# Anyone using Norwex for Raw Clean-up?



## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

I was at a friend's baby shower over the weekend, and the topic of conversation turned to Norwex cleaning products. I was the only person in the room who had no idea what they are, and felt sort of stupid. I initially figured they're products that make clean-up for kiddos easier and tuned it out, until they all started talking about online videos and demonstrations where the seller _wipes a raw chicken across her countertop_, then wipes the countertop with a Norwex wipe, and then _*LICKS*_ the countertop.  Then I started paying attention.

I'm kind of a clean freak when it comes to kitchen surfaces, probably made that way because neither of the humans in our household eat much meat.... The only way I'm comfortable cleaning up after prepping and feeding organs, raw poultry, and other miscellaneous animal parts is by using bleach. All of my feeding bowls are stainless steel and regularly go through a sterilize cycle in the dishwasher, and so on. The idea of using wipes with plain water, and skipping the noxious bleach fumes, sounds wonderful, but it also sounds kind of blasphemous.

I didn't want to ask the room full of nicely dressed ladies, "So, have any of you used them to wipe up after dicing lamb kidneys? And would you trust them after tripe?" (it might have ruined the mood). So, I'll ask here:

Is anyone here using - and _trusting_ - Norwex products to clean counters and bowls when feeding raw?


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## yuriy (Dec 23, 2012)

I've never heard of Norwex products. Warm/hot water + dish detergent does the trick for me, every time. Bleach - no thanks.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I just started using the Norwex products. So far I love them. Personally, I like a little soap when I'm mopping up blood and guts!


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## Mesonoxian (Apr 5, 2012)

I have never heard of Norwex, but they sound interesting! 

For the majority of my clean up, I use a 1:1 white vinegar to water solution. It kills everything, and is safe for surfaces my dog (and people) to be in contact with after. (I'm not a fan of using bleach, except for prep days, then I bring it out) The bowl I use also gets tossed in the dishwasher every week.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Omg! The glass cloth is amazing. All you need is a spray bottle with water. Works better than anything I've ever used before. Dog nose prints...GONE.


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

Jax, thanks! Now I feel like I'm not totally nuts, or the victim of some weird marketing gimmick. 

I don't like coating my kitchen in bleach either, so a safe alternative is pretty appealing.... Last week I was experimenting with making my own raw patties (blobs, really. "patties" is too pretty of a word, they're blobs) to put in the freezer. Ground venison, pheasant eggs, lamb kidney, random stuff that I was recently gifted. Since some of it is wild game, I wanted to make sure it goes into the deep chest freezer for the recommended safe time period before I feed it. After I made those blobs and they were safely wrapped and frozen, I started thinking about all of the microscopic nasties that might be lurking on my counter, and bowls, etc.  Maybe I'm nuts, but I must _really_ love my dogs.... because I've done it before, and I'm sure I'll do it again soon.

If I could use the wipes for daily cleanup, I'm sure I'll still use soap (or bleach) on super gross stuff. But for daily meals and wiping out their bowls, it seems like it would be awesome. Eliminating dog nose smudges from my stainless appliances would be a bonus!


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Don't worry. You'll get over that eventually 

I think it's the Envirocloth you'll want? But look a little closer. 

Oh..and I put food in quart and gallon bags and though out in larger containers. I used to do that daily food packaging. It's just to much when you have more than one dog.


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

Jax08 said:


> Don't worry. You'll get over that eventually
> 
> I think it's the *Envirocloth* you'll want? But look a little closer.
> 
> Oh..and I put food in quart and gallon bags and though out in larger containers. I used to do that daily food packaging. It's just to much when you have more than one dog.


That's what was recommended to me, and one of the kitchen scrubby dishrag types, and the glass cleaner. Oh boy, oh boy.... sounds like Santa is bringing me cleaning supplies for Christmas.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

definitely get the glass cloth! I would like a cupboard full of these cloths! lol

Oh! And the dusting mitt! It's freaking fabulous!


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Yeah, but did you check in on her the next day to see how bad the food poisoning case was? 

I've never heard of it either. I was curious, so looked at the website, and it looks like very expensive MLM stuff to me -- they've got some cleaner fluids retailing for $30. I'm not even remotely interested in paying super-high prices to subsidize the up-chain commission structure in MLM companies unless there's something really different than stuff already sold in stores at a fraction of that price.

