[Aalaia]

Any information about natural dry cleaners. If so how do they do their cleaning. I have always been concerned about the affect of dry cleaning on my personal health because of the chemicals used.

[Raptor235]

how does dry cleaning work in general? I've actually never cared to ask the question.

[Aalaia]

Found this at Howstuffworks "How does dry cleaning work?"

How does dry cleaning work?




When you wash clothes at home in the washing machine, water is the solvent used to do the cleaning. Many types of fabric, however, do not handle water very well. For example, wool and water just don't mix. There are also many types of stains that water is not particularly good at removing.
In dry cleaning, a petroleum solvent is used instead of water. It is "dry" only in the sense that it is not wet with water. In the early days of dry cleaning, this solvent was often kerosene or gasoline. Today the industry uses a solvent called perchloroethylene almost universally.
The clothes are washed in this solvent, and then the solvent is recovered in an extractor so it can be reused (and so that it does not evaporate into the air and cause pollution). Once the clothes are cleaned, they are pressed so they look like new.
There is a fair amount of controversy around perchloroethylene and its health effects at the moment. Several of the links below talk about the problems it can create. Some dry cleaners are now using CO2.
Here are some interesting links:

• How Home Dry Cleaning Works
• OSHA Safety & Health Topics: Dry Cleaning
• The dry cleaning industry
• Air Resources Board Sets Toxic Control Measures for Dry Cleaning Solvent
• Perchloroethylene Monitoring Kits