Hey everybody,

I'm wondering if there's some alternative to using alcohol soaked cotton balls for sterilization.
I don't have have a problem with using them per-se, but I can't stand to be constantly using something that is thrown away all the time. I'd rather use something more permanent - something that doesn't help to destroy the planet so quickly.

I'm thinking about using a micro-fiber cloth, but I use them somewhat often for other things.. Then, after I use a bunch of them, I wash them all en-mass together using arm&hammer detergent which has no perfumes or oils - I guess it might be called hypo-allergenic.
Would it be OK to use one of these?

What else could I use for sterilization that would be recyclable?

What are you sterilizing? Skin or instruments? Alcohol doesn't sterilize, it disinfects.

If you are using true cotton balls, they can be recycled as paper. I recycle mine. They are biodegradable. If you compost, you can toss them in.

That is a good question for the pros, what is the best product to use (available to average folks) to clean your epilator surface and dials, cords, needleholder etc? Should they be cleaned with a rag, paper towels, sponge etc?

I am cleaning mine with paper towels and 91% alcohol right now.

I use Sani-Cloth wipes.

I'm currently using the cotton-balls with either 70% or 91% isopropyl alcohol to sterilize both the equipment as well as my skin prior to and after probe insertion. In this case, I thought dis-infecting is the same as sterilization. I know that that percentage of alcohol may not kill as many organisms as, say bleach would, but I would think it's enough for this purpose - as long as one isn't doing it in a very unsanitary environment such as a gas-station bathroom or whatnot..

I'm just wondering what else can be used that is completely *reusable*? The key word, being "reusable". That's what I'm wondering here - not what is recyclable, but what is reusable.

Has anybody found something that is reusable yet?
Are machine-washed micro-fiber cloths ok to use?

Alcohol soaked cotton balls are just cotton balls that are stored in a jar of disinfectant. Since the jar is opened and closed whenever one is taken out they are only as sterile as the disinfectant can keep them. Thus, all conditions being equal, any other fiber product that can be stored in such a disinfectant without disintegrating will be just as sterile.

I do suspect, though, that when you factor in the water, electricity and detergents required to launder microfiber swabs, as well as what it takes to manufacture and dispose of them, they won't end up being much more easy on the environment than cotton balls would.

If you are doing it yourself, or you have a partner and are trading work at home, you could just as easily use a regular wash cloth to apply the alcohol for sanitizing. The cloth will dry and you just wash it.

Thanks James!
That is exactly what I was hoping to hear!
Wash cloths are cycled with complete regularity here, unlike my micro-fiber cloths.

I figure as long as one is doing it for themselves and not other people(as in customers), things should generally be OK.

NOW - all I have to do is pick the freshly cleaned wash cloths from the flooded basement floor.. Just kidding!

I hope you are well in Wisconsin.

I nearly got stranded in Wisconsin by the floods. I left the day before the flood.