THE DEFINITIVE WAY TO CLEAN YOUR KILT by Joshua Brown

[Mark Stephenson]

[QUOTE=tundramanq;1330492]I have avoided dry cleaning since I was a kid and some good family friends ran a mom and pop dry cleaning business in the 60s.
They were both going deaf in their 40's. The doctor told them why and they added some good exhaust fans for the hanger rack room.
The vapors were de-waxing their ears and scarring their ear drums. I


As a research audiologist with >43 years of experience, I would be remiss if I did not state that for a number of reasons, this could not be so. Were a vapor to be so strong as to actually do this, the poor person would have far, far bigger concerns. I might also add that "de-waxing" would not cause hearing loss. All this said, I have GREATLY appreciated the information you posted as well as the other info in this thread.

[tundramanq]

Got me thinking about my dad who was an artist and sign painter and died from multiple illnesses while I was in the 5th grade. He wouldn't let me go into the shop as he was ill from it and hunting another line of work. Now just about everything in there is on the toxic lists. Lead based paint, carbon tetrachloride, xylene and various other solvents and thinners. This was all pre OSHA and MSDSs.

[Mark Stephenson]

Got me thinking about my dad who was an artist and sign painter and died from multiple illnesses while I was in the 5th grade. He wouldn't let me go into the shop as he was ill from it and hunting another line of work. Now just about everything in there is on the toxic lists. Lead based paint, carbon tetrachloride, xylene and various other solvents and thinners. This was all pre OSHA and MSDSs.

Aye. All of those are ototoxic - they do not harm the ear drum, but CAN harm the inner ear and can cause hearing loss. That's just one more reason to go with something mild like the prior mention of using Ivory soap to clean your kilt.

[tundramanq]

I would check the ingredients list on Ivory too. My old favorite Pears soap was all safe and natural - a recipe dating back to the 1700s I think. It got reformulated into a train wreak of chemistry. Found this out when I bought a case on-line because it was hard to find locally.

[ThistleDown]

Tough natural stuff, wool. My brother's 'best-loved' kilt was our grandfather's (and maybe his father's before him). We swear it has never been dry cleaned and, during our generation and at least our father/uncle's, it has just been sponge-bathed and air-dried.

Try very hard not to over-think these things, new-world new kilt-wearers.