By Kevin Williams
Ah, laundry soap. Â Maybe I'll post some Amish formulations for homemade laundry soap this week. Washing one's laundry is one of those universal - and generally reviled - chores. Â Not everyone hates doing laundry, my wife likes to do it. Â And I think I'd like to do it more if we lived in a place where we could crisply line-dry our laundry.
At first glance, this box looks like a universally recognizable corporate symbol.  This was found and purchased by my Dad in 1978 in a bustling souk (outdoor bazaar) in the dusty border outpost of Al-Ain in the country of the United Arab Emirates.  Regulars on Amish365.com know that I spent a good slice of my childhood living the UAE and in Saudi Arabia.  My Dad worked for the international division of a steel firm in my Ohio hometown and they sent us overseas to live on a couple of occasions.  It was definitely culture shock in many ways, but I learned a lot.  I think cultivating an appreciate of other cultures at such an early age helped sow the seeds for my later appreciation of Amish culture.
Okay, so back to the Tipe. Â Apparently, it was cheaper to make fake products domestically rather than import them. Â That is why the country - at the time - was full of quirky knock-off products like Tipe, Cacky Cola (instead of Coca) and McDonald (complete with the Golden Arches) instead of McDonald's. Â Hmmm, I never was brave enough to try the Cacky Cola. And the Tipe? Well, Dad just thought it was a good souvenir and kept the box where it stays on display at their home all these years later. So I can't give you any reviews of how Tipe is as a detergent!
Actually, since that was almost 40 years ago I doubt Tipe still exists and had Proctor & Gamble's lawyers knew about it at the time, theyprobably would have been on a plane bound for Al-Ain pretty fast.  I'm  guessing you could get the real thing there these days.  No matter, I always preferred Cheer anyway!:)
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