Dirt Can't Hide

How a stealth team of chemists discovered a mix of molecules that changed laundry forever

For many of us, Tide is the most squeaky-clean of home helpers. In 2018, Americans bought $1.7 billion worth of Tide products, more than all other detergents (including Purex, Persil, Gain, and Arm & Hammer) combined. This year, the 4,000 Americans surveyed by the global market research firm Ipsos for the annual Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brands survey selected this super-cleaner not only as the most trusted detergent brand but also as the single most trusted brand in the Home and Family products category.

America’s first name in laundry has an interesting backstory, but the origin of the name itself was apparently unrecorded—which is ironic, given that the bold name and packaging have played a role in Tide’s success. When Cincinnati-based manufacturer Procter & Gamble (P&G) set out to create Tide in the 1930s, it was referred to as Project X. The code name reflected P&G’s recognition that its team was engineering something revolutionary.

At the time, washing powders were nothing more than pulverized soap. They weren’t great at cleaning the kind of ground-in dirt left by the average blue-collar worker, not to mention the average red-blooded five-year-old. Plus, soap is made from fats and oils, ingredients that don’t dissolve in water and do leave behind a residue (aka the dreaded soap scum) that stiffens when clothes dry.