Persil Persil Persil is a brand of laundry detergent manufactured and marketed by Henkel around the world except in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Latin America (except Mexico), China, Australia and New Zealand, where it is manufactured and marketed by Unilever. Persil was introduced in 1907 by Henkel. It was the first commercially available "self-activated" laundry detergent. The name was derived from two of its original ingredients, sodium perborate and sodium silicate. The chore of washing the laundry began to change with the introduction of washing powders in the 1880s. These new products originally were simply pulverized soap. New cleaning product
Purex (laundry detergent) their bleach product. By 1946, Purex began to produce its first light-duty, dry detergent, under the brand name Trend. On July 31, 1956, Purex acquired the Manhattan Soap Company best known for its "SweetHeart" soap. In 1975, Purex liquid laundry detergent was introduced. Purex liquids began the use of its distinctive blue plastic bottle in 1981. In 1982, Purex Industries, Inc. was acquired in a leveraged buyout by Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen Ltd., the predecessor of Leonard Green & Partners. In 1985, the household and consumer products business of Purex Industries, Inc. was acquired by Greyhound Corporation and was