Give it a Good Sheen, Mister! (Mr Sheen Furniture Polish Anti-static)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Mr Sheen Furniture Polish Anti-static
Date:	30/07/07 (279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: multi-surface, good degreaser, inexpensive, gives a good shine, easily available

Disadvantages: manufacture is in the far east and the parent company tests on animals in an unknown capacity

Mr Sheen is a world-wide brand of wax free furniture polishes, which first appeared in Australia in the 1950's. Indeed, it was the first aerosol polish in Australia, Pledge not having yet expanded to that country (Pledge was the world's first, followed closely by Mr Sheen and others). As familiar a face as Mr Sheen may be to Australians, Jamaicans, South Africans, the British, et al. it is not a brand I was familiar with as a Yank. I admit I had a sense of trepidation when my grocery delivery arrived and one of the substitutions was for my Pledge and I found in its place Mr Sheen. I accepted it, figuring as it is a market leader here, it couldn't be that bad. A quick glance on the tin told me it is manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser who I am familiar with, as they make Lysol cleaner (a disinfectant strong enough it can kill the Ebola virus), Nurofen, Bonjela, Calgon and Dettol. I admit it was this tenuous familiarity which helped lift my final cloud of doubt, and give it a go. Reckitt Benckiser is a British multinational who acquired the brand from the original manufacturer, and while at one time it was made in Spain, it is now made in Taiwan, presumably for economic reasons such as cost of manufacture and ease of world-wide shipping, especially with its heavy Asia-Pacific market share. The company is, however, on several ethical "bad lists" for participating in animal testing (I presume for its pharmaceuticals) so if this bothers you in any way, I suggest looking further into the how and why.

I still had a small amount of Pledge furniture polish left in my tin, so i decided to act out an 80's style commercial where they spray stuff side by side and compare brands. I did this just so i could give you lot a more precise comparison to Pledge, so there! The Pledge came out light and slightly creamy in appearance, and wiped off easily to give a streak free shine. Mr Sheen was a bit heavier, and I had to give the wood a slight rub over after wiping to get a good shine without streaks, which i put down to the slightly thicker consistency. It left a nice light scent, and did not irritate my asthma at all. Having thus tired the Mr Sheen on my newer furniture, I brought it over to our 1940's desk. I lifted the tin and gave a light spray all over, and once more the heavier consistency was obvious. On the older wood and its finish, Mr Sheen fared better as it soaked right in, and no further rubbing was needed after giving it a good wipe.

Mr Sheen has always been more than a furniture polish. In its original form, it has always been a multisurface polish, long before its competitors. It states it can be used on steel, tile, glass, painted surfaces, enamel, plastic, and of course, sealed wood. So, pitting it against my Pledge Clean and Dust next, I duly took this into the kitchen, and gave it a go on my stainless steel kettle, my black gloss worktop, and my fridge front. Again, this wiped off easily, but I had to once more give it a second "dry" wipedown after first wiping off the majority of the polish. That said, it did indeed leave a streak free shine and I did not have to spend time rubbing away, just merely wiping it a second time with a dry part of my duster. As for glass, it performed just as well on my computer monitor and TV screen, and in the living room performed admirably on the greasy from having chips with lunch child sized fingerprints. I was quite pleased at the degreasing action, as I was able to clean the greasiness and fingerprints off in a single step. A quick look on Wikipedia tells me that this product is well known as a degreaser in motorcycle circles where it is often used for just this effect. Well, I learn something new everyday! It says it has antistatic properties and helps prevent stains, and I must say that I first used it 3 days ago, and my TV screen and mantelpiece do appear to still be dustfree. I can't vouch for the stains thing as we do not generally drip mustard onto our TV screen, smear ketchup on our desk, and use placemats at the table!

A 300 ml aerosol tin set me back a whopping 86 pence from Asda, and this compares favourably with market leader Pledge. I have seen it also at Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Wilkinson's, presumably at about the same price. I find this to be a good all round furniture polish and general mutisurface cleaner. I do think that it is slightly heavier than Pledge, but the secondary wipe down may be because I am still unused to the heavier texture and may be spraying on a bit more than I need to use. I will not hesitate to use this again, if my Pledge polishes are not available, but will admit the prefereance is solely over the childhood familiarity thing and the warm fuzzy feeling Pledge's particular lemony scent brings.

Summary: Good all around mutisurface cleaner suitable for most rooms of the house and most surfaces..