The "Kitchen Cleanser" nightmare

[Bud]

If you ever used Comet or Ajax Kitchen Cleanser, you're probably aware of the grittiness of that product.

I remember that stuff going back to the 1950s. Maybe it was nade before then? Anyhow, I do wonder if anyone ever sued the companies that made that stuff? The reason is because it ruined more sinks and bathtubs than any other product ever made.

My mother wore the porcelain off her kitchen sink, right down to the cast iron in spots. Her bathtub no longer had any gloss to it, because that stuff wore off the porcelain probably almost to the bare metal. Her bathroom sink was the same way, but my father replaced it and told mom to never use that crap on the new sink.

Of course, with the gloss worn off the tub, it just got dirty easier and that meant mom used more kitchen cleanser...

Heck, when I was an older kid, (teens) and got myself all filthy with car grease or paint, tar, etc. Mom handed me the kitchen cleanser and said go clean yourself up. (I did it once, it burned my skin, I never used it again).

I still see it in the stores, but I wont buy it. From all I know, it was just a fine abrasive and powdered bleach, and maybe some sort of detergent too.

But I bet well over half the sinks and tubs in America were ruined by that crap during the 50's thru the 70's or 80's... And some probably still are being ruined.

I do wonder how many lawsuits were placed aginst the companies that sold that stuff???

[gfretwell]

If you wanted non abrasive stuff, you bought Bon Ami. I remember Babbo long before Comet.

[Frank]

People in this group should understand abrasives and their scale. An abrasive that cannot scratch steel may scratch porcelain. I suspect cleanser manufacturers have cleaned up their act so their products do not abrade porcelain as maybe previous products did.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Soft Scrub was made just for that reason. We used it on the porcelain. Now we have a SS sink and Comet makes it shine well, but I only do it maybe once every week or two. Plain soap on a 3M sponge thing does well.

[gfretwell]

We seem to have lost the ability to match products to their use. Some people seem to assume what is OK for their stainless steel sink is also OK for toothpaste and those Tide pods really look like yummy stuff (even to adults)

[gfretwell]

Yup Bon Ami was the original "soft scrub". I also agree on the soap and 3m pad. That does wonders for all sorts of stuff. Barkeepers Friend is probably the best stainless cleaner but that is really only when you really have a mess. I use it on the SS gas grill.

[Frank]

Yes, that is what I am suggesting. Even brushing teeth with baking soda might be a problem if there is a silica based anti-caking agent that might abrade enamel.

[Thomas]

I just used Barkeepers Friend on a friend's suggestion on my 50 yr old porcelean double sink. Scratched and dulled the shit out of the white and the stainless drainers. I normally use OxyClean. I get rust from knifes and such sitting for a few hours. The Oxy fixes it. BF will be used in the basement wash sinks instead of tossing it out.

[Tekkie®]

[e-mail] posted for all of us...

I hear the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is the same way.

[gfretwell]

I am not sure about everyone but Arm and Hammer says theirs is 100% Sodium Bicarb. I remember my old chemistry teacher telling us baking soda was USP grade because it was the pure biproduct of another process (that escapes me now). I assume some of that purity may be lost in the handling and packaging but it is still pretty pure stuff (food grade).

[Bud]

I just use plain Dawn dish soap to clean the sinks and even the tub. If it's real greasy, a little non-abrasive Goop hand cleaner helps.

Let us know how them Tide pods taste .

One thing I never understood is why they make soaps and other household cleaners smell like food? How many kids ingest that stuff because of the smell? I bought some ammonia recently and they did not have the plain stuff on the shelf so I had to buy the lemon scented. I still dont understand why they make it lemon scented. It all smells lousy....

Another thing that bugs me is why they make laundry detergents smell like perfume. I want my clothes to smell clean after washing them, not smell like a drunken woman in a bar who poured a whole bottle of perfume on her, after applying that bright red lipstiick that makes her look like a circus clown...

[rbowman]

You do know there are unscented versions, don't you?

[Frank]

You are right and that's what the box says. There may have been other chemicals there in the past from what I googled. I should correct myself to say from reading a box of salt's label that it contains silicone dioxide and that would erode enamel. I was mistaken about my comment but it would stand if there were such an additive in baking soda.

[gfretwell]

You use that on brushed stainless, not polished SS or much of anything else.

[Dean Hoffman]

[Vic Smith]

I wouldn't even use powdered cleansers on SS. They cake up in the drains. I've seen drains severely reduced by caked up powdered cleansers.

[Finky Stucker]

I threw out a bottle of Persil after one use because it had so much perfume I couldn't stand it.

[angelicapaganelli]

Buy unscented laundry detergent. I do.

Cindy Hamilton

[angelicapaganelli]

Silicon dioxide is sand. It keeps the salt from clumping. "When it rains, it pours!"

Cindy Hamilton

[Frank]

Yup, and back in the old days when flour mills used grindstones enough grit ended up in the bread that everybody's teeth were worn down.