5 Home Hygiene Myths Busted

By Author: Ramneek Handa
Total Articles: 7
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We spend close to half of our lives in our homes. Our home is our bastion that not only protects us from the elements, but also helps us live some of our most cherished moments. It is imperative that we focus on maintaining our home hygiene at the best possible level. Stop doing the injustice to yourselves and leave the age old fashioned methods of home cleaning. Here are some of the age old home hygiene myths that we are ready to debunk today!

Myth 1: Bleach is the king of all cleaners. This one tops the charts. Bleach is an excellent disinfectant and stain remover, but not a great cleaner. Plus, its strong smells may lead to an allergic reaction for some people. Use bleach judiciously and only at places where you believe germs may have colonies or to remove stains. But be aware that bleach has a property by which your coloured surfaces may also get ‘bleached’. There are enough and more cleaners available in the market today with similar/same properties minus the negatives of bleach to maintain your home hygiene.

Myth 2: Newspaper is ideal for glass and mirrors. Infact, a tissue paper is a far better than ...
... a newspaper. Newspaper is very thin and may dissolve or tear apart if used along with a cleaner. Also at times, the ink on the newspaper may leave a stain on the glass forcing you to clean it once more. So, ditch the newspaper and use a tissue paper instead.

Myth 3: Clothes don’t get wet during dry-cleaning laundry and hence are not clean. Well, the clothes do get wet, but the liquid is not water but a solvent. Clothes are placed in a machine and a liquid solvent is added. This solvent dissolves/removes all oils, dust and stains attached on the clothes and makes it clean. Since clothes don’t get wet with water, the process is called laundry “dry cleaning”. This is also the safest cleaning technique for delicate fabrics. Just ensure that you use a trusted drycleaner.

Myth 4: Add more detergent to get cleaner clothes. Adding extra detergent than recommended will cause more problems, leave alone getting clothes cleaner. One, the extra detergent may not get rinsed out of the clothes. This dried up detergent may cause irritation to the wearer leading to a skin irritation. Also by nature, detergents are supposed to attract dirt and grime. So, when some detergent stays back on the clothes, it will continue to attract dust and grime making the clothes get dirty faster than normal.

Myth 5: Professional Carpet Cleaner? No way, it will shrink my carpet! If a carpet is not properly dried after cleaning, which typically happens when an untrained cleaner is hired, then this myth is a reality. If not allowed to dry completely, synthetic carpets shrink while woollen carpets expand. Hence, it is important to let the cleaning be done by a trained hand who knows this fact.