Lux soap was first
launched in the UK in 1899 as a flaked version of
Sunlight soap. Subsequently it was
launched in the US in 1916, and marketed as a
laundry soap targeted specifically at ‘delicate’.
Lever Brothers encouraged women to home launder their clothes
without fear of satins and silks being turned yellow by
harsh lyes that were often used in soaps at the time.
The flake-type soap allowed the manufacturer some leeway from lye because it did not need to be shaped into
traditional cake-shaped loaves as other soaps were. The result was a gentler soap that dissolved more readily and was advertised as
suitable for home laundry use.
