I was buying a tube of toothpaste the other day and I was amazed, as I am each time, by the vast number of pastes available. Not just different brands. Each brand seems to have dozens of different types! Out of interest I did a Google search on Colgate toothpastes and found 55 listed. Back in the 1950s and 60s there were only a few brands. Each brand had one type. I remember Signal being launched and longing to try it but my mum always bought Gibbs SR.
Two of the very few brands we had in my childhood.
Today’s huge selection.
The same applies to other everyday toiletries. The main shampoos I remember are Sunsilk, Supersoft, Vosene and Loxene. All shops selling toiletries sold shampoo in sachets as well as bottles. There were no conditioners. The first one to hit the market was called Tame Creme Rinse. I used to buy a sachet for myself. You then mixed the contents with warm water in a cup and poured the solution over your hair after shampooing. It was a revelation. I could get a comb through my wet hair without having to spend ages working through knots and tangles.
A bewildering choice of shampoos and conditioner.
I don’t think we heard the word moisturiser back then, they were known as face creams. We always had Nivea in our house. My mum used to rub it on our cheeks before we went outside in really cold weather. There were also creams called ‘cold cream’. My mum used ro rub cold cream into her face before bed. I remember one my Nana used to use called Ponds Vanishing Cream. I can still recall the smell of it.
I know a lot of people didn’t wear deodorant in the 1950s and 60s. I can recall, in high school in the 60s, being aware which girls didn’t wear deodorant. My mum used one called Odorono and my sister and I were encouraged to use deodorant as we approached puberty. The only other ones I remember the names of are Mum and Sno-mist. I favoured Sno-mist probably because it was advertised on Radio Luxembourg and had a catchy jingle. You could get stick on or sprays. The sprays weren’t aerosols, just squeezy plastic bottles.
Some of the many deodorants now available.
Childhood Memories of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. 
Anybody remember a shampoo called Sta blond? Popular in the mid 1960’s? When did it cease production?
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Oh yes, I do! I had completely forgotten about that one! I sometimes find, when researching for these posts, that brands which have disappeared decades ago from Britain still exist in other parts of the world. I’ll see if Sta-blond is one of them!
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Would be interested to find out if that is the case😊
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Thanks for reminding me! I did look it up at the time then forgot to get back to you. It doesn’t exist any longer anywhere. I think there are so many colour products available now that it became squeezed out! However, it was interesting to see lots of historical references to it online including photos of the ads and people reminiscing about using it.
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Thank you for all your efforts,it is really appreciated🤗
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As a teenager I used Cyclax Milk of Roses as a moisturiser. Cyclax was considered a posh brand, because it had the Royal Appointment crest on it. It’s long gone now, of course.
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I remember Cyclax now you mention it! I always seemed to be very much top of the range and desirable. I have looked the brand up and found that it still exists. Products can be bought on online. I’m not sure if they still do Milk of Roses (sounds lovely!) but it seems that they are now a brand which focuses on the use of natural ingredients. I learn something every day!
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http://www.cosmeticsandskin.com/companies/cyclax.php You might find this interesting – I did! Thanks for the comment!
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Thanks for that! I was so sure Cyclax had completely disappeared that it never occurred to me to look for it on the internet.
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Yeah, definitely huge number of different brands and versions of them than in the 50s and 60s. You didn’t miss much with the Signal. It was fun at the time – in the same way as lettering through seaside rock was fun – but not really any different from other toothpaste. I bought myself a tube of of it last year but either it has changed or I have (probably both!) as it’s not really as I remember it.
Do you remember Gibbs Dentifrice, the odd-pink tablet toothpaste that had to be wetted and then worked into a lather with the brush? It had a sort of clove (or cinnamon?) flavour. Here’s a pic of it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/16498755@N07/5997610402
Did you have the Punch and Judy toothpastes when you were a child? They came in two flavours, banana which was great and (I think) strawberry which wasn’t. They started making them again a while ago and I tried one out of nostalgia but again, something in the mix has changed. Or maybe I had rubbish taste as a kid! 😉
My mum always used Vosene and – because of that – I did too, til I was old enough to choose for myself. I hated it at time, but oddly I’ve gone back to using it and, whereas I hated the smell of it then, I love it now…. possibly ‘cos it reminds me of my mum. And these days it’s about the only shampoo that really works for me.
Never used (or knew about) Loxene. Was Sunsilk the creamy one with a sort of pearlised look to it? If so, yeah… some friends of mine loved it so of course I had to use it too…
There was a beer shampoo – not in the 50s but possibly in the mid or late 60s, called Linc-lin that came in a brown plastic container shaped like a beer barrel. It was really good, if a bit of an odd smell to have on your hair!
I’d forgotten about the shampoo sachets!
I used Ponds for a long time and can also still recall the smell of it (ditto Nivea), but vaseline was mostly used for the bits of the body that don’t see light of day!
Odorono was real? Wow! I only know of it through The Who Sell Out album! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4BfI7bv56U
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The message has appeared. Yes, Sunsilk was the creamy, pearly one. I think that’s why I and my friends liked buying sachets of it because the home shampoo was always something like a bottle of Vosene. I had forgotten all about Lin co Lin and the beer barrel containers! And I’d forgotten about Gibb’s dentifrice and Punch and Judy kids’ toothpaste too! Thanks for filling in some gaps!
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Sorry, that should have been Linc-o-lin.
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Hi. I think part of your comment has disappeared as I only have the short line above! Thanks for commenting anyway!
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Could it have gone into spam?
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Colgate & NIVEA have really come a long way! Products and companies that have been able to survive and keep on growing through many decades leave me with a good feeling 🌹It is an encouragement to upcoming entrepreneurs to work on creating and positioning their businesses to last beyond their lifetime. I enjoyed reading about the evolving of the first shampoo & moisturizer. Now we have so many hair products that leaves us confused as to the choice to make… *wink 😀
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