Why Soap-Free, Detergent-Free Cleaning?

One of many problems with soaps and detergents for carpet care is that they leave a soapy, sticky residue, which causes rapid re-soiling and particle load- ing. This results in quickly re-dirtied carpet and unhealthy indoor air quality. Over-use of carpet-cleaning detergents causes the need for premature carpet replacement.
Said simply, when you use soaps or detergents, you are not cleaning – you are polluting the environment we live in.
Improper cleaning and maintenance is the problem, one acknowledged by carpet mill representatives and fiber experts such as those at Collins and Aikman, DuPont, Monsanto, Allied Fiber and others.
This is evident at the fiber level when – after “cleaning one time” – you can see soap or detergent deposits and residue sticking to, or wicking up, carpet strands (Figure 1 photo of fiber under magnification). Carpet may “look clean” at the macro level, but a closer look reveals the “cleaning” process is anything but. Even after using rinsing agents, you’ll still have residue, because that is the nature of soaps and detergents. When embedded soil and residue appears at the surface of the fibers, it’s called wicking.
More than 30-years ago, the original soap-free carpet cleaning process was developed offering the unique advantage of effective cleaning without leaving a soapy sticky residue by deploying the right product – consisting of natural degreasers, a water softening agent and a detergent-free booster.
With “soap-free cleaning,” carpets stay cleaner longer, feel softer and dry more quickly, because it eliminates sticky, moisture-holding residue that takes forever to dry. Just pre-spray, agitate, and extract using fresh water for your final rinse or using a rinsing agent as needed. What about wool, olefin, cotton, and silk carpet fibers? Soap-free cleaning is the right – and gentle – prescription to clean without harming delicate and natural fibers.
It sounds simple, because it is.

Health Problems From Poor Carpet Care
Allergies and sensitivities have always been a big problem. For many, walking through the cologne aisle in a department store is unpleasant, and the fragrance additives in personal products, laundry detergents, deodorants, carpet cleaning and household cleaning solutions make many sensitive people quite sick. We believe these sensitive people are like the “Canary in the Mine” warning the rest of us of threats to our health and well-being.

The Beginnings of PROCYON Soap-Free Cleaning for Health
Thirty years ago, when everything “needed” a fragrance to sell, a non- allergenic, soap-free, fragrance free- and detergent-free carpet cleaning solution seemed like a radical idea. When Ivan Day, PROCYON’s creator and the company’s founder and president, spoke with a local distributor about PROCYON, the owner said it wouldn’t sell and no one cares!
Thankfully, Ivan did not believe it, convinced that if he as a cleaning professional could clean carpet and breathe easier without getting sick, so could other cleaning professionals and their customers. When Plus Manufacturing pioneered soap-free, detergent-free PROCYON cleaning, there were many environmentally harmful and unhealthy formulations on the market, and they are still here today and being used every day plaguing our industry and affecting human health. Some are based on toxic carcinogenic or caustic substances, and leave lingering odors from off-gassing volatile chemicals like Dipropylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether, Ethylene Glycol Butyl Ether, and Glycol Monomethyl Ether while others use strong fragrances to mask the odors of dirt and contamination rather than remove them. PROCYON’s philosophy is that cleaning products should be as environmentally friendly as possible while still delivering high performance cleaning.

The Residue Issue – and the PROCYON Solution
Consider the impact of your professional “cleaning” service, attempting to “clean” a carpet using a soapy, sticky detergent formula and unwittingly leaving plenty of residue behind.
See the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images (Figures 1 & 2) showing carpet fiber magnified after extraction using a detergent-based “cleaner” (Fig 1) and then fibers cleaned with soap-free, detergent-free PROCYON (Fig 2). The residue-laden carpet looks unhealthy, and it is. PROCYON (Fig 2) eliminates the many problems associated with soapy, sticky residue issues, while being non-allergenic, non-toxic and odor-free. It offers true carpet cleaning, rather than gumming up carpet fibers.

Documented Health Benefits
The health benefits of PROCYON have also been well-documented. For example in one Eastern Washington School District, after switching to the soap-free PROCYON intervention, indoor air quality (IAQ) in all tested classrooms improved dramatically. The average percentages of improvement by particle size were: PM10=1582%, PM7=1620%, PM2.5=1737%, and PM1= 326%. According to Dr. Miles Athey, the IAQ scientist doing the research: “The major apparent advantage of using the PROCYON soap-free formulation for carpet care is that its active ingredients are inorganic. Other carpet cleaning products often use organic chemicals (solvents) which leave residues within the fibers. These residues actually increase the attraction and bonding of additional particulates into the carpet fibers. When mixed properly, PROCYON forms a mild (degreasing) liquid that effectively dissolves bound organic particulates, releasing them from carpet fibers and backing without damaging the integrity or color of the carpet. This intervention is making it environmentally preferable for chemically sensitive individuals.”

Proof Positive – Under the Worst Conditions
PROCYON was proven and perfected initially in “salvage carpet cleaning” in apart- ment complexes and commercial buildings for property management companies in Spokane, Washington. PROCYON is so effective, that it has been in use by professional carpet cleaners for over thirty years, and for the past six years available only through distribution, and private label.

