I've become a believer in the cleaning ability of microfiber
I was recently invited to an online Norwex party. I usually am not enthusiastic of direct sales parties, but paid attention to the daily product pitches that were posted to see if I would be interested in buying anything, as the hostess is a fairly good friend of mine. I was most intrigued by the idea of cleaning with microfiber cloths with just water, as I am really bad at cleaning regularly, and making the process easier may inspire me to make more of an effort to keep my house clean. Being somewhat of a skeptic of direct sales products, and an avid researcher of consumer products, I took my investigation of Norwex online and found near unanimous acclaim for their products. However, a few blog posts mentioned a company called e-cloth that sold comparable microfiber cleaning rags for a fraction of the price, without requiring support of a MLM sales company. Most who had tried both brands seemed to say e-cloth performed just as, or almost as well as Norwex, making it the better valued product worthwhile of purchase. My analysis of the numerous sources I read from users of the microfiber cleaning products left me somewhat skeptical that the silver fibers in the Norwex actually kill bacteria as well as claimed, but convinced that both products clean surfaces very well with just water, as advertised. So I opted to start by trying e-cloth. I opted to start by trying the 8 piece home set, as I liked the idea of having a set of labeled cloths for separate purposes. So far, I have tried all but the finishing cloths and the dusting rag. Here are my thoughts. The kitchen rag was the first one I tried, and has gotten the most use so far. This cloth has a scrubber in the corner for stuck on messes, and has a thinner but dense weave. Before getting microfiber, I would use a kitchen sponge or washcloth with dish soap to wipe off the counters after cooking and the table after eating, which always felt like it was just pushing the particles on the counter around. The damp microfiber cloth really does feel like it is picking up particles - at least those small enough to reasonably fit in the microfiber - as I wipe and scrub a surface. I have been very pleased with the results. It fairly easily cleaned up caked on coffee stains underneath my espresso maker that I would struggle to remove with a wet washcloth and dish detergent. The stove and range cloth is similar to the kitchen rag, though maybe a little thinner and has alternating coarse stripes for scrubbing a stove top. My glass stove top sadly has a lot of baked on buildup after years of neglect and not cleaning it as well as I should, and I did not expect the cloth to work miracles on that (which was true). But I have tried to be diligent about cleaning my range after cooking since receiving my e-rags, and it does do a better job cleaning it than the previous sponge/dish detergent method I previously used. No residue, and the bulk of the stovetop shines just as it does after using pasty glass stovetop cleaner - after being cleaned with just a microfiber cloth and water. The window cloth works well, too. It has a fine, tight and smooth waffle weave. I used it to clean my sliding glass door, bathroom mirrors, and a couple of windows that have not been cleaned in a very long time. It cleans just as well as a rag and Windex. Actually, probably better, since Windex can leave streaks. It has the same "pick up the mess" feel in regards to smudges and residue on windows and mirrors as the other rags did when cleaning kitchen surfaces. I don't have any stainless steel appliances other than an espresso maker, but I tried the stainless steel rag on it, which seems similar to me as the range and stovetop rag. I can't say the appliance was all that dirty, but wiping it with the smooth side of the rag did seem to make it "shine" a bit more. The bathroom rag is the thickest, and has a washcloth like texture with the outside having more of a standard terry cloth weave. The rag doesn't pick up hair or other larger particles, but did a decent job removing scum dropets from the sink, counter, and faucet. The cloth won't remove mineral scale buildup, so cleaning products and scrubbing tools are still needed for that purpose. I haven't tried the finishing cloths, as I feel I don't feel like I really need to shine them up anymore than what the cleaning e-rags have done so far. I haven't yet tried the dusting cloth, as it doesn't appear to be made of anything "special" like the microfiber cleaning cloths. A good rinse with hot water, and even hand washing with a small bit of detergent, doesn't get visible dirt out of the rag after I clean something really dirty. A machine wash seems to do a much better job visibly cleaning the rags. I will probably machine wash them more regularly than instructions say to feel confident they are adequately cleaned. Overall, I am very happy with the e-cloths. I think they will inspire me to do a better job keeping surfaces clean, since they are so easy to use and seem to do a good job at picking up particles while wiping surfaces. I may end up picking up a few more general purpose cloths to accompany the kitchen cloth, so I don't have to launder it daily. Read more
