Comet is an American brand of scouring powders and other

household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is i ...

cleaning products Cleaning agents or hard-surface cleaners are substances (usually liquids, powders, sprays, or granules) used to remove dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells, and clutter on surfaces. Purposes of cleaning agents include health, beauty, remo ...

manufactured by KIK Custom Products Inc. The brand was introduced in 1956 by

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

(P&G) and sold to

Prestige Brands Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. (formerly Prestige Brands, Inc.) is an American company that markets and distributes over-the-counter healthcare and household cleaning products. It was formed by the merger of Medtech Products, Inc., Prestige B ...

in 2001. In 2018, Prestige Brands sold the Comet brand to KIK Custom Products Inc. P&G retained the rights to market the brand in Europe and to the professional market (non-home-consumer) in the United States.

Ingredients

According to the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) published by Procter & Gamble for "PGP Comet Deodorizing Cleanser with Chlorinol" and Prestige Brands for "Comet Powdered Cleanser", Comet cleanser contains 60–100% calcium carbonate ( Ca CO₃). Ingredients that are common to all Prestige Brands Comet Powdered Cleansers are listed as: * Calcium carbonate - Scrubbing agent *

Calcium hydroxide Calcium hydroxide (traditionally called slaked lime) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca( OH)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and is produced when quicklime (calcium oxide) is mixed or slaked with water. It has ma ...

- pH adjuster * Fragrance - Smell * Green 7 - Colorant (absent in "Comet Lemon Powder") *

Sodium carbonate Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...

- Builder/sequestering agent *

Sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...

linear

alkylbenzenesulfonate Alkylbenzene sulfonates are a class of anionic surfactants, consisting of a hydrophilic sulfonate head-group and a hydrophobic alkylbenzene tail-group. Along with sodium laureth sulfate, they are one of the oldest and most widely used Synthetic d ...

surfactant Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or interfacial tension between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsion#Emulsifiers , ...

- Cleaning agent *

Trichloro-s-triazinetrione Trichloroisocyanuric acid is an organic compound with the formula (C3Cl3N3O3). It is used as an industrial disinfectant, bleaching agent and a reagent in organic synthesis. This white crystalline powder, which has a strong "chlorine odour," is s ...

- Bleach *

Trichloroisocyanuric acid Trichloroisocyanuric acid is an organic compound with the formula (C3Cl3N3O3). It is used as an industrial disinfectant, bleaching agent and a reagent in organic synthesis. This white crystalline powder, which has a strong "chlorine odour," is s ...

(Symclosene) – Disinfectant The P&G Professional Comet SDS details percentages of the major component chemicals: * Calcium carbonate: 60-100% * Sodium carbonate: 7-13% * Calcium hydroxide: 1-5% * Sodium dichloro-s triazinetrione

dihydrate In chemistry, a hydrate is a substance that contains water or its constituent elements. The chemical state of the water varies widely between different classes of hydrates, some of which were so labeled before their chemical structure was understo ...

: 1-5% (Note: Not all ingredients are listed on an SDS.)

Warnings

Mixing cleaning products containing bleach or other oxygenates (such as Comet) with products that contain

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous ...

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a se ...

is dangerous. The P&G Comet SDS specifically warns to: "Avoid contact with acids and ammonia." Despite being labeled as "scratch free", the label for Comet cleanser also advises the use of plenty of water on "delicate surfaces". Comet powdered cleanser is not recommended for use on

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

, painted surfaces,

walls Walls may refer to: *The plural of wall, a structure *Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname Places * Walls, Louisiana, United States * Walls, Mississippi, United States * Walls, Ontario, neighborhood in Perry, Ontario, C ...

, soft plastic,

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

, and

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

Cultural references

*In 1969, '' Wacky Packages'' included a mock ad, drafted by

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...

and painted by

Tom Sutton Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming. Later, stationed at It ...

, depicting a flag-waving

American Revolutionary Patriots, also known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or American Whigs, were the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies who rejected British rule during the American Revolution, and declared the United States of America an independent n ...

soldier and a pair of club-wielding policemen chasing a group of

hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

carrying picket signs inscribed "For Freedom!" and "Love! Not War!", with a prominent slogan, "Keep America Clean with Commie Cleanser" and a can, depicting a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

Uncle Sam Uncle Sam (which has the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the federal government of the United States or the country in general. Since the early 19th century, Uncle Sam has been a popular symbol of ...

, and inscribed, "Extra Strong Commie Cleanser" and "Gets Rid of Reds,

Pinko ''Pinko'' is a pejorative coined in 1925 in the United States to describe a person regarded as being sympathetic to communism, though not necessarily a Communist Party member. It has since come to be used to describe anyone perceived to have radic ...

Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

s, Yippies & Flippies". The mock ad has also appeared depicting the can alone. *A

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

about

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

is sung to the tune of the

Colonel Bogey March The "Colonel Bogey March" is a British march that was composed in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts (1881–1945) (pen name Kenneth J. Alford), a British Army bandmaster who later became the director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth ...

. It rhymes "Comet" with "vomit." The complete lyrics are: ::''Comet, it makes your teeth turn green'' ::''Comet, it tastes like gasoline'' ::''Comet, it makes you vomit,'' ::''So get some Comet, and vomit today!'' An alternative version uses different first lines: ::''Comet, it tastes like gasoline'' ::''Comet, it makes your insides clean'' or ::''Comet, it makes your toilet clean'' ::''Comet, it makes your teeth turn green'' *The song "

Rip Her to Shreds "Rip Her to Shreds" is a song by American new wave band Blondie, which features on the band's self-titled debut album. Single information "Rip Her To Shreds" was Blondie's first UK single, released on Chrysalis Records in the UK in late 1977, ...

" by the American rock/new wave band Blondie mentions Comet: ::''She got the nerve to tell me she's not on it'' ::''But her expression is too serene'' ::''Yeah, she looks like she washes with Comet'' ::''Always looking to create a scene''

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.cometcleaner.com/ Cleaning products Former Procter & Gamble brands Prestige Brands brands Products introduced in 1956

Ingredients

Warnings

Cultural references

See also

References

External links