I wanted to get down to the nitty gritty on why microfiber is the cleaning method of choice versus chemical cleaners and disinfectants...first of all for those of you who are used to cleaning with traditional methods like comet, lysol, bleach etc...have you ever read the back of one of the bottles?
If not listen to this...as written on a Lysol Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaner bottle (on the front it states it kills 99.9% of germs!) On the back it says this: "TO DISINFECT: For hard nonporous surfaces such as counter, sinks, appliances and stove tops, spray until thoroughly wet. Let stand for 10 minutes before wiping!!!
Now ask yourself...have you been properly "disinfecting" your surfaces? Likely NOT, I wasn't!
It then also states that you must rinse all food contact surfaces with clean water after treatment! Are you doing that??? I wasn't!
So not only are we not properly disinfecting, but we are then covering our food safe surfaces with nasty harsh chemicals that are then going into the mouths of our loved ones...
The Deal on Microfiber
There are no regulations put upon the microfiber industry so you really don't know what you are getting when you purchase Microfiber. Low quality Microfiber is split by 1/6th the strand of a human hair, better quality microfiber is split by maybe 1/9th...NORWEX microfiber is split by 1/100 the strand of a human hair. Every single one of this strands are "grabbing" your germs, bacteria and dirt of your counters! Anyone that has ever felt a Norwex cloth knows how "grabby" they are! So instead of trying to kill bacteria on your surfaces you are actually REMOVING them to a 99.9% bacteria and germ free surface!
DON'T CREATE A SUPERBUG!
Special thanks to Kerry for enlightenting me on this interesting fact!
When you kill germs on a surface you never kill them all. There is always that minute amount that gets left behind - already the strongest (this is why they survive in the first place). This minute amount perceives the threat to its existence and mutates to save itself. This is how superbugs get created, and this is why chemical companies continually come out with New & Improved versions of their cleaners.
Microfiber does not kill bacteria. It picks it up - in the same quantities as what cleaners will kill. It leaves behind the same amount (actually a little less), and this little bit of bacteria that is left doesn't bother anyone - in fact exposure to a little bit of bacteria is essential to a healthy immune system and scientists believe that under-exposure to germs is contributing to rising allergy and illness rates. The bacteria left behind also does not perceive a threat and therefore doesn't mutate.
The bacteria that is picked up into a microfiber cloth gets rinsed away. Any remaining bacteria in the cloth cannot proliferate because the silver in the cloth breaks the cell wall of the bacteria, and it cannot reproduce.
NOTE: If the cloth is allowed to remain WET, and/or if dishsoap remains in the cloth, bacteria can grow. Wetness breeds bactera. Dishsoap does 2 things:
1) makes a barrier between the silver and the bacteria so no contact can be made;
2) provides a food source for bacteria
What is wrong with chemicals?
So lets talk green for a minute. Imagine yourself cleaning a cutting board after cutting some chicken with bleach in your sink. (The water and bleach combo down the sink don't disintegrate into some toxic waste section of our water table...it all mixes! As you have seen many chemicals do not biodegrade or break down). So there you are at your sink flushing down chemicals, then think of your neighbor doing the same thing, and all the people on your street, city, province, country...can you imagine where all those nasty chemicals are going? Into our watershed, streams, rivers, oceans etc. Forget about that farm fresh fish you purchased for dinner! Think big...this is a huge problem. We have become such a clean society that we are flushing huge amounts of toxins right back into our main resource...water! Do you purchase organic food? Then why not purchase a healthy cleaning alternative too!
For more info on Norwex Microfiber check out my website!
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