until the advent of the washing machine, liquid washing detergent and fabric softener, clothes were washed by hand, some with the aid of a wash board. the clothes would sometimes be soaked in a pail or a tub overnight. soap, washing powder and bleach were used to treat the clothes before they were scrubbed.
my mother would cut a hand-held sized piece from a long bar of soap and use one of these pieces to scrub the clothes. to remove stubborn stain, she would use a stiff brush. the lam soon labour band soap was butter yellow in colour. around that time, there was also this bi-colour blue and white soap which was specifically used for washing clothes. these laundry soaps did not have the nice fragrance of the palmolive soap.
while most families did the washing in the compound of their own homes, some chose to do the washing at the public stand pipes, around the communal wells or at a village spring. in my former kampong, there was a spring - where the water never seemed to run dry - and many kampong folks liked to gather there to do their washing and bathing, of course with the sarong wrapped around the body.
as most of our school shirts or blouses were white and we did not have 5 sets for each of the weekday, each shirt would have to be worn for at least two days, usually consecutively. this caused stubborn stains to be formed at the collar and the arm-pits (of the shirt) . the clothes would be soaked in a bleach solution and then a brush would be used to scrub the collar and the arm-pits.
i also remember that the final rinsing of white clothes - both shirts and trousers - was usually done in a blue solution. i just learned that this solution was made using the indigo dye. a little of the blue powder was added to a pail of water. the already washed white shirts and trousers were then given a quick dip in the blue water.
indigo is a dye that does not bound strongly to fabrics, and repeated washing will fade it. adding indigo in the water to wash blue colour clothes will add to the colour density and reduce the perceived fade. white fabrics turn yellow after a number of washes in bleached water. the indigo corrects the yellow and brightens the fabrics. however, i do not remember seeing my mother dip any blue clothes in the indigo solution.
today, you still can get laundry soaps and the indigo dye from some of the supermarkets in singapore. they call it laundry blue and a small packet costs 85 cents. the laundry soaps are not as chunky as they used to be and some brands like fab and kuat harimau come with a certain fragrance. even the labour brand of soap is still around.
the hokkien call the blue powder 'lum cjer'. i thought this name had something to do with the blue colour (lum) and the logo - a star (cjer) - on the packing in the past. but someone told me it sounded more than blue, green. who is right? the indigo dye is also available in a liquid form. you just need to squirt about four drops into a small pail of water.