For example, the website sells a bottle of descaler for $29.99. (!) In my bathroom, I can descale water deposit buildup with simple white vinegar in a spray bottle. Yes, it smells like vinegar--so I run the exhaust fan while it sits. I've cleaned bathrooms with vinegar for so many years I barely even notice the smell any more. To me vinegar smells of "clean," not salad....so I'll stick with my $2 jug of vinegar over a $30 natural descaler. LOL

Another of these natural cleaning MLM companies is Nature's Sunshine. Their claim to fame is enzymes in the cleaning product. I had a cleaning lady at one point who was a sales rep, constantly trying to convince me to buy it. I appreciated that she was using non-toxic products, but the cost of that stuff seemed silly. I wasn't all that impressed with it when she demo'ed it, at least compared to the Seventh Gen I buy all the time. 

Seventh Gen and Method both make an antibacterial spray for the kitchen that runs around $3-$4 at Target, and a little more at WF. I guess I'd want to know what the Norwex does that justifies a big price multiplier from that baseline. If you read the label on the Seventh Gen or Method antibac products, it has to be allowed to sit for 10 minutes without wiping (which most people don't do). Maybe that's the difference?


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## BroncoK (Jan 4, 2012)

LOVE the Norwex enviro cloth and usually use ours to clean up yucky raw meat areas....I clean mine a little more then they recommend though...had mine for two years and still going strong!


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Michelle, is the glass cloth for windows or for dishes? Or both? How does it work? Can you wash it and throw it in the dryer?

I normally clean windows with vinegar/water and a newspaper (crazy how much better the newsprint cleans than a regular towel)...are you saying the magic cloth does the same by just spraying water on the glass?


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

For glass. Windows, tvs, mirrors. I'm saying...It's a magic cloth!  Spray water, wipe off like you would with a newspaper. And it will be cleaner. 

Just wash and dry with lint free items.

Bought my stuff thru a party hosted by my helpers wife. This was her consultant
https://www.facebook.com/groups/520218254821567/


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

Magwart, you pretty much voiced my original concerns (when I was in a crowded room of women all raving about how spectacular the stuff is). But! I did some online reading before posting here, and the cloths really do seem to rate highly at removing bacteria and other undesirables. I didn't really look into the other products on their website, but supposedly you can wash them in a normal machine with "non linty" laundry. Jax or Bronco can probably say for sure?

I use mostly Method & Meyer's Clean Day brand products for the rest of my house, it's really just the food prep areas that I'm so paranoid about.... The cloths seem to go for $13-$18/ea and are supposed to last for years, you only use water. Pretty reasonable, if they do their job.... The idea of not throwing out giant wads of paper towels every week is also appealing (to me).


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## yuriy (Dec 23, 2012)

It doesn't make sense to me that these cloths have some sort of magical antibacterial properties. If all you need to do is add water, that would suggest the cloths have some sort of antibacterial substances that are activated by the presence of water. If so, a single wash of that cloth will likely remove 99% of any of these substances, rendering the cloth no more antibacterial than any other. Licking a table after wiping it free of raw meat/blood is not exactly a scientific test. I can lick my counter after simply rinsing it off with pure water and absolutely nothing will happen to me in 99.999999999% of cases, as the leftover bacteria will be present in insignificant amounts. I suspect it's exactly the same deal with these cloths: marketing, pure and simple.

Perhaps the texture of the fabric is better suited to removing/capturing debris or other "unwantables" than a paper towel, but I can't see it actually doing anything for killing bacteria without the presence of embedded chemicals, which will, without a doubt, wash out sooner rather than later. My gut feeling is that these things are a gimmick (haven't done any research).


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## BroncoK (Jan 4, 2012)

So I will explain it, because I am extremely sensitive to chemicals and can't clean with cleaners like bleach because I get really ill....out for days! So I did a lot of research on it before we decided to take the jump into the Norwex cloths...

The cloths fibers are torn 1/200 of a human hair...so in essence the fibers are smaller then viruses and bacteria....so when you go to wipe your cloth on a surface, the fibers pick up everything on the surfaces....including fabric surfaces....I have some pretty cool photos of wiping away stains on chairs and child seats, and couches...it really is amazing...then along with the tiny fibers the cloth has, it has silver in it....so the silver is what inhibits any bacterial growth to occur, so, wipe and rinse and the rest is washed away, so no stinky cloth.....


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

Yuriy, I agree, it does sound gimmicky until you dig a little deeper... and I don't buy into "As Seen on TV!" miracle products. 



BroncoK said:


> So I will explain it, because I am extremely sensitive to chemicals and can't clean with cleaners like bleach because I get really ill....out for days! So I did a lot of research on it before we decided to take the jump into the Norwex cloths.....


