Swedish Dishcloths - 8 Reasons You HAVE TO TRY THEM! 

That's great - thanks for the advice direct from Sweden! ❤

Was curious about that

Oh that's cool! I didn't know that!

@@MomCanFixIt It was the inventor Curt Lindquist's wife Margareta Ellsén who came up with the name " Wettex". Another interesting thing is that NASA used the Wettex as insulation material on one space flight because it absorbed moisture. It was later discontinued due to it being a fire hazard. Greetings from Sweden! 🙂

That is awesome!

Haha, yeah, it could be a good gift!

In Sweden that would be the equivalent of giving someone toilet paper as a Christmas gift😂

Oh nice! I haven't used them for that!

I used to try, years ago, to use Handi-Wipes. Nope. Didn't really have any real absorbing power. I never liked them.

It's been 2.5 years since I filmed this video and I've used the scrubbers a lot! They really do work well and they wash up well in the clothes washer and dryer. I've started using brush more often though (not sure why, just change of habit). And I actually JUST replaced the Swedish dishcloths in this video so they lasted around 2 years of daily use (impressive!)

I have the same issue. My husband likes paper towels. I am planning to use both; at least the use of paper towels will be drastically reduced.

Swedish dish cloths definitely don't hold pet hair like microfiber does. I have a dog who sheds everywhere and haven't had any problems with these.

Glad you asked this question. I'm also going to sew a few together to make them larger and I think this will help, too.

Yes, I agree, I think avoiding bleach is probably a good idea with these! They wash up really well with just laundry detergent in the clothes washer.

I wash my Swedish dishcloths in the washer. Love it.

I saw that!! I was so excited! LOL

I just picked up a pack

I use wool balls LOL. I would imagine the softener might mess with the absorbency eventually but it probably doesn't matter that much.

Oh, I have not tried that! Now I'm curious. 😀

It dries much faster, so less likely to get stinky. Also it's very absorbent. It's really a hybrid between a sponge and a cloth.

@@MomCanFixIt Oh ok. I never have problems with my cotton cloths getting stinky IF i just wring them out really well and hang them to dry. But if you have family who isn't good at wringing out the cotton clothes well then i think having these swedish dish clothes would be very helpful. 👍 Thank you!

@@Jules-740if they only last 1-2 years, then they aren’t worth it. I have some cotton cloths that are faded but have literally lasted 30 YEARS and are still going . Plus they don’t dry in weird shapes or need to be soaked in water to be useable. They are always ready to use, easy to fold and put away and I don’t think they take too long to dry. I never reuse a cloth after using. After using, they are washed and I like to leave them at least 1 day on the clothes line for the sun to kill off any bacteria but if i needed them sooner, they will be dry in an hour or less. Another thing with my cotton cloths is they don’t smell unlike other cloths i have had especially the microfiber ones that do pick up smells. Smells wash out of cotton really well. Another thing is the swedish cloths can’t handle bleach but cotton can. If someone is sick, I like using bleach as a sterilizer as i wash dishes. If I clean up something really dirty, i like to use some bleach on my cleaning cloths but you can’t do that with the Swedish cloths. Cotton is much more hardy. I’m not gentle with my cloths but my cotton ones last for decades, other fabrics have to be soon replaced .

No, they're more like a sponge than a towel.

@@MomCanFixIt Thank you 🙂

​@@MomCanFixItCan I dry wet dishes with them?

Are you saying that's a good thing or a bad thing? I would say hair and dust doesn't stick to a Swedish dishcloth like microfiber, but it's about the same as a sponge would.

@@MomCanFixItit's a great thing! I wipe a dusty area and rinse the cloth. Hair and dust rinse completely off! It's fantastic!

Hmm I guess they could hold up as a washcloth since your body is probably less rough than dishes... But it would feel strange to me. It would feel like washing your body with a sponge.

I don't know if it is just the fact that I have since childhood associated this with its use in the kitchen, cleaning up spills etc, that the idea of using it in the shower feels... unexpected. But !!! I would then really recommend that you wash it thoroughly after *each* use, as when you use it in the shower, it will not just be in contact with your easilly washed hands, but more "all over the place"?

You need to get a nylon wash ball or back scrubber towel for a wash cloth. The nylon towels last a long time compared to the wash balls that unravel and lose their shape but some people just prefer the ball shape to the towel shape. These are inexpensive, are netted so they dry quickly preventing bacterial growth, and best of all they really foam up the soap well. I like the long towel shaped ones because you can reach all of your back perfectly with them. Also their surface is a little rough to exfoliate dead skin cells, sweat and grime. They are the only thing I use for a wash cloth. I love them.

@@stst77 Nylon is not biodegradable which is part of what we’re trying to do here, use loofa to scrub dead skin, works really good. As far as bubbles I also use biodegradable plant base soap which doesn’t bubble the same but cleans just as good and better for the skin not to mention the planet.

@@carmenmartinez2882 unless you own a loofah plant, buying loofah “sponges “ gets expensive for regular people and inconvenient because they must be replaced often. My nylon long cloth I can’t tell you how many years I have been using it and it’s no where near needing to be thrown away yet. It lasts MUCH longer than my cotton towels which I rotate daily so an individual towel is only been used once a week or less but don’t hold up like my nylon cloth that is used daily. I have used loofah in the past and if I could afford it I would probably only use them once but if I really stretched it a week would be the most because I live in a hot humid climate and loofah molds easily, nylon cloth doesn’t. However if I had a loofah plant that was abundantly producing where I could go pick a sponge every day I’d agree that would be a nice choice.

Yes, that's a good point!

You can have very thin nylon or polyester shirt, sweat a little and see how much it smells, gross. The reason is because they’re natural fibers, it doesn’t matter much the thickness in dish rags, that’s why cotton T-shirts won’t smell as much as synthetic ones.