“Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific!” Shampoo Ad, 1974

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Finnfemme: "Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific" shampoo vintage 1974 adEven though I was a Breck Girl in the ’70s (Breck shampoo for oily hair, that is), I fell prey to the kitschy advertising of the kitschy “Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific” shampoo. This newfangled ‘fragrance’ shampoo was just so compelling: “Shampoo & conditioner with fragrance that goes to your head. And to his!” If there was a hair product that completely epitomized the mid-70s, this was it.

With a slightly flowery, slightly spicy, deliciously nice to be near scent, it was to leave your hair clean, soft, and full of bounce and sunshine. I remember trying it once, and actually liked it. It did leave my hair looking good and there was a definite scent left over. The problem was that I got tired of the scent over time – this was when I washed my long hair every day – and by the time I reached the end of the bottle, that was it for me. Back to Breck shampoo and unscented hair!

~Marilyn

Tallow-Free Homemade Laundry Detergent Using Kirk’s Castile Soap

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Finnfemme: Kirk's Castile Soap laundry detergent recipeAlthough I am partial to my homemade detergent recipe using Zote soap, I did have a request from a friend, who is vegan, for a detergent recipe that doesn’t use tallow or any animal by-products. Knowing that castile soap is plant/vegetable oil based, I rummaged around my soap collection – yes I collect soap – and found a bar of Kirk’s Original Coco Castile Soap. Kirk’s Soap has been around since 1839 and is a pure botanical coconut oil soap. Then I scurried on over to the Kirk’s website and indeed, they did have a recipe for making laundry detergent. In fact it’s very similar to my Zote recipe.

Finnfemme: Grating Kirk's Castile SoapI set out to make this new detergent version. Since I always hand-grate my soap, the main difference is that Kirk’s soap is incredibly hard and dense compared to Zote’s rather soft composition. This makes a huge difference in hand-grating. It took me over 30 minutes to finely hand-grate the 4 oz. Kirk’s bar, as opposed to less than 15 minutes to grate a huge 14 oz. Zote bar. I thought I would never get through this bar; you will definitely get an arm workout!

Finnfemme: Kirk's Castile Soap homemade laundry detergent recipeYou will need: One 4 oz. bar of Kirk’s Original Coco Castile Soap – One Cup of Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate) – 1/2 Cup Borax. Directions: Grate the Kirk’s soap bar with a hand cheese grater (this will seemingly take forever…). Add the one cup washing soda and the 1/2 cup Borax. Mix together. Store in an airtight container. Use 1 to 2 Tablespoons per load of laundry. This is okay to use in High Efficiency washers because it is very low sudsing.

Finnfemme: Kirk's castile soap homemade laundry detergent recipeI have used this laundry soap for a couple of loads now, and it seems to work quite well. It has a really clean scent evocative of old-fashioned laundry. I’ll probably continue to use my Zote recipe for my mainstay (I happen to be a fan of tallow) 😀 , but it’s nice to shake things up every now and then and try something new.

~Marilyn

 

 

Creepily Boring Yardley of London Ads From 1974

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Finnfemme: Yardley of London Sigh Shadow ad, 1974There was no doubt that Yardley of London cosmetics was in its last gasp by 1974. All you need to do is look at what they were offering as advertising, which was a long slide from their romantic/mod heyday of a few years previous. This 1974 ad is for Sigh Shadow. And it’s totally bizarre.  It is comparing the cost and quality of their $2.00 eye shadow to the $4.00 eye shadow by Elizabeth Arden. Not a fan of the HUGE face pic of the model either. It’s downright weird.

Finnfemme: Yardley of London Daylight Encounter cologne ad, 1974This ad is for Yardley’s Daylight Encounter cologne. Never heard of Daylight Encounter? Well, neither had I. Could it be that this is probably the most boring ad on the planet, and no one paid it any mind? It looks like Yardley was trying to appeal to the ‘working girl’, with a scent that was supposed to be a very sunny, light, and ‘female’ scent (whatever that means). The stalker boss guy in the ad leering at his secretary is pretty creepy. Er, personal space please; I’m talking on the phone.  Needless to say, it doesn’t appear that Daylight Encounter was much of a hit in the world of scent.

