Norwex Antibac Enviro Cloth Review – Yes Kate, there is a Santa Claus.

Yup, the Norwex Enviro Cloth gets 5 Stars!

UPDATE: March 23, 2012

After much consideration – and months of in-home testing and scrutinizing – I am convinced that e-cloth® offers a product that is equal in quality and performance to Norwex but is more reasonably priced. I still stand behind my review of the Norwex Enviro Cloth, but the e-cloth® General Purpose Cloth (and the new e-cloth® Antibacterial Cloth) performs just as well – and is of equally high quality – at a fraction of the price.

IN A NUTSHELL:

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!  That’s the sound of hitting the cleaning jackpot, Baby!

OK, there is no cleaning “jackpot” .  I made that up.

Lets just say Santa came by early and dropped off a little prezzie to make things a little easier and a whole lot healthier. NO, it’s not a bowl of All Bran.  It’s the Norwex Antibac Enviro Cloth, Silly.

BUT IT’S JUST A STUPID CLOTH, RIGHT?

Yeah, yeah, it’s just a cloth, like The Sopranos is just a television show. Come to think of it, I bet ya Tony could have used the Enviro Cloth to clean up a mess or two.

I’m not going to say I love the Enviro Cloth.  I’m not that kind of girl. I love dirty jokes, roller coasters and hotdogs (even though Nurse Jackie says the main ingredient is cancer).  I DON’T love cleaning products.

But…

The Enviro Cloth wipes up, picks up and soaks up everything and it WILL change the way you clean.

THINK YOUR DOLLAR STORE/CANADIAN TIRE MICROFIBER CLOTH IS “ALL THAT“?  THINK AGAIN!

Yeah, I’ll admit it.  I’ve got some microfiber cloths that I picked up at Costco a couple of years ago.  I thought they were pretty good (well, at least better than my old kitchen rag)… but they ain’t no Enviro Cloth.

It’s like comparing biting your nails to using nail clippers.  One kinda gets the job done but it takes some effort, can get painful and messy, and it’s GROSS. The other is quick, painless and, well, not so gross.

Want some examples?  Here ya go:

1. With the Enviro Cloth, you can wipe up butter from your counter and then clean your windows without even having to rinse the cloth.  I know, that sounds stupid, and you’re not likely to do it, but I tried it (with a LOT of butter) just to see if Norwex was telling the truth about the “grabbing” power. Guess what… it worked.

Try THAT with your Dollar Store cloth.  OK, you don’t have to.  I did it for you.  Ended up with a huge smeary buttery mess that I cleaned up with the Enviro Cloth.

Each strand of the Norwex Antibac Enviro Cloth is split more than 100 times, whereas Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire etc. microfibers are split as little as 6 times per strand. With all those tiny strands, the Enviro Cloth picks up dirt and bacteria and holds on to it.  Norwex claims that a wet Enviro Cloth picks up more than 99.9% of bacteria and it has the documentation to prove it.

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, that last paragraph was boring.

2. You can cut raw chicken on your counter then wipe up all the bacteria with the Enviro Cloth! That’s right.  You don’t need to spray any cleansers or use bleach anymore.  Just wet the cloth and wipe up the nasties. Don’t believe me?  Watch this… (No, that’s NOT me in the video)

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TRY THAT WITH YOUR DOLLAR STORE CLOTH!

SO WHAT DO YOU USE THESE DARNED THINGS FOR?

I’ve got 2 Enviro Cloths; one for my bathroom, and one for the rest of the house. Lets start with the “rest of the house” cloth and what I’ve used it for:

• Wiping – toys (especially after some sick kid comes over and puts them in their mouth), appliances, walls (since it’s only wet with water, there is no fear of ruining the paint job), the outside and lid of the kitchen garbage bin, baseboards, windows, floors, shoes, high chair, mud off of doors, lights, counters, cupboards, tools, light switches, sticky hands, phone, keyboard.  The Enviro cloth cleans all these things easily with only a little water.
• Cleaning (with wet cloth) – sinks, counters, stove, inside of my fridge (the Enviro Cloth is amazing for this – just move items to one side and wipe the other side.  Done in minutes!  It’s brilliant for cleaning out the fridge drawers and shelves!) inside of my car.
• Soaking up Spills – the Enviro Cloth can soak up 7 times it’s weight in liquid so if you can beat your dog to the spill, you can get it all with only one cloth instead of 5 paper towels.
• Carpet/upholstery stain remover – just spray the stain with water and soak it up with the Enviro Cloth
• Dusting (with dry cloth)- pictures, electronics, knickknacks, baseboards, lights, whatever you dust!

My other Enviro Cloth stays in the bathroom and I clean everything with it:

• toothbrush holder, soap dish, etc.
• mirror
• window
• cupboard doors and knobs
• faucets
• light fixtures
• sink
• counter
• tub
• walls
• floor
• toilet

Honestly, I use the Enviro Cloth to clean my whole house.  I have some other Norwex cloths that I use too but really, the Enviro Cloth is all you need! And keep in mind that all that cleaning is done with only WATER!

PROS:

• the Enviro Cloth picks up bacteria and kills it
• you can clean your entire house with a single cloth
• you can get rid of all your chemical cleaners
• you’ll dramatically cut down on paper towel usage
• it doesn’t get stinky

CONS:

• it picks up so much stuff and holds on to it so well that the cloth tends to stain if you don’t rinse it well enough.  My cloths have held up well but do show some staining.  I hear the Norwex Laundry Pre-wash works well for this but haven’t tried it personally.  For tough and really dirty jobs, I usually use my All Purpose Kitchen Cloth (because it’s dark and doesn’t show stains – see my review here).

Want more info?  Leave me a comment or check out my 30 Days of Enviro Cloth posts.