Persil the ""work of the washboard""—saving consumers time and rendering the historic method of "sun-bleaching" (by laying clothes out in the sun) unnecessary. Persil was the first commercially available self-activated laundry detergent (combining bleach with the detergent). The invention of Persil was a significant breakthrough. The name, "Persil", is derived from two of the original ingredients, sodium perborate and silicate. The original name was deemed unsuitable as an international brand because it is hard to pronounce in some languages. Coincidentally, "persil" is the French word for the herb, parsley. Persil is sold in powder, liquid detergent, liquid capsule, liqui-gel, and tablet
WIN (detergent) system. Hydrogen peroxide also provides a more gentle bleaching action than chlorine bleaches. Until WIN, peroxide bleach in a liquid detergent had not been marketed primarily to target sweat-caused bacteria in clothing. Oxy-based cleaning systems necessitate a lower pH, which makes them generally less effective on certain household stains like oil or food, and can be difficult to formulate due to stability issues created by a loss of available oxygen over periods of time. However, WIN’s cleaning system was designed not to be a general use detergent formula, but rather, to address the needs of its sports enthusiast target market.