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The Super-Green Clean
Using Microfiber Towels to Clean Almost Anything with Plain Water
by Appaloosa Moose
Wouldn't it be wonderful if in the future
we could clean our homes with a simple cloth, and without chemicals?
Think how much healthier
our homes and our environment would be. No more cleaning chemicals in
our air and water. No more loading up the landfills with plastic
bottles, paper towels and leftover toxics? Of course, that future cloth
should be sturdy, re-usable, washable and easy to use. Oh, and while
we're wishing,
wouldn't it be great if we could use that same cloth to pick up
pollen, dust, dander and bacteria?
That’s right—you can clean almost every surface in your home—with plain water using a microfiber cleaning towel. No soaps, no detergents or sprays or chemicals—even to clean up oil and grease. The towels pick up the finest particles of dust, pollen and even bacteria, and rinse clean in water. This technology has been used in computer “clean rooms” for years, and it works in an extraordinary way, using the properties of water itself at the microscopic level. The microfiber towels leave surfaces positively clean and things stay cleaner longer.
Appaloosa Moose asked that question too. What she found out is that microfiber towels aren’t being used by homemakers simply because, until now, there haven’t been any directions for using them to clean house! As simple as that.
It sounds impossible, doesn't it? A product that has been right under our noses for years that really can revolutionize the way we clean house. It is true. Microfiber towels make house cleaning easier, faster and work with just plain water. The only catch is that we have to learn how to use them because microfibers work completely differently than conventional cleaning tools.
For the first time, Appaloosa Moose has de-mystified microfiber cleaning, explaining not only how to use the towels, but why they work. Once you understand the principles of microfiber cleaning you'll be able to use them for cleaning just about anything around the house and yard.
The towels clean up with plain tap water and can be used over and over again. When they finally get really filthy, they can be tossed in the washing machine.
With The Super-Green Clean you can learn how to use microfiber towels and why they work so well. Prepare to change the way you think about cleaning!
We really believe that microfiber house cleaning is the wave of the future, but the cleaning techniques used with the towels are so different than conventional cleaning that good instructions are essential. We know everyone can't afford the whole book, so we've taken the unprecedented step of including six tear-out pages of very basic instructions in the back of each copy. That way, when you want to share this amazing microfiber cleaning, you can give the instructions to a friend.
This truly is a revolutionary way of cleaning house and once you've tried microfiber cleaning, you won't go back. It sounds like fiction until you try it, but once you do, you will want to share the information with your friends. This super-green clean will spread by word of mouth from person to person, and each of us will be able to help clean the environment, not just our homes.
PREVIEW THE BOOK!
Everyone likes to browse a little, so we have created three .pdf files for you to look at. To read these you will need Adobe acrobat which is a free download at www.adobe.com
Part 1: Title pages, table of contents, preface (10 pages)
Part 2: Chapter 1: Introducing a Super-Green Clean; Chapter 2: Diary of a Convert; and Chapter 4: Buying the Right Microfiber Towel for Cleaning House
Part 3: How to use a microfiber towel for cleaning house (2 pages). This is the tear-out page at the end of the book to give to your friends along with a towel so that they will have at least basic instructions.
Microfiber towels clean using the properties of physics—electrostatic attraction when they are dry and the surface tension of water when they are damp. These properties work simply because each strand of microfiber is so tiny.
How a Dry Towel Works
To understand microfibers you have to think very, very small. Take a look at the handle of a broom. Imagine that the handle represents a human hair. Hold a hair next to the broom handle. That represents a microfiber. The microfibers made for cleaning are made up of two different chemicals: polyester and polyamide. The round fibers are then “split” into a shape resembling a star or asterisk and the process creates infinitesimally small grooves and channels in each strand.
With split microfibers, the sheer surface area of the fibers has an electrostatic charge. You can feel that charge with a dry towel as it tries to cling to itself. You may have used the disposable dusting cloths. They are also electrostatically charged, so they will pick up dust. Dry microfiber towels have a much stronger attraction and are more effective at picking up dust and holding onto it once it is picked up.
How a Damp Towel Works
The polyamide is at the center of the microfiber strand and is absorbent (it attracts water). The polyester is around the outside of the fiber, and while it isn’t absorbent, it is durable so that it will stand up to rubbing. The fibers are then “split” into a shape resembling a star or asterisk and the process creates infinitesimally small grooves and channels leading though the polyester to the center of the fiber. Water is draw into these microscopic channels, bringing the tiniest particles with them. The surface tension of the water itself holds the particles in the towel until it is rinsed.
