History's Dumpster Mobile Link

History's Dumpster for Smartphones, Tablets and Old/Slow Computers http://historysdumpster.blogspot.com/?m=1
Showing posts with label Bathroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bathroom. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Special Request: "The Ballad of A Gentle Laxative (The Doxidan Cowboy Commercial)" (1987)

 From the mailbag....


Hmmm...Not really knowledgeable about diamel, Rd. But when you mentioned the Doxidan Cowboy, you hit solid gold.

Everybody sing!:

When I’m irregular
Here’s what I do
I take Doxidan because it works
When I expect it to
Doxidan, gentle Doxidan, I get no surprises
I feel better in the morning
Sure as the sun rises
Doxidan, Doxidan
When nature needs a helpin’ hand
Get overnight relief with Doxidan
As sure as the sun rises.

The Doxidan Cowboy was a 30 second TV spot, circa 1987. And from the YouTube comments on this commercial, I'm starting to think if Doxidan's parent company had released this as a promo 45/cassette single with each package of Doxidan, it might have been played at weddings.

He's not quite George Strait. More like Don Williams in a porn 'stache. As smooth as, well, the effect of this product. But really, this should've won the CMA award that year.

Tragically, the Doxidan Cowboy remains anonymous. So it's unknown if he made any recordings of this jingle. Or has any albums. But here at History's Dumpster, he'll always be our Roy Rogers.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Duz and Bonus Laundry Detergent


Once upon a time, you could buy a box of laundry detergent and get something really useful out of it besides a plastic scoop.

And during the 1950s and '60s, there was such a detergent. In fact, a few of them.

Duz and Bonus laundry detergents each offered a bonus goodie. Duz offered a free china plate, bowl, cups and later, glass tumblers in each box. Moms would then religiously buy Duz until their china set was complete.

They must have sold a lot of these dishes as today, they are still as ubiquitous as Herb Alpert records in any second hand store.




Bonus offered free bath towels.




It was like Cracker Jack for housewives.

Breeze was another line of detergent that offered premiums.
But tragically, Duz, Bonus and their many imitators stopped including extras in their products by the late 1960s. And without the goodies, these brands died off.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

L'eggs, L'aura & L'erin

Somewhere suspiciously next the ubiquitous L'eggs pantyhose display stand in any supermarket of the early '80 was the L'erin cosmetics stand.

Most people already figured this was a natural place to put the makeup. But for L'eggs, it was uniquely important; They owned L'erin.

L'eggs is a product of underwear conglomerate Hanes. They were introduced in 1969 with their famous plastic egg containers, which had zillions of uses (some women would keep jewelry in them, some people made arts and crafts out of them. In fact, some people bought them just for the big plastic egg containers, which sadly, they have long since phased out.)

Seeing an complimentary advantage to their very successful pantyhose line, in 1980, L'eggs created the L'aura cosmetics line.

Wait....What?



L'aura was the original name for L'erin. But everybody got it mixed up with that big French cosmetic conglomerate, L'Oreal. It was quickly renamed L'erin.


But L'erin cosmetics as a product? Well, the verdict wasn't good.

First, most women were used to the idea of makeup being a distinctly personal art. They wanted something glamourous and luxurious. And all other cosmetic companies were working overtime to accommodate this image.

But L'erin just wasn't that. At all. L'erin's commercial tag line for it's first few years was "Put Your Face On And Forget It". Which sounds like something their dads would say when he needed to use the bathroom.

L'erin was trying to be simpler and more practical, aiming for the young, active woman who wanted less drama and fuss in their makeup kits. But being sold primarily in supermarkets and discount stores (this wasn't exactly Estee Lauder), the cosmetically savvy ladies just weren't impressed. They viewed L'erin as cheap and chintzy.

And it was. The makeup quality itself was also notorious, as millions of raccoon-eyed girls staring back from their '80s high school yearbooks can testify. The mascara was clumpy right out of the bottle, the eyeliner and eye shadow ran under hot lights or in the hot sun. By this time, boys were getting into makeup (the Duran Duran thing and the first wave of glam metal had hit) and I remember girls experimenting on us with their once-used L'erin cosmetics....And then laughing their butts off when we walked outside on a hot day.

The eternal price of trying to be cool (Sigh!)

L'erin lasted until 1984. It was sold in 1983 by Consolidated Foods (now Sara Lee) to another makeup company and after a few attempts to resuscitate the brand, L'erin was discontinued. 


Saturday, April 19, 2014

The Crimping Iron





Electric hair crimping of some kind has existed since the 1920s....


....and the first crimping irons appeared shortly after the first portable electric curling iron wands in the early 1970s.

But the Somebody-Just-Dumped-A-Bowl-Of-Top-Ramen-Noodles-On-My-Head look didn't become all the rage until the late 1980s.


They were popular from 1984 until 1992. But it wasn't until 1987 when pop star Taylor Dayne turned crimped hair into a national epidemic.


You probably knew some chicks (and even a few dudes) with crimped hair. Photo: Back To The '90s
The crimping iron, by frying your hair, added poofy volume to it. Tease it out and you had something like this.



Next to the can of Ultimate Hold Aqua-Net hairspray to shellac your 'do with, they were staples of anyone with big hair in the late 1980s.

I shellacked my hair with enough of this crap in my big hair days to collapse a mile of ozone. And Mother Nature is starting to get back at me for it.....

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Tickle Deodourant

Courtesy of Found In Mom's Basement
Something about the thick phallic shaped bottle, it's big wide ball and the fact that women on the TV ads for Tickle giggled everytime the voice over mentioned this deodourant's attributes made a lot of men hot and bothered in the late 1970s (C'mon ladies, we knew why you were taking so long in the bathroom).....

Monday, October 28, 2013

Toilet Paper Dispenser Radio



A basic AM transistor radio.....Perfect for listening to average AM radio stations these days......And in the RIGHT place.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Horizontal Shower


If you ever wanted to spend $35,000 to get the feeling of showering in a Category 5 hurricane, I have good news.

Bathroom fittings and accessories company Dornbracht have come up with the Horizontal Shower, a shower which, as its name suggests, allows you to do what you have to do while lying on your back, side, or front. Stand up and you’ll bang your head.

The Horizontal Shower incorporates six shower heads – or what the company calls “water bars” – with the user able to control water temperature, intensity and quantity using the eTOOL, a small control panel located beside the head of the reclined user.

Three presets are included in the shower’s design, which apparently provide balancing, energizing and destressing effects – exactly the kind of relaxing treatment you’ll need after realizing you’ve forked out $35,000 on a shower.