Cleaning lika Mamma used to do....... (Cif Cream White)

Member Name: dee778

Product:	Cif Cream White
Date:	05/07/09 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fresh smell, frothy, can use it on almost anything

Disadvantages: Dry hands

After many years of trying not to be my mother's daughter, I have finally accepted that my mum knew best! She didn't have a vast array of wipes, sprays and clothes in her cupboard, just a bottle of Jif and a can of Vim. While I would never ever subject my bath to the scouring action of Vim, I have started to use Cif - that fabulous cream that used to be called Jif - that got my mum's sink shinier than anybody else's.

~~What is Cif?~~
Cif is a thick white cream that comes in a surprisingly elegant tall white bottle. It has a flip tip lid and has to be squeezed to get the cream out. On the front of the bottle, it promises "Tough cleaning on baked on food, limescale and stubborn dirt".

You can use it on the kitchen, the bathroom, barbecues, and garden furniture. It is, in fact, a good old fashioned general cleaner - and makes me wonder why we have have so many products targeted at ... plastic, stainless steel, baths, etc - when one product does the lot!

~~Using Cif~~

Instructions tell you to apply to surfaces using a damp sponge or cloth, then wipe over and rince away.

Almost everybody I know who uses Cif, instinctively waves the bottle around the bath wildly, squirting at will, in a kind of machine gun attack mode. This technique always works for me!

I then rub away with my sponge, and the Cif lathers up to a very satisfying white froth. So much more visual than all of those weak and watery sprays, you can actually see the foam scrubbing your sink clean. I then swish all the dirty foam away down the plug hole. Fantastic!

Afterwards, my hands feel dry - more so than with the spray cleaners, and this is one very small downside of using Cif. Keep your handcream within easy reach.

~~Ingredients~~
The bottle says that Cif contains, amongst other ingredients: anionic surfactants, non-ionic surfactants, soap, perfume, limonene, Butylphenly Methylpropinol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Benzisothiazolinone.

This leaves me totally mystified - and slightly worried about the "amongst other" statement! Don't they have to list all the ingredients by law? And what could be so bad that they don't want to list it?
Chemistry.co.nz tells me that " A surfactant is briefly defined as a material that can greatly reduce the surface tension of water when used in very low concentrations". So that's ok - not too scarey!

Perhaps the mystery ingredient gives Cif that non-specific smell of 'clean'. It is a kind of fresh smell - not really lemony, not loaded with perfumes like many of the other cleaners - just a kind of soapy freshness.

~Conclusion~~
I bought my 500ml bottle of Cif creme for £1.56 at Sainsburys - what a bargain! My house is cleaner, but the most important thing for me is the smell - the smell of Cif will always be the smell of a clean house for me, reminding me of my Mum's splendid and dedicated cleaning.

Summary: A fab old fashioned cleaner.