[Lisa Wagner]

Hello everyone,

Had a friend direct me here to learn a bit more about UK views on WoolSafe, because we were chatting on a US forum on the topic. I had created a tiny bit of an uproar suggesting that real rug plant operations do not buy solutions because they are WoolSafe, unless by accident. Just seemed to me they were more protection for consumers to not go nuts with solutions in the home and ruin wool as a result - but not for professional rug cleaners.

We also talked about the differences between cleaning installed wool, which we have VERY little of in the US, versus wool oriental rugs.

Since you all have a great deal of experience with wool, and with WoolSafe, I'd just love to know more of the good, the bad, and the ugly on the topic.

Just FYI on me... I'm a second generation rug cleaner, write the rug care columns for Cleanfax Magazine, have served on IICRC, CFI, NIRC, etc boards, and also have worked the past 11 years for Piranha Marketing and Joe Polish.

Joe and I actually spoke at an Alltec Extravaganza years ago over in the UK... had a heck of a good time.

Would love to learn more from you - and if this is the WRONG place for me to be posting, I apologize... I'm trying to determine the right spots, and I'm a little bit lost.

Thank you all,
Lisa

[Mike Halliday]

the talk about woolsafe at the moment is very much the same as you views on ICS with regards to CRI, is it a valid organisation or a moneymaking machine for its owners.

should they certify cleaning agents that are available to the general public in supermarkets.

my view is they are a professional organisation who offer a very valid training course but wool for too long as seen as some sort of fragile fibre that will fall apart with incorrect cleaning when really it is quite a robust fibre.

I would guess wool carpet are 50% of the british market and as quite a lot of british carpet cleaners never identify the carpet fibre before cleaning so wool gets cleaned the same as nylon & olefin(sp) with no adverse reactions. I guess once you are cleaning it every day its loses its scariness
 

[robert meldrum]

Hello Lisa

I've read the posts on the Rug Doctor being rated above TMs and was as disgusted as everyone else that such " research " was presented as " fact  " to the general public.

A similar situation exists here with the Woolsafe organisation, endorsing / approving products which have given owners and carpet cleaners a lot of problems.

We know it's all about money which the multinational brands can afford but smaller specialist suppliers can't.

Our gripe is more about the lack of reality and truth. Sure, we know that some household products can be used as substitutes for pro' products and give good results. For instance vinegar! But to give the impression that ONLY WOOLSAFE APPROVED PRODUCTS should be used when cleaning carpets with wool content is absolute nonsense.

Always good to see an interest from across the pond.
 

[Peter Sweeney]

Hi Lisa

No introduction required on your part, most of us know who you are and it's a pleasure to see somone with your reputation posting on here.

Could'nt agree more with Robs post. Woolsafe as an organisation have an obligation to the public to be a bit more consumer led than they are being. Yes money talks (shouts) the loudest but they hold little credibililty with alot of the professionals on this side of the water as the post above indicates (and I'm sure many others will follow).

Oriental rug cleaning is a very small market here and I include the pro-rata population between us and the U.S. in fact there are only a handfull of units specifically set up up to clean rugs across the whole of the UK whereas you probably have 10 times that in California alone. So yes we have more reason to follow the research (if you can call it that) of Woolsafe but the availability of good range of quality rug cleaning chemicals is only just beginning reach us over here.

Do yo know Dave Althomstone? He worked the LA market for some years and now lives here. He gets me my stuff when he goes home for visits.

Anyway, welcome.

Pete

[Lisa Wagner]

Mike & Robert - agree with you both, absolutely is a "need" to keep products safe for consumers, but also a bit "overboard" on trying to baby wool through only allowing certain items, while not addressing many household items that are in fact used successfully on wool all of the time for care - like white vinegar.

I've had a supplier ask me to NOT mention vinegar in a course to instead sell his labeled "rinse" with was a vinegar knock-off...and I refused. If I am not sharing true options, then I'm not really "teaching"... and I'm certainly not going to teach solely to sell some guy's goods.

Another pet peeve of mine is when they take the SAME product and put it in different jars and labels implying it's different.  Such as Rx for Browning, also Rx for Fringes, etc. - I just tested a new product line by Sapphire Scientific - and they had ONE organic acid that had FOUR roles: 1) dye stabilizer, 2) acid rinse with NO surfactant, 3) anti-browning treatment, and 4) urine treatment (to remove the urine salts).

More reactive than acetic acid (vinegar) WITHOUT the vinegar smell.  And it worked awesome... but here's the point, they could have packaged FOUR different jars, changed a color or fragrance, and pretended to have 4 different items. And they didn't. One item - just buy a case.

I like that kind of thinking... it's "pro" cleaner.

Peter - I do not know David, sorry.  And thanks for the "we know you"... that was flattering, and I never assume. Everyone usually knows my "boss" Joe, and I'm the quiet one. (Except on my blog - LOL!)

Thank you all for the good info to ponder,
Lisa