1940s Mining Life
19/21 
Carbolic soap, which was cut into pieces to use
© National Coal Mining Museum for England (Photo: National Coal Mining Museum for England)
© National Coal Mining Museum for England (Photo: National Coal Mining Museum for England)
Women did not clean their house with modern products, which can be bought today. They generally used Carbolic Soap which is a disinfectant. The word carbolic means to kill germs and it has a very distinctive smell. It does not smell as nice as the different types of cleaning products we have today. It would have been used with a scrubbing brush and water to scrub floors and tables clean.