Enough to Get Into A Fizz About? (Cif Multi-Purpose Actifizz Lemon Spray)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Cif Multi-Purpose Actifizz Lemon Spray
Date:	26/01/09 (329 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap price for a large quantity, nice scent, apparently all purpose

Disadvantages: But its for kitchen and bathrooms only, struggles on hard dirt per one application

In my mum's home there are two bathrooms; one large luxury bathroom with as much floor space as anyone could wish for including a large corner bath with a corner seat built in for anyone who wants to wash their hair or those who have to clean the ruddy thing after the family use it. Then there's the bidet, sink, cupboards for towels and an extra cupboard for holding all our family toiletries. Of the cleaning chemicals stocked up, my mum tends to buy the mass or well known names whilst I do the budget end of the market for the smaller shower room which also has a toilet and another wash hand basin using products such as 151's non toxic Elbow Grease formula perfect for getting rid of water deposit marks caused by steam from the shower not to mention stains from steam on the Mira fold down shower seats located in the shower itself. Chemicals therefore have to be fresh scented rather than toxic laden due to the lack of ventilation fans in both rooms even though both rooms have sufficient windows that let in the best of the cold Scottish air on most mornings. Recently because of illness I've not been able to get to the pound shops where I usually buy my regular stock of cleaning material and as such managed to venture out one day with a friend who was driving to their largest ASDA store. I was taken in hook line and sinker with Cif's Actifizz multi-purpose spray largely by its promise of clearing up stains on contact and by its fresh lemon scent. Given that there was only one bottle size on sale, ASDA presented quite a bargain; a 750ml bottle for a mere £1-20 which puts my 500ml Elbow Grease from pound shops in the shade.


Whereas it may well contain bicarbonate of soda that gives the formula its much added fizz to stains thus increasing the quickness and speed of breaking down general household stains, the main purpose of "Actifizz," is ideal for cleaning bathroom tiling, flooring, and general kitchen cleaning areas but similar to Kitchen Power (and their associated products) it has a fizzy formula that enables the user to just spray, walk away, attack and don't look back! One of the worst aspects I detest about cleaning then is our small bathroom for example which, with the lack of a fan that expels the aforementioned steam from the shower leaves a beautiful white tiled room looking decidedly old as if someone has sprayed apple juice around the cornices not to mention the tiled walls themselves. Therefore every month there are built up speckles of brown dots caused by steam from the shower unit dotted around all the walls, ceilings and door of the bathroom and usually a simple wipe of a damp clean cloth gets rid of the lightly coloured dots - it's the heavier colours that are difficult to shift without chemicals and damp flannels saturated with water only get rid of the stains temporarily before they reappear three days later.


A quick spray of the areas affected however were surprising - I was delighted initially with the fact that the heavier brown dots started to shift instantly upon contact with this cold wet fizzy yellow coloured spray and didn't taint any of the paint on the bathroom doors which had received a re-paint earlier in the year. Not immediately happy to admit that perhaps Cif Actifizz could well be a great replacement for my cherished 151 Elbow Grease, I went immediately to the kitchen to test Cif on the stainless steel gas hob. The moment I lifted the pan grids out of the way, I sprayed Cif onto the fatty, greasy deposits left by a morning's fry up of bacon and eggs. Whereas 151's Elbow Grease needs a few milliseconds to get the stains running and being a degreaser by its title, Cif's Actifizz was surprisingly quicker on the lighter stains but took a little more time to get heavier splashes of fat out of the way. For a cleaner whose purpose is primarily for the bathroom, I was delighted to find that Cif's Actifizz could also be applied for general degreasing action. However after the three days which is usually a good length of time to test such a product, I'm also delighted to find that steam stains and grease on the cooker had stood up to the test and still remained stain free.


However there is a downside. Although Actifizz appears to fizz up stains on contact, its best to leave the product for a couple of seconds so that it at best gives the intended stain a chance to loosen. I was too impatient the first time and attacked the stain with a hot flannel hoping that the stain would simply move off and it just stayed put.


The scent does smell of lemons - at best - but there are undertones of chemicals as you would expect for a mass brand name with promises of being an all purpose cleaner even though it's purely for use in the bathroom and kitchen. Half the time whenever I use Actifizz it passes through with a lemon hit as an instant scent and is then replaced by the strong vinegar type tones found in Windowlene glass cleaner. For most people this product therefore doesn't have as strong as a toxic element as other cleaning liquids on the market but it could be better here as other supermarket brands that have the same kind of power are now beginning to be produced with lower scents to combat being choked. Despite the smell, the feel on the hands leaves my skin a little rough but not as rough as bleach or Kitchen Power that I've used in the past.


As an "all purpose," spray, Cif's Actifizz is a good product, but it can only do so much in the bathroom and kitchen. When used to attack dust behind the radiator it failed to get stains off the tiled walls and had to be reapplied a couple of times before the stains shifted. In the kitchen when sprayed on worktops to remove hard to get at coffee powder stains, the stains moved easily against hardened cereal which took quite a lot of patience and hot flannels to loosen the crumbs. In this instance then it's easy to imagine that whilst Actifizz is suitable as an all rounder for both kitchen and bathroom, it's not exactly an all round product for everything in the kitchen and bathroom. Thanks for reading ©Nar2 2009

Summary: A good product in lieu of 151's Elbow Grease - but only just.