~Marilyn

Growing Out The Gray – Four Month Mark

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Finnfemme: Going Gray

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been four months since I last colored my hair/started going gray, and I thought I’d give a ‘progress’ report.

 

Let me tell you that I am loving this process because you don’t have to do anything. Just let the hair grow out to whatever color it intends. No more messy dyeing, and using all sorts of products ‘to protect the color’ (which they invariably never did).

As you can see from the picture, I’ve got a good stretch of natural color coming in. It’s quite fascinating to see the array of taupe, pewter, gray and silver strands; kind of like nature’s highlights. The new growth seems very healthy and glossy, and my sensitive scalp is thanking me for not being exposed to toxic chemicals anymore.

I now wish I had started this sooner, but realize that I had to wait until I felt completely ready to embrace the change. And embracing it I am!

“Silver is the new blonde.”  🙂

~Marilyn

 

Easy Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent Using Zote Flakes

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Finnfemme: Easy Homemade Liquid laundry DetergentUsing Zote FlakesFinnfemme: Easy Homemake Liquid Laundry Detergent Using Zote Flakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I love making my own detergent and have had great success with my original homemade powdered Zote recipe, I’ve been goofing around with making a liquid detergent that’s a bit more gentle in its approach. One that is good for washing delicates, or for  laundry that really isn’t all that dirty. By this time you should all know what a Zote soap freak I am. Just because it’s the most awesome laundry soap on the planet! Not only do they make the giant bars, which I grate for my powdered Zote recipe, but they also make Zote Laundry Flakes that come in a box. The flakes are wide, flat and easily dissolved, and have that fantastic Zote scent. Zote Flakes are natural, eco-friendly, readily biodegradable, and phosphate-free.

Anyway, because I’m generally lazy and don’t like a lot of complicated steps, I’ve concocted a liquid laundry version that is incredibly simple and requires only two ingredients:  Eight (8) cups water and One (1) cup Zote Laundry Flakes. Please note that I am using the pre-shredded flakes for this recipe, I haven’t tried this using Zote soap that I’ve grated myself, preferring to use that in my powdered version.

Finnfemme: Easy Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent using Zote FlakesFinnfemme: Making Zote Flakes liquid detergent

 

 

 

 

Finnfemme: making Zote Flakes liquid detergentFinnfemme: Making liquid laundry detergent using Zote Flakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1 – Heat 8 cups water until just below boiling, and remove from heat.

Step 2 – Add one cup of Zote Laundry Flakes, and stir gently until dissolved. Let cool for 30 minutes or so.

Step 3 – Pour into a large container – a funnel really helps with this part- I used an old gallon milk container. Let it set for several hours, or overnight.

Step 4 – It will form into a thick gel. You can then portion it out into smaller glass containers like I did (this recipe fills four 16 ounce jars).

I’d use about 1 Tablespoon for hand-washing, or small loads, 2 Tablespoons (1/8th cup) for a larger load. The liquid is rather gloppy and viscous, but it just adds to the fun. 😀 What I’ve found is that it cleans very gently and the laundry is a lot softer. Which to me, as a clothesline user, is important. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Your resident laundry-goddess, Marilyn

Yardley Introduces Oatmeal Beauty Soap 1974

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Finnfemme: Yardley Oatmeal Beauty Soap ad 1974With a back-to-nature flair, Yardley of London introduced their Oatmeal Beauty Soap in 1974. At this point Yardley was phasing out their much-celebrated cosmetics line and going back to their origins of selling soap (English Lavender, anyone?).

You can’t get any more crunchy hippie than this ad, at least by Yardley of London standards. Just the bar of soap being scooped out with a handful of oats from a jute bag. Along with a 10 cent store coupon. I don’t recall seeing coupons in any of their previous advertising, so I think that was a first as well.

No doubt that this was a good soap – “Now Yardley brings you a beauty soap that oatmeal-rich. It really cleans, removes excess oil and actually soothes skin, too.” – but, alas, it was wistful for those of us who rued the loss of the Yardley makeup line.

~Marilyn