Getting away from toxic crap

[eich]

The first time I abruptly decided to detail an interior, I went to Walmart and stocked up on the cheapest everything I could find. Name brands are beside the point, and I don't even remember all of them

So, then I find myself with my snout buried in various cleaners and their fumes for the next few hours.

That night, and maybe it was just coincidence, but my lungs and sinuses felt quite inflamed.

That was the day I decided I want to know exactly what I was exposing myself to and made it a quest to go non-toxic whenever practical.

My first step was to make as much hay out of orange oil (D-limonene) for various jobs and stains related to grease.

If anyone is of the same mindset, what are some like-minded steps you have taken and found success with?

 

[FUNX650]

Just to name a few:

I try the best I can to keep products that contain Sodium Hydroxide; Sodium Metasilicate; Hydrofluoric Acid; "QUATS"(Fabric softeners); Perchloroethylene; and Chlorine, among others...out of my cleaning repertoire.

Oh yeah...almost forgot about "2-Butox":
Even its name says "tox-ic"!


Bob

 

[Setec Astronomy]

First, I think you need to differentiate between spray mist you may have inhaled and vapors from solvents or other ingredients. Inhaling spray mist is probably not going to be good no matter how benign the product. You probably only need 2 or 3 interior cleaners to handle everything--a glass cleaner, and an APC or other interior cleaner, and possibly a dedicated leather cleaner. Maybe also a carpet spotter like Folex unless you are getting into a separate dedicated carpet cleaner.

The other thing is that "the cheapest everything" you could find may have nastier ingredients, which is what I think you were alluding to. You may also have been using some cleaners full strength that could have been diluted.

And of course Bob's suggestions are good, even if he has lost 75 horsepower (aging?).

 

[eich]

Good examples! That's the practical kind of advice I was looking for.

 

[Calendyr]

Also how you use the products will have an impact. Spraying directly on surfaces from a certain distance will create more airborne mist than if you spray on your microfiber towel from very close.

I use Meguiars products for the interior (APC, Super degreaser) those two products can cover pretty much everything except uncoated leather but I have never seen an uncoated car seat so far. APC will do leather, fabric, carpet, plastics. Super degreaser is for things APC is too weak to remove. I know a lot of people like to use leather cleaners and conditionners but now a days, leather seat are coated with what is basically a paint. So you are not really cleaning leather, you are cleaning the paint coating... so using leather cleaners is very uneffective because their cleaning power is MUCH weaker than an APC. If you wanna know if the leather is coated or not, put a drop of water on it­. If it gets absorbed it's an uncoated seat and by all means only use leather specific cleaners on it. But if it stay on the surface and slides around, you have a coated seat on your hands and APCs work best.