Founder’s Philosophy
Ivan Day, PROCYON’s founder and cre- ative force, has a deep and abiding respect for human health and our environment. Since carpet care professionals and their customers are exposed to cleaning products on a daily basis, he believes it just makes sense to use the safest, healthiest formulation available. “Our cleaning products are Green Seal Certified, and are specifically designed to remove dust, dirt, allergens, and contaminants without creating environmental problems or causing personal health issues for you and your customers,” Ivan said.
Chemical Contaminants Are Common “When we think about carpet in places like homes where people walk bare-footed, we don’t always consider what contaminants might be present like Dipropylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether and Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether, which is the sweet tasting ingredient in antifreeze that kills animals. Today there are more cancer treatment centers than there were 30 years ago. We believe this has to do with the widespread use of toxic chemicals in carpet ‘cleaning products’, and their ability to enter the human body. Wherever we walk, we pick up dirt, chemical residue, bacteria, pathogens, and other nasty substances which are tracked or brought in from the average city’s streets and sidewalks, as well as from outdoor air. The city environment is laden with many invisible and potentially harmful trace chemicals such as lead from auto exhaust, chlorides from ice melting compounds, automotive fluids, pesticides and more. Add that to the chemical residue left behind in the carpet fiber after it is ‘cleaned’ and you have a true chemical soup in and on your carpet, and it has to be affecting your health.”

Take the Bare Foot Challenge
Are substances on the skin – absorbed into the human body? Ivan continues: “Take the challenge: In the morning take a clove of garlic, cut it in half and rub the wet garlic on the bottom of your bare foot, then get dressed. Within 24 hours you will taste the garlic in your mouth. You can count on it.”
Likewise, the chemicals of “cleaning” enter our bodies through exposure; from what we touch, from our feet to our hands (our skin is a giant organ). When your customer and their family walk with bare feet on freshly cleaned carpet, moisture from their feet activates the contaminant and sticky soap and detergent residues, and chemicals in the carpet are absorbed through their feet into their blood stream, often attacking the neurological system and the brain. How much toxicity, poison, do we need to live with, and how much cancer are we contributing to our lives?

Shower-Shampoo Lesson
Next time you take a shower and you shampoo your hair, “stop and think”…, stick your head underneath the spigot … ask yourself… how much water did it take to get your hair wet?… Now shampoo your hair then stick your head back underneath the spigot and think… how much water it takes to rinse all that soap out of your hair. That’s a lot of water… If you used that much water on your carpet to rinse out all that soapy, sticky then think about the effect over-wetting creates in your carpet cleaning jobs. It creates its own problems, including mold and bacterial growth, and that funky “wet dog” smell that often remains in damp, poorly-cleaned carpet for days.

Washing Machine Lesson
Your washing machine runs several rinse cycles just to remove detergent residue from your clothes. That is a lot of water! “If you sit in a hot tub for a few minutes, a typical laundered swimsuit will produce residue in the hot tub causing the detergent residues to float on the water. This is sticky soap, detergent residue being released from the swimsuit fibers even after many rinse cycles,” notes Ivan.
“Contact your local hot tub dealer and ask them why they sell defoamer with your hot tub. They know your washing machine cannot rinse all the detergent residue from your clothes and we cannot rinse all that soapy, sticky residue from your carpet.”
So why “clean” carpet with soap or detergent when you cannot rinse all that soapy sticky residue out of carpet?
Soap-free, detergent-free PROCYON is the answer, which is why we have been imitated.
Beware the Copycats “Although it is flattering to be copied, the competitor’s products are not PROCYON and can never be. Some ‘like me’ products lack Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) testing and approval, Green Seal Certification, WOOLSAFE certification, IAQ validation, and DuPont, Monsanto, and Allied Fiber endorsements, not to mention PROCYON’s proven power and performance.” “Distributors across the country will testify that their customers have tried the other detergent-free, soap-free carpet cleaning products, and they have demanded PROCYON – the original and best detergent-free, soap-free carpet cleaning product,” said Day.
“I recall one major distributor in San Francisco. When he first called me, he told me that he had sold all the other ‘like me’ soap-free cleaning products on the market, and that his professional carpet cleaners were dissatisfied with their performance.” He said: “We need PROCYON because my customers have demanded it.”
“We set him up as a distributor and he quickly grew his market to #10 in sales. This year, we attended their Customer Appreciation Day, had a great time, and more PROCYON was sold than at any show we have ever been to. Today, this company ranks #4 in detergent-free, soap-free PROCYON sales in the United States.”
“We need many more quality distributors that want to help teach what is right, and be a part of our team of educators in the cleaning industry.”
Mission-Driven Future “The future of the cleaning industry will revolve around public safety and environmental health. PROCYON is as much a mission to pro- vide safe, healthy, economical and efficient cleaning methods and products, as it is a unique and growing business.” “We believe it will benefit both our company and our clients to have more documentation regard- ing the ability of our products to remove the previously mentioned environmental con- taminants from our schools, businesses, and the homes we live and work in.”
“We plan on partnering with many commercial distributors, businesses and institutions to further document the effectiveness and safety of our detergent-free soap-free cleaning products by case studies using professional quality control procedures.” PROCYON warmly invites you to be our partner in better cleaning – and public health.

This content was provided by Plus Manufacturing Inc. as part of a paid advertisement. For more information, please contact Plus Manufacturing Inc. directly at 1-800-776-2966 or www.soapfreeprocyon.com.