"When I'm watchin'my TV/ And that man comes on to tell me how white my shirts can be..."
The Rolling Stones, "Satisfaction"
In 1907 the technology company Henkel launched Persil—the world's first self-acting detergent. This new type of washing powder allowed stubborn stains to be removed from clothes, without the need for rubbing or bleaching.
Henkel & Cie was established in Aachen, Germany, in 1876 by Fritz Henkel (1848-1930) and his business partners and the first product they marketed was a universal detergent based on silicate. In 1905, Henkel's youngest son joined the company and began to study the chemistry of washing, bleaching, and peroxide. Persil was one of the first-ever branded products. The name was derived from two of the detergent's ingredients: perborate and silicate. Though Persil proved to be hugely successful commercially, synthetic detergents did not develop until World War I, when problems securing a supply of fats and oils led scientists to seek alternative ingredients.
In 1946, a breakthrough launch of "built" detergents gave rise to products that performed better at cleaning heavily soiled garments. Detergents for automatic washing machines were introduced in the 1950s, and the first washing powders to use enzymes were launched in the following decade. The emergence of the dishwasher in the 1980s initiated the birth of a whole new class of detergents.
