I have a deep seeded hatred of microfiber; or at least the microfiber I’ve come in contact with so far. My husband has a microfiber recliner. It attracts dirt; any little speck of dirt that it can find. I end up cleaning the chair every single week; yet two days later it is filthy again, even if no one sits in the darn thing. I hate that chair and I hate microfiber!
Unfortunately furniture isn’t something that you can just dump and replace, unless you happen to have a lot of extra money floating around it. So I’m always on the search for something – – anything that will clean that darn chair.
My latest discovery from Cadie is called the Dry Cleaning Pad. It claims to clean surfaces that you cannot wash. It also says that it will erase dirt like magic. It is made to work on upholstery, wallpaper, suede, light colored clothing, lampshades, car interiors, ceiling tiles and much more.
According to the packaging, the cleaning pad provides gentle cleaning action that is safe for most delicate fabrics. The pad itself is the perfect size for most hands at 5″ by 1 ½” by 1″. It is a soft pliable mesh fabric on the outside that is soft to hold and easy to manipulate.
Inside the pad is a grit-free cleaning powder. It claims that its exclusive formula absorbs dirt, dust, and soot with a gentle cleaning action that works quickly, safely, and easily. No washing is supposedly required.
To activate the pad, you squeeze and twist it permitting the cleansing powder to sift through the mesh fabric and adhere it to the pad itself. All you have to do is rub the pad in any direction over the area of the object to be cleaned. It says that you can rub it as hard as necessary to cleanse the area r. Then, all you have to do is brush away or vacuum the residual powder and you are done.
Of course it is important to test whatever you intend to clean for color fastness in an inconspicuous spot. If the color doesn’t transfer to the pad and if the color of the object being cleaned isn’t changed, it should be safe to use the dry cleaning pad.
Even though the pad will obviously become soiled as you use it, the dirt doesn’t transfer onto subsequent surfaces that are cleaned by the same pad. It is safe for use around children since it contains no harmful chemicals.
I have tried the cleaning pad on three objects: My husband’s microfiber chair, a suede jacket, and a fabric purse. The good news is that the pad didn’t discolor any of those items. Now for the completed findings.
The cleaning pad worked well on the fabric purse that had picked up some grass stains from playing in the park with my grandson. I won’t say that it removed them completely. However, it lightened them enough that they aren’t easily visible to the naked eye. It also removed some of the cosmetic powder that had spilled inside the bag.
The pad also lightened a stain that had embedded itself on the sleeve of one of my suede jackets. Again, it didn’t really remove it, but it made it harder to see. Since I don’t even know where the stain came from, I considered myself lucky that it had any kind of impact at all.
The bad news is that the pad had very little effect on that awful chair. I’m beginning to think that the chair is some kind of demon that continues to make itself dirty just to drive me crazy. However, putting my prejudices aside for the moment, the pad really seemed to make the situation even worse. So I’m back to cleaning the chair by hand with an old-fashioned scrub brush and upholstery cleaner.
I guess I have to give this product mixed reviews. I suspect it might be handy for use on objects that have fresh stains or dirt, but I’m not that it will do a great deal for older, set in stains.
If you opt to give this product a try, I caution you to do the colorfast test on anything you intend to clean with the pad. Although it didn’t change the color on my objects, you can’t assume that it works the same on everything.
The Cadie Dry Cleaning Pad can be found in some grocery marts and discount department stores as well as online. It retails for between $2.99 and $4.49, depending upon where you purchase the item.
Sorry, guys, this one only gets two and one-half out of five stars. It just doesn’t work exactly as described; at least on the items I chose to clean. That raises a question about how well it might work overall.
