Do your sports pads and performance clothes smell horrible? Could they use a good cleaning? You need some sports-specific cleaning supplies, but be careful-- there are a few important things to consider when purchasing sports cleaning supplies.
LOOK FOR ALL-NATURAL ACTIVE INGREDIENTS
Why is it important to have all-natural active ingredients? Sports equipment is an extension of the athlete — it protects, enforces, and allows him or her to perform at their peak. Therefore, using the safest and most effective ingredients is the best option, because they will come in contact with the athlete's skin. You wouldn’t spray harsh cleaning chemicals directly onto your body, would you? Then why spray them directly onto your sports equipment? Some sports equipment cleaning sprays use very harsh chemicals such as concentrated Chlorine and artificial fragrances that can irritate the athlete. Vapor Fresh® Sports Cleaning Spray uses 100% botanical oils, as opposed to the cheap man-made imitator fragrances found in other products, and Vapor Fresh® Sports Laundry Detergent is completely free and clear of artificial fragrances, optical brighteners, bleach and dioxanes.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH CHLORINE?
According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, Chlorine “is a severe nose, throat and upper respiratory tract irritant” 1. Why would anyone want to subject athletes to a severe nose, throat and upper respiratory tract irritant? Athletes need to be able to breathe efficiently in order to perform well. Studies also posted in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, as well as the British Journal of Medicine, have associated Chlorinated swimming pools with lung injury and asthma in children2,3. And yet the story still does not end there. Research at Purdue University showed how sweat can react with Chlorine to form Volatile Disinfection Byproducts, which have also been proven detrimental to health4. The American Journal of Epidemiology published a study relating those same Disinfection Byproducts with Bladder Cancer5. Do you still want to be using Chlorine-based sprays to clean and deodorize your sports equipment? We didn't think so.
WHAT ABOUT ARTIFICIAL FRAGRANCE?
A study back in 1986 titled "Neurotoxins: At Home and the Workplace" by the Committee on Science and Technology stated that 95% of chemicals used in fragrances are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum, many of them hazardous. Again, a study in 1991 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency found there to be roughly 150 different chemicals in the fragrances of 31 separate consumer products, one of the most common being ethanol 6. Nothing has changed in the fragrance industry, as the vast majority of fragrances are still synthetic. The Journal of Environmental Health published a study that concluded 30.5% of the general population was irritated by the scents worn on other people, and 19% reported suffering from adverse health effects caused by fragrances, including higher percentages among individuals with asthma7. Another study published by the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology concluded that the compounds used in artificial fragrance possessed toxic properties. The study also concluded that some of these compounds had toxic health effects even at low doses, including benzaldehyde, alpha-terpineol, benzyl acetate, and ethanol8.
VAPOR FRESH® PRODUCTS: THE ONLY CHOICE TO CLEAN YOUR SPORTS EQUIPMENT AND CLOTHING SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY
Do yourself a favor and avoid those harsh chemicals such as irritating artificial fragrances and Chlorine-based formulas. Think Vapor Fresh® when you need to clean and deodorize your sports equipment or wash you sport clothing. By using all-natural active ingredients, Vapor Fresh® gives you the safest, easiest and most effective way to make your equipment smelling great and your body game-day ready.
Play Hard. Finish Fresh.
Resources
1 Health Effects of Chlorine
2 Longitudinal Monitoring of Lung Injury in Children after Acute Chlorine Exposure in a Swimming Pool
3 Lung hyperpermeability and asthma prevalence in schoolchildren: unexpected associations with the attendance at indoor chlorinated swimming pools
4 Chlorine Can React With Sweat, Urine At Indoor Swimming Pools Forming Volatile Disinfection Byproducts
5 Bladder Cancer and Exposure to Water Disinfection By-Products through Ingestion, Bathing, Showering, and Swimming in Pools
6 Identification of Polar Volatile Organic Compounds in Consumer Products and Common Microenvironments
7 Prevalence of fragrance sensitivity in the American population.
8 The identification of polar organic compounds found in consumer products and their toxicological properties.
