11 April, 2010

Vintage Sunday: Arm & Hammer Sal Soda

Vintage Sunday ventures out of the pantry and into the laundry room today.  Before the days of Shout! stain removers and Oxi-Clean, there was Arm & Hammer Sal Soda, or sodium carbonate.  Added to a load of laundry, sodium carbonate acts as a water softener, making detergents more effective, and it helps remove grease, alcohol, and oil stains.  These days, Arm & Hammer markets it as "Washing Soda" and you can find it for sale alongside the detergents and such at the supermarket.  Back in the late 1940's and early '50's, they called in "Sal Soda."  I found an old late-40's box of it in a forgotten corner of our pantry when we moved into our current house.



Sal Soda is still sold today - these days Arm & Hammer calls it "Super Washing Soda."  It's the exact same product, but with graphics that are far less cool than the original.










1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bless you! My mom used "Sal Soda to clean the woodwork and I have never found anything better. I didn't know how to find it. She used it in the wash, too. Thanks again!!!!

Jenny R., California