With the help of the nice people at Regatta, we've finally found
out what happened to Lux soap flakes.
Pure soap flakes are an ideal way of caring for waterproof shells
and any other outdoors garment which uses a DWR - Durable Water
Repellant - treatment. The wetting agents in most commercial
detergents are designed to help water penetrate fabrics and strip away
the DWR effect - not a good thing. Soap flakes leaves it intact and
helps the shell fabric to bead and shed water. They also avoid depositing detergent nasties that could have similarly negative effects.
Turns out that Lux was withdrawn from the market by Lever Brothers
last year, but Dri Pak, who produced the product, now sell their own
brand called, erm, Soap Flakes. Not only that, but to highlight the
relevance of Soap Flakes to outdoor clothing care, Regatta are
running a competition with Dri Pak to kit out five families in
head-to-foot Regatta gear up to a value of £500.
The special packets should be widely available in good soap flake
stores including Sainsburys, Waitrose, Morrisons and Wilkinsons from
this month onwards, so not only will you be doing your waterproofs a
power of good, you might also win a load more.
For more information on Dri Pak see their web
site. For Regatta information, including care hints see www.regatta.com.
For an in depth article on restoring DWR to your waterproof shell
clothing see the links below.
John Corteen
