What Are Dust Mites

Natural Carpet Cleaning .. Try It

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Here is a shameless plug for a local carpet cleaning service. He asked us to tell people about his service if we were happy so here I go.

We needed to get our carpets cleaned in the office but did not want some $19 whole house type of company. Can you say scam… Anyway we got Mike Roses information, Nature’s Safe Carpet and Tile Cleaning,  from another local company we do business with.

Mike came by the office on time, looked at the job and we agreed on a time that would not interfere with business. The date and time came and he showed up on time and ready to work. If you can’t tell I like people to be on time.

He used a steam process but did not use any harsh chemicals. Mike explained his process and got to work. He did something I have never seen a steam cleaning company do, he measured the amount of water he pulled out of the carpet. He used 12 gallons in cleaning and got about 11 back. Our carpet was dry in about an hour.

The other thing was the deodorizer he used did not have any odor at all. So many of these companies use products with some sort of fruity smell. For people with allergies that is just plain painful.

Anyway, if you live in South Florida, (Broward, Dade or Palm Beach) and you need to have your carpet clean then give Mike a call at 95 741-8622.  Naturessafecleaning systems.com is his web site. He also cleans tile, furniture and can put a non slip treatment on your tile or bathtub. That is something I would look into if I has a commercial building with lots of tile.

Ok Mike, I told some people I know about you.

 

 

 

So Many Dust Mites and So Much Bad Information

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I have been away for a good while as you can see from my lack of posting an I must admit there is a lot of just bad information being generated on dust mites. This is being caused by sites trying to get backlinks.

Here is a prime examples of this.

Headline  – Airborne dirt and dust Mites Gnaws, Allergic reactions, and Air Purifiers.

“Every time a airborne dirt and dust mite bites against skin cell of your people, his or her gnawing tiny jaws grind your drag straight into scaled-down portions that could be without difficulty digested.”

Kid you not, this is an actual sentence in the article. I dare anyone to read this article and explain to me what it is about. You can find the entire article here. http://zumapacific.com/airborne-dirt-and-dust-mites-gnaws-allergic-reactions-and-air-purifiers/

Now I lay no claim to being a great writer but this is just nonsense. There is a lot of good quality information to be found on the subject of dust mites, what they are and how to deal with them.

My goal for this little site is to find that information and pass it on to you.

Send Germs and Molds Packing

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Vital-Oxide is an antimicrobial spray with many household uses.
The bulk of the product we sell is for someone that has had some type of mold contamination and they are looking for a way to safely and effectively clean up the problem.   Vital-Oxide is great for that.  But as an all purpose antimicrobial spray, Vital-Oxide does more.
The active ingredient is chlorine dioxide.  Now don’t let the word “chlorine” make you think of chlorine bleach like you use in the laundry or put in your swimming pool.  The Clorox stuff is sodium hypochlorite, which is totally different.  Sodium hypochlorite is a skin and mucous membrane irritant and can damage the respiratory system.  It breaks down into trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids.
Chlorine dioxide breaks down into chlorites and sodium chloride (table salt) and is not a metabolic toxin.  It reacts with the amino acids in the microbial cells to eliminate bacteria and viruses but is relatively un-reactive to other organic material.  As a bonus, it also denatures proteins, and proteins are the source of allergic reactions. Vital-Oxide will work on Der f1 and Der p1 (the dust mite allergens) as well as Can d1 and Fel d1 (animal allergens)
Because it works at the microbial level, it will get rid of odors at the source.  I have found many uses for the product in my house.  We often take advantage of sales on chicken breast.  Our local butcher will run a special on chicken breasts that must come from birds the size of Tim Tebow.  These birds would make Loni Anderson and Dolly Parton feel inadequate.  They are the largest breasts I have ever seen.  They require further butchering and trimming down to become meal size for our household of 2.  Needless to say, after cutting up 10 to 15 pounds of chicken the cutting board, your hands, and the knife is a bit of a mess.  I clean up with Vital-Oxide and let the antimicrobial spray go to work killing any salmonella or e. coli germs that may have come home with the chicken.
After someone has had a cold, I like to wipe down door handles, knobs, and remote controls to keep germs in check.  When we briefly had a cat that had litter box issues, the odor eliminating properties of the antimicrobial spray were put to use.  Just wipe up the urine, spray the area, then a little squirt in the air and the smell was gone.
We have a family member that is a MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) carrier.  We have to be very careful that is does not spread.  Vital-Oxide is great for killing this bacteria and we put it to work in the bathroom, wiping down surfaces to take care of any germs that might be left behind.  Because it is not a metabolic toxin, it won’t contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.  As anyone that deals with MRSA knows, this is important health issue today.
Of course, Vital-Oxide works well on mold. Because it doesn’t produce chlorine gas, it can be used indoors without fear of respiratory damage.  It was EPA approved for use to combat norovirus back in 2007 and has been used to clean up the cruise ships here in Miami.
So whether it is mold, chicken mess, cat pee, bacterias or viruses, Vital-Oxide is a great all purpose antimicrobial spray.
Til Next Time!