 Thanks for taking the time to write this out, I was hoping to find someone who'd been using them for a while (like yourself) - so this is great. And the woven silver makes sense, I did some more looking last night and found some articles in Scientific American that back up certain metal's abilities to break down bacteria, and their uses becoming more prevalent in medical settings - 

_



"Other projects capitalize on the long-recognized antiseptic properties of precious metals, chiefly silver and copper. *Metal ions seem to interfere with crucial proteins within bacterial cells. Those results are similar to the effect of some antibiotics, but the metals, unlike drugs, do not provoke resistance*.

Research by the company EOS Surfaces shows that bacteria in patients' rooms cannot survive on wall panels sheathed in copper, and a study funded by the Department of Defense at three hospitals, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, demonstrated an association between copper-coated “high touch” surfaces in rooms—the call button, intravenous pole and bed rails, among others—and lower infection rates. PurThread Technologies *is developing a proprietary alloy of copper and silver, which it melts into polyester and spins into yarn that is eventually woven into textiles ranging from sheets to scrubs.*" 

Click to expand...

_ _More here: _ _http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hospitals-bring-janitors-front-lines-of-infection-control/?page=2_

Yes, this is pretty nerdy, but I like facts. So with two enthusiastic endorsements (thanks Jax & Bronco!) I think I'll give the cloths a try... If I do come down with Campylobacter or something else nasty due to organs and raw meat, I promise I'll fess up.  (joking, hopefully).


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

WIBackpacker said:


> Yes, this is pretty nerdy, but I like facts.


Does this mfr have any studies that they'll share? Maybe the reps can send them to you and you can post, if they do? 

If you get sick, the U.S. tort system will be good to you with this kind of product. 

Someone here has to have access to a good microscope -- it would just mean swabbing the meat cutting board after you wipe it down with just this magic cloth and see what's left behind. I'm really curious now.


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

Magwart said:


> Does this mfr have any studies that they'll share? Maybe the reps can send them to you and you can post, if they do?
> 
> ..... I'm really curious now.


Here's what a rep sent me via Facebook, I asked pretty much the same question. I had to copy/re-upload since I can't directly link to the Facebook images & text here (note: images aren't mine).

Accompanying Text - 



> Swab Test Comparisons. The more purple the test, the more proteins left behind. A protein is smaller than a bacteria or virus, so you can bet if it was left behind, so did those other things. Green signifies the surface is clean, and this is how the Health Department tests restaurants.





















References were also made to Feiringklinikken Clinic Hospital Study (2004), microfiber w/water was used exclusively in cafeteria & food prep areas, and microfiber cloths + mops were incorporated into operating room protocols. Cafeteria areas would likely have raw meats, eggs, etc.

_



"The use of microfiber cleaning products combined with only water was used to clean the cafeteria kitchen. The test data shows a good and satisfactory hygiene level that is just as good as traditional cleaning methods and products. The clinic has experienced that microfiber cleaning products are excellently suited for cleaning a cafeteria kitchen." (Quoting from the Feiringklinikken Clinic Hospital Study - March 2004)

Click to expand...

 _
So far I think the article in Scientific American is the most persuasive/lends the most credibility, since it wasn't directly affiliated with any particular company. SA is, to the best of my knowledge, still a respected publication that follows facts.


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## yuriy (Dec 23, 2012)

WIBackpacker said:


> Yuriy, I agree, it does sound gimmicky until you dig a little deeper... and I don't buy into "As Seen on TV!" miracle products.


Yup, I did some quick research into it last night and it seems like this actually does work. Granted, I would still use dish soap with in instead of just water.

So long as the 'Norwex Silveragent' doesn't wash out of the cloth. When/if it does, it'll be along the usefulness of regular microfibre cloths (which are still - surprisingly - better than paper towels and other cloths).


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## BroncoK (Jan 4, 2012)

The silver does not wash out, as much as it can be damaged, the silver is woven in the cloth the way the thread is woven....the instructions say to NEVER use bleach on your cloth, and not to use dryer sheets on the cloth.....hence not washing often. With how heavy I use mine, I generally wash mine once a week, and even at the end of that week they don't stink....They actually lasts a REALLY long time if you take good care of them. Mine has lasted two years, and my very first cloth has lasted 4 and still going strong! The gal I purchased mine from had a cloth that was 7 years old and still cleaning like a champ! It was stained! But got the job done!


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

I use 409.


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