysal - yes stockings! On the first day of my secondary school education my mum made me wear stockings and a suspender belt. I was uncomfortable and looked ridiculous, she made me practice putting them on for a few days before I actually started big school, so I could hurry up for breakfast. Not sure if tights had been invented?