confession: Febreeze freaks me out

[Piglet68]

Am I the only one who cringes when they see the Febreeze commercial?

These people are spraying it on *everything*! Their carpets, chairs, clothes....

I have no idea what's in this stuff but I'm sure it's some disgusting combination of solvents and icky fake perfumes...and the ads basically encourage you to spray it on every single thing you own.

I dunno about you, but it just makes me feel creepy at the thought of spraying that stuff everywhere!

YUCK!

[PurplePixiePooh]

ITA!!! I see those commercials and think what amounts of harmful chemicals are they pushing us to use in very large amounts in our homes? I remember reading something years ago about febreeze making pets sick and dying, yeah like I'll let that stuff into my home!

I wonder what is in that stuff anyway and how much of it causes cancers or breathing problems???

[MFuglei]

And the freakiest thing is there is SOOOOOOOO much perfume in that stuff. . . it's AWFUL!

I owned a bottle once. That was it -- it creeped me out too much.

[Inwe Surion]

Animal shelters are not allowed to use it in the US.

[jannan]

i think febreeze is funny. when i see the ads i think "instead of taking a bath , I'll spray my entire body with febreeze."

[carmen veranda]

I had never seen a commercial, but have been seeing it pop up everywhere at the store and peoples houses and wondered what the heck it was. Then I was at someone's house and the TV was on and I saw the actress walking through her "house" just spraying the c*ap everywhere as she was walking. Ewwww!!!!

Couldn't you just see your house, (well, my house) on it's very worst day with clothes and toys and dirty dishes and sticky floor and dog hair and full trash and here I am walking through just vapidly smiling and spraying some kind of smelly chemical all over....The image grosses me out, but is funny all the same.

[SoHappy]

Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was the only one who thinks this stuff is just freaky.

[JessicaS]

I thought this said "breaks me out" like it gave you hives..

I was going to say "ME TOO!!" what nasty crap! I am allergic to dryer sheets as well and lots of different kinds of laundry soap.

YUCK! Since it is triggereing my allergic reactions which are so related to laundry items I am really grossed out by it.

[jannan]

carmen veranda, i would buy febreeze if it cleaned up the toys, newspapers, crayons, books and mopped the floor and washed the clothes. when is that going on the market?

[FreeRangeMama]

My dh always laughed at my irrational hate for that stuff LOL. Its nice to know I'm not the only one.

Laurie

[JessicaS]

:LOL jannan...I would totally live with the rashes if it cleaned my house.

[carmen veranda]

Boy, I think I would too.

[pmcleod]

I think it's freaky, too. But I read there is a somewhat natural alternative that does the same thing chemically ... hmmm, where did I read that? It was within the past month, maybe in Natural Home Magazine ...

Anyway, the alternative is grain alcohol in an atomizer sprayer ... I think they may have recommended using vodka?

[madrone]

Thanks for the info pmcleod! I'll buy the cheapest flask of vodka instead. Febreeze is freaky and scary to me. No way in my home!

[carmen veranda]

To spray around the house? Whew, like somebody's dorm room back in the day...

[madrone]

I thought the dorm room smell was puke. :LOL I will take my chairs outside though for a vodka cleaning.

[pamcleod]

I'd hold off on the vodka until you know for sure! I'll see if I can find the article again tonight - I think it was in a Q&A column.

Pam

[madrone]

Will do. Thank you

[pmcleod]

Okay, I found the article last night (in the most recent issue of Natural Home Magazine, Aug/Sept or Sept/Oct), and it is indeed vodka! I'm not quoting this exactly, so I hope I remember the technical info correctly.

Apparently Febreze is an ethyl alcohol, distilled from petroleum-based products. Vodka is also an ethyl alcohol, distilled from natural things (grain and potatoes). Many bartenders seem to know the old trick of spraying vodka on their clothes (with an atomizer) to get rid of smoke odors.

I found another discussion about this today - this has recipes!

http://pub157.ezboard.com/fthefrugal...picID=13.topic

And I always thought the dorm smell was a combination of beer, dirty socks, and puke!!

Pam

[Jodie]

I'm not defending Febreze but I thought I would post the ingredients.
I'm a nanny and the people I work for have two bottles sitting right here.
Ingredients: Water, alcohol, odor eliminator derived from corn, and fragrance
There's also an allergen reducer febreze(lightly sented)
"regular use of Febreze Allergen Reducer will reduce up to 75% of airborne allergens and safely eliminate odors from fabrics"
The only difference in the ingredients is an organic polymer.
So organic polymer reduces allergens?:

It also says its "veterinarian approved by the ASPCA, safe to use around cats and dogs".
I hate perfume (don't wear it, makes my head hurt) but I do use febreze on occasion(old thift store furniture), I think next time I'll try the vodka!