Question from cal

1. Many long lived women swear by the effectiveness of Fels Naptha, which some online sources indicate contains solvents and/or petroleum distillates.

Can you confirm or expand on this? I am committed to using cleaners that biodegrade fully, timely and non-harmfully and that are sourced from readily renewable ingredients. I don’t use anything with petroleum or synthetics. Sometimes though, it is hard to know what I am using. Disclosure is not the industries strong point.

2. Is Mrs. Stewart’s as non-toxic & environmentally benign as it implies on the website? It too is a ‘long lived ladies’ sanctioned product, but a dark blue liquid that ‘whitens and brightens’ is questionable for non-toxicity. What do you say?

Thank you

Debra’s Answer

Q&A: Fels Naptha Soap

Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing is a brand of fabric bluing agent. Used during laundering, a bluing agent adds a trace of blue dye to the fabric to make them appear whiter.

Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing uses an iron-based compound called ferric hexacyanoferrate, also known as Prussian Blue.

asically, bluing is made of a very fine blue iron powder suspended in water ( a “colloidal suspension”). We add a nontoxic amount of a pH balancer and a biocide to prevent the buildup of algae and bacteria. (This may be why Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing is loved by farmers who tell us they use it in the water troughs of their farm animals and by owners of lily and fish ponds.)

Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing is nontoxic, biodegradable, non-hazardous and environmentally friendly.

The manufacturer does provide an MSDS for Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing on the website, which you can always check for toxic chemicals. I found two chemcials there I looked up. Each chemical has a CAS#, so you can always look that up even if the chemical is identified by a generic term.

Add Comment