Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.The Home: Down the Drain
Modern man is beginning to suffer for his syndets.
Syndet stands for synthetic detergent. Handed in sudsy quantity to the happy housewife after World War II, syndets proved so popular that they now account for 70% of all household cleansers, marketed under a series of bouncy monosyl lables as synthetic as themselves — Tide, Fab, Cheer, Breeze, Duz, Surf. During 1961, U.S. housewives bought 3,469,114,000 lbs., or $831 million worth.
Such popularity is indeed deserved: syndets do the job better. They dissolve the greasiest grease and dirtiest dirt, leave no scum behind,...
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