Larger particles of dirt, oil, grease and sand are held between the strands of microfiber—also by the surface tension of water. Particles, large and small, are held within the towel itself; they aren’t riding on the surface of the towel. They can’t be re-deposited on the surface.
What makes a microfiber towel remarkable is that it doesn’t care what the particles on the surface are made of. They can be wax or oil, dust or pollen, bacteria or tiny insects like dust mites. Once the towel has taken hold of the particles, it simply doesn’t let go of them until the towel is rinsed. When the towel is submerged in water, the surface tension is broken and the dust particles are released into the water and go down the drain. The whole process uses only plain tap water.
Once I began considering surface tension as the operating mechanism, I could also explain why soaps, detergents and surfactants wouldn’t “help” a microfiber towel. Those agents destroy the surface tension of water. What I came to realize is that for all of human history we have be using the chemical properties of water. With the development of microfibers, we can now use the physics of water to clean in a more effective way.
The Skeptic
I call this the “Yeah, right” stage. Whether we first hear about microfiber cleaning from the book, an article or a friend who has reached “the walking infomercial” stage, it is universal that we just don’t buy it. Microfiber towels can’t be all that. They just can’t be. If they were really so hot, we’d already know about them. Then, we try one.
The Ecstacy
Once we’d put a microfiber towel to a cleaning test or two, we’ve all gotten inordinately excited. “This is fantastic” is second only to “Wow!” as the reported first reactions. Even non-housework types and discouraged homemakers find themselves grinning with the idea that “I finally have some real help around the house!”
The Walking Infomercial
Everyone I have heard from goes through this stage. We know too many people who really need these towels and they are so incredible that we just can’t keep it to ourselves. I started with family and friends and most of them were less than enthused (being at “the skeptic” stage). “Picks up grease?” Yes. “But you have to use soap, don’t you?” No. “But you have to rinse it in soapy water?” Nope. “Yeah, right.”
I finally quit trying to tell people about microfiber towels and just sent them one with directions. It was fun waiting for the phone calls once they had tried the towels themselves. “This is fantastic!”
The Mad Scientist
This happens when you’ve worked with a microfiber towel for a day or so. You sit down to relax, and something catches your eye that is a pain to clean and has been bugging you at some level of consciousness. (I call those things the giant dust bunnies.) The thought crosses your mind “I wonder if microfiber would work on that” and you grab the towel and clean it up. Satisfied, you sit back down, but it happens again. And, again. The feeling of satisfaction at eliminating those giant dust bunnies is fairly addictive.
I confessed to a friend that during this stage I felt like I’d been invaded by some housecleaning alien force. Jumping up to clean odds and ends wasn’t like me at all. Don’t worry though, this stage doesn’t last too long.
The Precious Heirloom
Once we get fairly familiar with what a microfiber towel can do, then we go through a stage of being scared that we’ll ruin it doing something we shouldn’t. We stick to the easy stuff, avoiding the greasy stovetop or doing the floors. Having sent just one towel to various friends and family, I heard this a lot. “I am not going to try that until I get some back up towels!"
The Waiting for It to Quit
I suppose we’re all so bombarded with rediculous claims about products that it is understandable that most of us go through a second stage of being skeptical. I kept thinking “ok, this is fabulous, but it isn’t going to last.” The towel would probably wear out in a month or get so thoroughly fouled up with grease or something that it would quit working. (Not that I wouldn’t have gone out and bought another one!)
The towels really are sturdy, and in cleaning house there really isn’t anything you can gunk it up with that won’t rinse out. You can make a microfiber towel quit working by handling it the wrong way in the washer or dryer, though, so read the care information carefully.
Taking it for Granted
This is the final stage of a microfiber cleaning convert. Some people get there after a week, some two weeks. I took longer since I had to figure out the “why,” “how,” “do’s” and “don’ts” myself. You know you’re at this stage when “I just can’t imagine trying to do without one.”
Another aspect I noticed about this stage is that (contrary to all of my training and inclinations) I fell into a modern bad habit. I turned a noun into a verb. I found myself asking “Have you microfibered it?” Oh, the shame.
Well, guess what? Our wish came true
already, but we didn't even know about it!
