E-cloth clean without a hint of soap

The notion of cleaning the kitchen counter without a drop of soap seems impossible to this member of the “disinfectant generation” who depends on a bevy of household chemicals for survival.

So news about the launch of E-cloth, an Earth-friendly rag woven with millions of tiny fibers to gather dirt with the help of just water and elbow grease, arrives today on my desk with a heavy dose of skepticism.

The PR kit contains a plastic water spray bottle and two cloths - a green one for heavy dirt or dry dusting and another in robins egg blue designed for washing windows. They feel dense, heavy and sort of rubbery. They are supposed to last a year and survive multiple washings, too.

Produced in Korea for EnviroProducts Ltd. of the United Kingdom, E-cloth is endorsed by KitchenAid, Hotpoint, Seimans and a number of other customers.

“Old habits die hard, but cleaning with chemicals is one of those habits we can change,” according to the printing on the package. It’s especially recommended, the company states, for people with chemical sensitivities and others who care about protecting sources of water from unwanted pollutants.

Well then, I’m heading to the bathroom to perform an unofficial laboratory test with these E-cloths on those lingering toothpaste stains around the sink and on the shaving mirror.

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Returning a few moments later to this blog, I am surprised to announce that these cloths appear to clean exceptionally well without leaving smears on the bowl or dust particles behind on the mirror. Missing, though, is the fresh, sanitizing scent of lemon or chlorine that bathroom cleaners leave behind.

This gives me an almost uncontrollable urge to spray the area down with Lysol just to make sure it’s germ free. But then again, I’ve been shaving for a few days around this cesspool without developing a fungus.