Honestly I think that five years ago I would have never labeled myself a hypocrite – but having children and wanting them to grow up to be their best possible selves makes you realise some truths about yourself. I spent the past five years teaching them right from wrong and of course I expect them to only ever do what’s right… But guess what? As soon as they’re in bed there’s wrongs left right and centre! It feels a bit like leaving a dinner party and finally being able to open the button of your jeans to let your belly relax! It’s so good! Limiting screen time and sugar intake for other people while constantly telling them to share is hard work. Binge eating chocolate, not sharing the really tasty stuff with my husband and turning on the telly when the kids shut their eyes gives such freedom! Just what will I be like once they reach the legal drinking age..?
Anyway, here I am after having written many words about environmentally friendly fibres and all that blah blah green stuff (which I am still promoting and believing in), only to confess that I have fallen in love with a range of polyester / polyamide microfiber products. That’s right, man-made fibres that have been produced with the use of petroleum, coal and other things. A friend has been praising these cleaning cloths for a while and told me how awesome they were. Naturally I was skeptical until she gave me one to try. I mean, microfibers have been around for a fairly long time, I used to own some but really they were just another cleaning cloth to me. Then I tried my friend’s and I was wowed! I tried to convince myself that despite the fact they’re synthetic – these products are okay. It worked. Actually I didn’t just convince myself, I’ve even learned that these clever little bits of fabric clean without needing chemical cleaning products. I have to say they do an excellent job! Plus they are basically self cleansing and don’t need to be machine washed nearly as often as your ordinary cloths. That makes them rather green… right? Awesome stuff I am telling you.
Then, turning my thinking cap on, I realised that I have never owned a cleaning cloth made of natural fibres (apart from the odd old t-shirt that didn’t even qualify for the “donation-station”). This is because their characteristics are the exact opposite of what I aim for when I clean. They soak up water, take ages to dry (a paradise for germs and the exact reason why togs are always synthetic), and they smear dirt around instead of lifting it off the surface. So I guess it’s a stand-off between using natural cloths with lots of chemicals or chemical cloths with only water… Hmmm… It’s all about compromise – I think if I can make these cloths last for a long time they might just be the greener solution for me (because there is always a lot of cleaning happening in my house!). Plus the quality of cleanliness is just unbelievably impressive. And wait, it gets even better – you can return your old cloths, they get recycled).
So in between the pitter patter of rain drops I will try out my new window cleaning cloth… For once I’m a actually bit excited about cleaning windows! In the meantime I shall keep myself happy and warm with all the fantastic fabrics nature gives us, a microfiber clean house and chocolate ‘after hours’!
By the way, fibres with a diameter of 1/6 of a human hair are called microfibers, they are always made syntheticly. The ones that wowed me are 1/200 of a human hair. That’s very thin! Synthetic fibres usually start out in liquid form and get “pushed” through tiny holes to produce threads as long as you want them! The thinnest of the natural fibers is silk.
A bientot
Andrea, an honest hypocrite