Right
now you can walk into your local auto supply store and
buy a
cloth for about $5.00 that will let you clean and shine your kitchen
floor--your leather purse--your wood furniture--your computer--your
stovetop--your walls--your bathub--your microwave--your windows--and
nearly everything else around your housewith
JUST PLAIN WATER!
That’s right—you can clean almost every surface in your home—with plain water using a microfiber cleaning towel. No soaps, no detergents or sprays or chemicals—even to clean up oil and grease. The towels pick up the finest particles of dust, pollen and even bacteria, and rinse clean in water. This technology has been used in computer “clean rooms” for years, and it works in an extraordinary way, using the properties of water itself at the microscopic level. The microfiber towels leave surfaces positively clean and things stay cleaner longer.
“So why didn’t I
know about this!?!” 
Appaloosa Moose asked that question too. What she found out is that microfiber towels aren’t being used by homemakers simply because, until now, there haven’t been any directions for using them to clean house! As simple as that.
It sounds impossible, doesn't it? A product that has been right under our noses for years that really can revolutionize the way we clean house. It is true. Microfiber towels make house cleaning easier, faster and work with just plain water. The only catch is that we have to learn how to use them because microfibers work completely differently than conventional cleaning tools.
For the first time, Appaloosa Moose has de-mystified microfiber cleaning, explaining not only how to use the towels, but why they work. Once you understand the principles of microfiber cleaning you'll be able to use them for cleaning just about anything around the house and yard.
The towels clean up with plain tap water and can be used over and over again. When they finally get really filthy, they can be tossed in the washing machine.
With The Super-Green Clean you can learn how to use microfiber towels and why they work so well. Prepare to change the way you think about cleaning!
We really believe that microfiber house cleaning is the wave of the future, but the cleaning techniques used with the towels are so different than conventional cleaning that good instructions are essential. We know everyone can't afford the whole book, so we've taken the unprecedented step of including six tear-out pages of very basic instructions in the back of each copy. That way, when you want to share this amazing microfiber cleaning, you can give the instructions to a friend.
This truly is a revolutionary way of cleaning house and once you've tried microfiber cleaning, you won't go back. It sounds like fiction until you try it, but once you do, you will want to share the information with your friends. This super-green clean will spread by word of mouth from person to person, and each of us will be able to help clean the environment, not just our homes.
PREVIEW THE BOOK!
Everyone likes to browse a little, so we have created three .pdf files for you to look at. To read these you will need Adobe acrobat which is a free download at www.adobe.com
Part 1: Title pages, table of contents, preface (10 pages)
Part 2: Chapter 1: Introducing a Super-Green Clean; Chapter 2: Diary of a Convert; and Chapter 4: Buying the Right Microfiber Towel for Cleaning House
Part 3: How to use a microfiber towel for cleaning house (2 pages). This is the tear-out page at the end of the book to give to your friends along with a towel so that they will have at least basic instructions.
How & Why Microfiber Towels Work
(Excerpted and condensed from Chapter 3 and the Appendix of “The Super-Green Clean…”, by
Appaloosa Moose, copyright 2005 by Rafter-four Designs)Microfiber towels clean using the properties of physics—electrostatic attraction when they are dry and the surface tension of water when they are damp. These properties work simply because each strand of microfiber is so tiny.
How a Dry Towel Works
To understand microfibers you have to think very, very small. Take a look at the handle of a broom. Imagine that the handle represents a human hair. Hold a hair next to the broom handle. That represents a microfiber. The microfibers made for cleaning are made up of two different chemicals: polyester and polyamide. The round fibers are then “split” into a shape resembling a star or asterisk and the process creates infinitesimally small grooves and channels in each strand.
With split microfibers, the sheer surface area of the fibers has an electrostatic charge. You can feel that charge with a dry towel as it tries to cling to itself. You may have used the disposable dusting cloths. They are also electrostatically charged, so they will pick up dust. Dry microfiber towels have a much stronger attraction and are more effective at picking up dust and holding onto it once it is picked up.
How a Damp Towel Works
The polyamide is at the center of the microfiber strand and is absorbent (it attracts water). The polyester is around the outside of the fiber, and while it isn’t absorbent, it is durable so that it will stand up to rubbing. The fibers are then “split” into a shape resembling a star or asterisk and the process creates infinitesimally small grooves and channels leading though the polyester to the center of the fiber. Water is draw into these microscopic channels, bringing the tiniest particles with them. The surface tension of the water itself holds the particles in the towel until it is rinsed.