©Copyright 1996-2013 Cee DeeKay,Inc dba AllergyStore.com™ All Rights Reserved

Q-Mask for Gardening

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A few days ago, I wrote about our U2 Sports Mask and how popular it is with the ATV crowd.  I mentioned that it is made from the same material as our Q-Mask, then I got to thinking that you might not be familiar with the Q-Mask.
It is a very lightweight, reusable mask that you can use around the house when you are cleaning, vacuuming, or otherwise stirring up dust.  The filtering medium is designed to actually repel particles, so it doesn’t clog up.  It also doesn’t restrict your airflow while you breathe and it isn’t hot. It is pleated, so it provides a large filtering surface area in a compact space.
Because I wear glasses, I like the way the mask conforms to the nose and cheeks so my glasses won’t fog up. 
I first used the mask when I was helping hubby out on job sites.  As you may know, we owned an indoor environmental company that did air duct cleaning and mold remediation.  The Allergy Store started out as a sideline from that business!  Anyway, there were times that we needed extra hands to finish a job on-time and I provided those extra hands.  Depending on the job, we might be knocking down drywall and cleaning up after a demo necessitated by mold or just performing a routine air duct cleaning.  Either way, you need protection against the mold spores and other particles while you work.  I previously wore masks made by 3M but they were very hot, made it hard to breathe, and would fog up my glasses.  When we first tested the Q-mask, I knew we had a winner.
The Q-mask will stop particles as small as molds and in addition it stops pollens too.  Since we sold Absolute Environmental in 2006, I don’t need a mask for work but I still like to garden.  When mold and pollen counts are high the Q-Mask stops the particles so I can still be outside without triggering an allergic reaction.
We used to sell the 3M mask each year to a teacher that would use it to clean up her classroom at the start of each year.  I sold her a Q-Mask several years ago and now I don’t see her anymore.  The good news for her is that the mask lasts for years and years so she doesn’t need to replace it.  The bad news for me is I don’t get to see her every year before school starts.  Maybe I shouldn’t be saying these good things about Q-Masks!

©Copyright 1996-2013 Cee DeeKay,Inc dba AllergyStore.com™ All Rights Reserved

Free & Clear Shampoo Rates Well by EWG

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If you haven’t used it before, the Environmental Working Group has a great database for cosmetics and skin care products called the Skin Deep Database
It allows you to look up products to see if any of the ingredients are toxic.  They rate products on a scale of 0 – 10. This is one time that being a 10 is bad. You want a number as close to 0 (pure water is a 0) as possible.
I know that the Free & Clear products from Vanicream are free from most of the toxic ingredients such as formaldehyde and parabens that you find in other personal care items, but I wasn’t sure how the ingredients that were in the products rated.
I was very pleased to see ratings of “2” for the Free and Clear Shampoo and Conditioner.  I knew that the products were effective and didn’t cause allergic reactions in most people, its nice to know that they are low on the toxicity scale also.
If you haven’t used the Free and Clear Shampoo before, you should give it a try. It is gentle but effective. It won’t dry your hair out or strip or fade the the color.  It leave your hair soft and shiny.  I like the Free and Clear Hair Gel also.  Unfortunately, it is not included in the Skin Deep Database.  I don’t know if it is a safe assumption, but if the Free and Clear Shampoo and the Free and Clear Conditioner are rated “2”, I don’t know why the other hair care products made by Vanicream would rate higher.
Spend some time with the database and look up some of your favorite brands. I was surprised to find that Aveda, which markets its products as botanicals has products that commonly rate 5 or higher!  Neutrogena Triple Moisture Shampoo, which is supposed to be so mild, rates a 7!
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and what you put on your hair affects your skin.  Don’t you want it to do more harm than good? 
Til Next Time

©Copyright 1996-2013 Cee DeeKay,Inc dba AllergyStore.com™ All Rights Reserved