Like many people, I was a little sceptical when, around 15 years ago, I first heard of microfibre cloths and their cleaning abilities.
You see, I grew up in a household where cleaning with a sponge and cleaning spray (or cleaning paste) was the norm and I continued cleaning this way into my early adulthood (although I did buy the new eco-friendly multipurpose sprays that were emerging on the market). It was no surprise then that it was hard to initially wrap my head around the notion of cleaning with just a cloth and water.
Like many “doubting-Thomas’s” I had to see the microfibre cloth in action myself before I was convinced of their true powers, and convinced I very quickly became.
If you’re not familiar with microfibre cloths, let me start by telling you that they’re a must-have item in your green cleaning toolkit.
The magic of microfibre cloths lies in the microfibres themselves.
Too small to see, the cloth looks just like a normal cloth, but it’s anything but. With far more, and smaller, fibres than a standard cloth, a microfibre cloth is much more effective. It’s true that many microfibers do make light work!
So how DO they work?
Microfibres are able to attach themselves to even the tiniest dirt particles, ones that standard cloth fibres (giant in comparison) brush past. They’re able to easily attach to the dirt thanks to an attraction force (hello van der Waals forces!) between the microfibre cloth and the dirt particle. And with millions of microfibers in a standard microfibre cloth, this means that the cloth can hoover up millions of dirt particles!
Sounds good? It gets better!
What I LOVE about microfibre cloths is that they can be used damp or dry.
Used dry for dusting, the microfibres create static electricity that lift the smallest particles of dust and dirt up into the cloth and prevent them from resettling on surfaces. Used damp, they pick up dirt and grime using just water, leaving a sparkling finish in their tracks.
My fav way for using these guys is damp (but well wrung out). They’re great for mirrors, wooden furniture, glass, stainless steel, tiles, chrome, car interiors and toys and they’re even gentle enough to wipe computer and TV screens!
A word of warning though…. don’t be tempted to use them with detergents or soaps; both will reduce the cloth’s effectiveness and diffuse their “magic”.
Convinced?
I’ve tested a few different microfibre cloths in my time and have found Norwex Enviro Cloths to be a great all-rounder and cost-effective microfiber cloth. They also contain BacLock, a micro silver agent in the cloth that has self-purification properties to work against mould, fungi and bacterial odour (which is priceless if you’re prone to leaving a gunky cloth bundled up on the bench).
If you’re ready to discover the magic for yourself, you can purchase Norwex microfiber cloths online here.
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Laura Trotta is one of Australia’s leading home sustainability experts. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering, a Masters of Science (in Environmental Chemistry) and spent 11 years working as an environmental professional before creating her first online eco business, Sustainababy, in 2009. She has won numerous regional and national awards for her fresh and inspiring take on living an ‘ecoceptional’ life (including most recently winning the Brand South Australia Flinders University Education Award (2015) for the north-west region in SA and silver in the Eco-friendly category of the 2015 Ausmumpreneur Awards). With a regular segment on ABC Radio and with her work featured in publications like Nurture Parenting and My Child Magazine, Laura is an eco thought leader who’s not afraid to challenge the status quo. A passionate believer in addressing the small things to achieve big change, and protecting the planet in practical ways, Laura lives with her husband and two sons in outback South Australia. 
