What is the Difference Between Laundry & Dry Cleaning? Is Dry Cleaning Safe for Human Health?
Dry cleaning is a method of washing clothes for certain fabrics. Use a little water and chemical liquid to remove stains from clothes. The time required is not too long. You can carry out dry cleaning using a dryer, washing machine, or even by hand.
History records that dry cleaning was first introduced by Thomas L. Jennings in 1821. He called his washing technique dry scouring. Then, in 1845 Jean Baptiste Jolly opened the first dry cleaning service using kerosene and gasoline to clean stains on clothes.
Considering that kerosene and gasoline are flammable and their use causes many fires and explosions, the government issued regulations for dry cleaning services. After World War 1, dry cleaning services used non-flammable chlorine-based liquids to clean stains.
However, currently dry cleaning services are increasingly developing and changing their name to laundry. If previously laundry was only about cleaning, now laundry is not just about cleaning, but also caring for it. This service is now known as fabricare, meaning cleaning and caring for clothes.
What is the Difference Between Laundry and Dry Cleaning?
The dry cleaning process generally uses Perchlorethylene (PCE) or hydrocarbon liquid as a water substitute to clean stains on clothes. Meanwhile, the laundry method uses water and detergent which is used to wash clothes made from cotton, polyester and nylon.
The dry cleaning method is suitable for materials that require special care, such as cashmere, silk and wool. Where the fabric fibers come from animal fibers which have layers of protein and fat which must be maintained with each wash so that the texture does not change.
However, not many people know that the dry cleaning method has now been banned in America since 2008. This is because it is considered dangerous by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), because this method uses PCE as a water substitute, thereby endangering human health and the environment.
You need to know, PCE can cause breathing difficulties, allergies, cancer, and damage the central nervous system in humans. It is possible that PCE is still attached to clothes that have been dry cleaned, but the difficulty is that PCE particles cannot be captured by the human senses with the naked eye, even sensitive ones.
And, PCE can cause allergic reactions if it is eaten, inhaled, or comes into contact with the skin. Therefore, PCE is quite dangerous for human health. However, as time goes by, now dry cleaning has been allowed again with a different concept, namely using environmentally friendly materials.
Who Pioneered Laundry Dry Cleaning?
aQualis Fabricare pioneered Laundry Dry Clean which is a new breakthrough in the matter of washing clothes. This method is very safe, compared to the old PCE and hydrocarbon dry clean methods. aQualis brings a new concept with the Green Dry Cleaning technique using liquid silicone (SiO2) from the United States, where SiO2 is usually found in body lotion, shampoo and other high-end body care products.
Green Dry Clean can keep fabrics soft down to the fibers. This material is able to provide a shiny effect, so it is suitable for wool, silk, cashmere and fabrics labeled 'Dry Clean Only'. When compared to regular laundry techniques, the dry cleaning method is very effective for washing various types of clothes.
Not many laundry services use the concept of dry cleaning, because they don't know how to do it. Only aQualis Fabricare is capable of doing dry cleaning laundry. Therefore, for those of you who want to do laundry, you can come to our nearest laundry outlet to do dry cleaning.
Apart from that, aQualis Fabricare also has an Antibacterial Guard product which is 99.9% effective in killing more than 20 types of bacteria, viruses and fungi and BioStainRemoval™ which is effective in removing stubborn stains and still maintaining the color, fiber and structure of the fabric. You can find aQualis services in Indonesian cities.
