A Vintage Soap to Properly Care for Vintage Fabrics

Ever hear of Fels-Naptha soap? It rolls off your tongue like the name of some gorgeous remote island in the middle of paradise somewhere. But, in reality, it’s just a bar of soap.  A vintage laundry soap bar that originated in 1893. Yep, that’s well-over 100 years old - congrats, you can do math. Obviously it works. It works well enough to have stood the test of a time for over a century plus some and is still available on the shelves today regardless of an ever-changing laundry soap market. 

This is what it looks like today - still in its antique white label with original stamping on the bar itself:

I have who else but my mother to thank for teaching me about Fels-Naptha soap.  She taught me about it when I was in the middle of trying to salvage an AMAZING vintage dress from 1912 - like the dresses you saw Rose wear in the movie Titanic.  Something eerily similar to the one pictured below.

The dress was still in decent condition for its ripe old age, but had a slew of stains come out in the fabric during the years it had been stored.  Big yellow stains and lots of them.  Old stains are a common issue that occur in collecting vintage clothing.  Apparently, this little bar of soap was still extremely accessible, according to mom, and was noted to be located at our local grocery store in the “mop and detergent aisle” so she foretold.

It’s cost?  About $3.00, maybe even less depending on where you’re located.  I’ve even seen it in the $1 stores. The $2.29 I invested in this magical bar of goodness has lasted me for over 2 years (yes, the same bar) in helping me to clean up stains from varying vintage clothing, scarves, and even some vintage purses that I have acquired over the years.  So, it was well worth the money

and I haven’t stopped using it in the last 11 years. In fact, I may hold a protest if they ever pull it off the store shelves.

As vintage fabrics are delicate, the cleaning and storing of them are key in preservation.  I have used Fels-Naptha to remove a number of stains from vintage fabrics of all types - but had the best luck in total removal on fabrics such as cottons, polyesters, and knits. I used the soap on vintage clothing dating from the 1910’s to the 1970’s and have had a 95% success rate in saving the garments. Stains that have removed well with Fels-Naptha are stains such as ring-around-the-collar, grass stains, yellowed stains from age, food stains, and stains from make-up. 

I successfully removed stains by simply wetting a toothbrush, lightly soaping it up with Fels-Naptha and applying a gentle scrub in treating all areas of staining within the garment before hand-washing it or throwing it in the washer if washable. Be careful in using the toothbrush not to scrub with too much force - especially on vintage fabrics.  Scrubbing with too much force can cause damage and can make the fabrics rip or tear, pill, or becomes discolored (removing the colored dye from the garment) where you attempted to clean. Always do this at your own risk. If the garment seems too delicate, I suggest the same idea but substituting a bathroom washcloth instead of the toothbrush. A washcloth can work the soap in to lift the stain, but is much gentler on the fabrics.  

Make sure to pick up your bar of Fels-Naptha to add to your laundry essentials, especially if you are a lover of all things vintage.