New Quick Lux Flakes
Wins Hand Test


“Lux For Dishes.”
                                                  -- Melville Ruick

Lincoln, Me. (DG)—

New Quick LuxWhen New Quick Lux Flakes was introduced, it was the best Lux Flakes made to date.  On paper, this new version didn’t look much different from the previous Lux Flakes.  The blue box was the same on the outside, and the soap flakes inside also looked the same.  Although the soap flakes looked the same, there was a difference.  Once it came in contact with water, New Quick Lux dissolved quickly and completely into rich white suds.  There was no messy soap gunk on the bottom of the dishpan. 

As impressive as quick dissolving sounded, there was another reason why New Quick Lux was better than ever.  The radio listeners would know why it was better on a 1940 broadcast of the prestigious LUX RADIO THEATER.  In between acts of the program, announcer Melville Ruick described how Lux and 5 other major soap brands took part in “The Hand Test.” 

The testing was done at a famous laboratory with hundreds of women participating.  In front of each seated lady, there were 2 dishpans full of water.  1 dishpan had New Quick Lux mixed with water, and the other dishpan had 1 of the 5 major soap brands mixed with water.  Each lady placed 1 of her hands into the water that contained the Lux suds, and the other hand was placed into the other dishpan with the suds from the other soap.  This was done in 20 minute intervals, 3 times a day for 28 days--- in other words, the conditions of a typical day of washing dishes.  In order to keep this test completely fair and impartial, the ladies were not allowed to wash dishes on their own, and no creams or lotions could be used at any time during the 28 day period.  After each session, scientists monitored the results of each lady’s hands and kept careful records of their analysis. 

When the 28 days of testing were completed, there was a very noticeable difference in the ladies’ hands.  The hands that were in the Lux suds were all soft and smooth, while the hands in the suds of the other soap were all red, chapped, cracked, and painful. 

The ladies were then asked on their thoughts of the testing.  Most of them noticed a difference in their hands as far back as the third day.  While the Lux hands were consistently soft and smooth, the other soap’s hands began to show signs of becoming red, chapped, and rough--- and it would only get worse as time went on.  To no great surprise, the ladies were convinced to use New Quick Lux for their dishes from that point on. 

For participating in the testing, some of the ladies who took part were featured in magazine ads for New Quick Lux.  As the saying goes, “pictures don’t lie.”--- and they didn’t in these ads!  The individual lady’s hands were pictured in color as they exactly appeared from the testing.  There was absolutely no editing of the color or the picture of the hands.  It was obvious to the naked eye of the reader which soap was milder and which soap WASN”T!  Let’s not forget, since this is an article on radio commercials, the Hand Test and its results got some considerable publicity in the New Quick Lux radio commercials on the LUX RADIO THEATER.     

Since New Quick Lux was a brand of soap, and the 5 major brands were also soap, why was there such a noticeable difference?  The 5 brands had something extra that Lux didn’t, that’s why!  Unfortunately, that something extra wasn’t anything to brag about.  The 5 major brands--- and many other soap brands for that matter, all had alkali.  This not-so-amazing stuff was the guilty party for making hands’ miserable when it came to washing dishes.  Since this chore was usually done 3 times a day, dishwashing with soaps containing alkali would take its toll on the poor hands.  On the other hand, New Quick Lux doesn’t have any alkali in its soap formula.  When it was used for dishwashing--- no matter how many times a day, the hands were always soft, smooth, and nice to look at after each dishwashing session.

Now that New Quick Lux easily defeated 5 of the most popular soap brands in the 28 day Hand Test, it must be the most expensive soap to buy and use.  Not so!  Announcer Ruick made it known to the listeners that New Quick Lux didn’t cost any more than the competition--- and the BIG box was actually extra thrifty to buy and use. 

Ruick also mentioned how New Quick Lux continued the tradition of washing dishes clean without its users suffering from the infamous “Dishpan Hands”--- an adversary Lux Flakes made famous in its advertising during the 1930’s (and maybe even before that, but I’m not sure).

It’s doubtful that husbands spent entire evenings giving their undivided attention to their wives’ hands after using Lux as implied in the enclosed magazine ad, but it is safe to say that washing dishes with this amazing soap made life easier and a lot less painful for the wives who used it.