Larger particles of dirt, oil, grease and sand are held between the strands of microfiber—also by the surface tension of water. Particles, large and small, are held within the towel itself; they aren’t riding on the surface of the towel. They can’t be re-deposited on the surface.
What makes a microfiber towel remarkable is that it doesn’t care what the particles on the surface are made of. They can be wax or oil, dust or pollen, bacteria or tiny insects like dust mites. Once the towel has taken hold of the particles, it simply doesn’t let go of them until the towel is rinsed. When the towel is submerged in water, the surface tension is broken and the dust particles are released into the water and go down the drain. The whole process uses only plain tap water.
Once I began considering surface tension as the operating mechanism, I could also explain why soaps, detergents and surfactants wouldn’t “help” a microfiber towel. Those agents destroy the surface tension of water. What I came to realize is that for all of human history we have be using the chemical properties of water. With the development of microfibers, we can now use the physics of water to clean in a more effective way.
Stages of a Convert to Microfiber Cleaning
by
Appaloosa Moose
As I hear back from more and more people who
have become coverts to microfiber house cleaning, I am surprised at how
similar our experiences are. We all seem to have gone through the same
stages in just about the same order. So with tongue firmly in cheek, I
have described the steps in our experiences. The Skeptic
I call this the “Yeah, right” stage. Whether we first hear about microfiber cleaning from the book, an article or a friend who has reached “the walking infomercial” stage, it is universal that we just don’t buy it. Microfiber towels can’t be all that. They just can’t be. If they were really so hot, we’d already know about them. Then, we try one.
The Ecstacy
Once we’d put a microfiber towel to a cleaning test or two, we’ve all gotten inordinately excited. “This is fantastic” is second only to “Wow!” as the reported first reactions. Even non-housework types and discouraged homemakers find themselves grinning with the idea that “I finally have some real help around the house!”
The Walking Infomercial
Everyone I have heard from goes through this stage. We know too many people who really need these towels and they are so incredible that we just can’t keep it to ourselves. I started with family and friends and most of them were less than enthused (being at “the skeptic” stage). “Picks up grease?” Yes. “But you have to use soap, don’t you?” No. “But you have to rinse it in soapy water?” Nope. “Yeah, right.”
I finally quit trying to tell people about microfiber towels and just sent them one with directions. It was fun waiting for the phone calls once they had tried the towels themselves. “This is fantastic!”
The Mad Scientist
This happens when you’ve worked with a microfiber towel for a day or so. You sit down to relax, and something catches your eye that is a pain to clean and has been bugging you at some level of consciousness. (I call those things the giant dust bunnies.) The thought crosses your mind “I wonder if microfiber would work on that” and you grab the towel and clean it up. Satisfied, you sit back down, but it happens again. And, again. The feeling of satisfaction at eliminating those giant dust bunnies is fairly addictive.
I confessed to a friend that during this stage I felt like I’d been invaded by some housecleaning alien force. Jumping up to clean odds and ends wasn’t like me at all. Don’t worry though, this stage doesn’t last too long.
The Precious Heirloom
Once we get fairly familiar with what a microfiber towel can do, then we go through a stage of being scared that we’ll ruin it doing something we shouldn’t. We stick to the easy stuff, avoiding the greasy stovetop or doing the floors. Having sent just one towel to various friends and family, I heard this a lot. “I am not going to try that until I get some back up towels!"
The Waiting for It to Quit
I suppose we’re all so bombarded with rediculous claims about products that it is understandable that most of us go through a second stage of being skeptical. I kept thinking “ok, this is fabulous, but it isn’t going to last.” The towel would probably wear out in a month or get so thoroughly fouled up with grease or something that it would quit working. (Not that I wouldn’t have gone out and bought another one!)
The towels really are sturdy, and in cleaning house there really isn’t anything you can gunk it up with that won’t rinse out. You can make a microfiber towel quit working by handling it the wrong way in the washer or dryer, though, so read the care information carefully.
Taking it for Granted
This is the final stage of a microfiber cleaning convert. Some people get there after a week, some two weeks. I took longer since I had to figure out the “why,” “how,” “do’s” and “don’ts” myself. You know you’re at this stage when “I just can’t imagine trying to do without one.”
Another aspect I noticed about this stage is that (contrary to all of my training and inclinations) I fell into a modern bad habit. I turned a noun into a verb. I found myself asking “Have you microfibered it?” Oh, the shame.
Copyrighted 2005, Rafter-four
Designs