Early Friday morning I was on a search for things I like that my usual grocery store doesn't carry. I found the blue bottles of Softsoap for Men and, as is my wont*, I bought the entire supply -- three bottles. I couldn't help but notice there are dozens (hundreds?) of varieties of liquid hand soap and body wash on the shelves.
I remember when liquid hand soap was new. Not the industrial stuff that's in dispensers in schools and public restrooms, but the small bottle that you placed at the sink at home. That would be Softsoap, a product that is about the age of my children. It sold for a dollar or so -- three or four times as much as a bar of soap. It didn't last anywhere near as long, either. But it also didn't crack, harden, attract body hairs or shoot out of your wet hands. It was an affordable luxury.
And the bottles were refillable. I was talking about the wonders of this new liquid soap with my Aunt Ruth, since I noticed she had several dispensers at her house. She told me that she refilled hers with "cheap shampoo." And when you think about it, shampoo is liquid soap.
Doing an Internet search on liquid soap this morning, I found a Google newspaper link for a 1981 AP story about Robert Taylor, who founded Minnetonka, Inc., the producer of Softsoap. Here's a link. (Move the small blue screen on the right to navigate on the newspaper page. It's good practice for your eye-hand coordination.) Once consumers discovered his product, he knew it wouldn't be long before Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, Lever Brothers, etc., would make him just another flash in the pan. So he did the one thing that would buy him some time. He cornered the market on the pumps for the soap bottles. That slowed up the competition for 18 months. Taylor, who also came up with pump dispensers for toothpaste, later sold Softsoap to Colgate-Palmolive.
As I scanned the assortment of body washes at the grocery store, I noticed a cherry "flavor" of Softsoap. Hoping it would smell as fine as the Bath & Body Works Cherry Blossom lotion I received as a gift last Christmas, I bought a bottle. Tried it last night. It doesn't -- smell as fine. Maybe the cherry fragrance is neutralized by the wild bamboo extract. If I do become a convert, however, I plan to buy up every bottle in the store. Otherwise, I'm sure to be a victim once again of tried it-liked it-they quit making it syndrome.
Personal-care products must be a cutthroat industry.
*Just now I ran the store locator for Softsoap for Men, which is how I learned that the local Kmart was a vendor. As I reported in January, I bought Kmart's supply (three bottles). In December, Kmart is no longer listed as a place where Softsoap for Men is sold in my area. The grocery store I shopped Friday morning has two locations in Jefferson City. This chain is the only local vendor that sells Softsoap for Men. Guess I'd better make a Softsoap run Monday morning. Robert Taylor would understand. Cornering the market and all that.
I remember when liquid hand soap was new. Not the industrial stuff that's in dispensers in schools and public restrooms, but the small bottle that you placed at the sink at home. That would be Softsoap, a product that is about the age of my children. It sold for a dollar or so -- three or four times as much as a bar of soap. It didn't last anywhere near as long, either. But it also didn't crack, harden, attract body hairs or shoot out of your wet hands. It was an affordable luxury.
And the bottles were refillable. I was talking about the wonders of this new liquid soap with my Aunt Ruth, since I noticed she had several dispensers at her house. She told me that she refilled hers with "cheap shampoo." And when you think about it, shampoo is liquid soap.
Doing an Internet search on liquid soap this morning, I found a Google newspaper link for a 1981 AP story about Robert Taylor, who founded Minnetonka, Inc., the producer of Softsoap. Here's a link. (Move the small blue screen on the right to navigate on the newspaper page. It's good practice for your eye-hand coordination.) Once consumers discovered his product, he knew it wouldn't be long before Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, Lever Brothers, etc., would make him just another flash in the pan. So he did the one thing that would buy him some time. He cornered the market on the pumps for the soap bottles. That slowed up the competition for 18 months. Taylor, who also came up with pump dispensers for toothpaste, later sold Softsoap to Colgate-Palmolive.
As I scanned the assortment of body washes at the grocery store, I noticed a cherry "flavor" of Softsoap. Hoping it would smell as fine as the Bath & Body Works Cherry Blossom lotion I received as a gift last Christmas, I bought a bottle. Tried it last night. It doesn't -- smell as fine. Maybe the cherry fragrance is neutralized by the wild bamboo extract. If I do become a convert, however, I plan to buy up every bottle in the store. Otherwise, I'm sure to be a victim once again of tried it-liked it-they quit making it syndrome.
Personal-care products must be a cutthroat industry.
*Just now I ran the store locator for Softsoap for Men, which is how I learned that the local Kmart was a vendor. As I reported in January, I bought Kmart's supply (three bottles). In December, Kmart is no longer listed as a place where Softsoap for Men is sold in my area. The grocery store I shopped Friday morning has two locations in Jefferson City. This chain is the only local vendor that sells Softsoap for Men. Guess I'd better make a Softsoap run Monday morning. Robert Taylor would understand. Cornering the market and all that.