|
|
|
Fall, 2004
 Content: • Fresh scents Fresh scents New cleaning products look as good as they smell For a nation of homebodies, attention to creature comforts has elevated most aspects of living well to an art form. Now, cleaning the 21st-century home gets its own makeover with new wave of aromatherapeutic natural cleansers that combine style and substance. Who said that daily chores like doing dishes, de-scumming shower tile and dusting the furniture had to mean harsh chemicals and irritating or cloying odors? Nontoxic, environmentally friendly natural cleaners not only smell wonderful, they look really cool. Imagine dish soap pretty enough to sit out on the counter. If you're a fan of "Friends," you probably noticed the attractive bottle in neatnik Monica Gellar’s kitchen — it’s Method liquid dish soap, which comes in curvy, brightly colored bottles and fragrances such as French lavender, mint and magnolia. Method packaging gets the designer treatment at the hands of Karim Rashid, whose client list includes Prada and Sony. It’s the first brand created specifically to woo Gen X shoppers, who make up 42 percent of the $5 billion household cleaner category. Method, a San Francisco company, aims to free cleaners from captivity under the kitchen sink. "The way we clean has changed," says co-founder Adam Lowry. "People have moved away from whole-house cleaning with a bucket, a mop and rubber gloves and evolved to touch-up cleaning — or what we call on-the-fly cleaning." With this philosophy, Lowry explains, it makes sense for cleaners to be nontoxic — they need to be left out so that they're handy. And, they must have "wonderful, natural fragrance." Method products are a little more expensive, allowing them to use cutting-edge technology that really works. With actual botanical derivatives, they achieve true scents. "People tell us they like to clean now," Lowry says. And natural cleansers are healthier, too. Common household cleaners contain toxic chemicals that are often dispersed in fumes. Instead of attacking dirt with harsh chemicals to break it down, natural cleaners work by absorption, using surfactants that attach to dirt, loosen it and lift it into the solution so it can be wiped away. And because they are naturally derived, natural cleaners are biodegradable. Beyond dish soap, popular Method products include floor care in lemon ginger, biodegradable bathroom wipes in cucumber and air fresheners in pink grapefruit, red currant or gardenia. A new line of surface cleaners, a wood polish and a stainless-steel cleaner, and an automatic dish detergent (scented in either pink grapefruit or sweet water), recently launched at Target stores. Method products are also available at specialty stores like the Container Store, high-end groceries like Whole Foods Market, and other upscale local grocers and hardware stores. Old-fashioned vinegar and water may be the simplest way to clean a mirror, but that hardly has the panache and room-deodorizing kick of Caldrea's Window Spray, available in such fragrances as green tea and jasmine lily. Caldrea products have lovely labels in cream with a color-block indicating the fragrance and look positively elegant grouped on a tray. This first-ever line of hardworking, aromatherapeutic household cleansers, from a Minnesota company founded by Monica Nassif, intends to rid housekeeping of "harsh chemicals, medicinal smells and lukewarm, inconsistent performance." The company has adopted the mantra "The Spirit of Keeping Home." Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day household cleaners, a second brand from Nassif, are also made with essential oils from flowers and herbs. With retro labels, the bottles look as if they’d be at home on a grocery shelf in the 1940s. Mrs. Meyer’s new stain remover, great for baby spit-up, comes in fragrances of lavender, geranium or lemon verbena. Caldrea and Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day are carried in grocery, hardware and specialty stores coast to coast. Knowing that cleaning products ultimately make their way back into the environment, many people are opting not to clean up their messes at Mother Nature's expense. Natural cleansers add a gloss to our homes and our souls. The job’s worth doing, so why not do it to the scent of vanilla, grapefruit or rosemary — and leave as little trace as possible.  RETURN TO TOP |
) |
|
|
