10 Alcohol Forbidden Things

Alcohol is not a universal disinfectant! Never wipe these 10 household items with alcohol; they will only spoil instead of becoming clean.

Alcohol is a common and helpful tool for cleaning and disinfecting, but not all items can withstand its effects. Some items will be immediately damaged upon contact with alcohol!

This article lists 10 things you should never wipe with alcohol. Not only will they break easily, but they may also become irreparable. Please be sure to avoid these.

1. Eyeglasses

Many people habitually wipe their glasses when they get dirty. If they have toilet paper on hand, they use it; if they don't have toilet paper, they use alcohol wipes, which they think is even better because alcohol is more effective at removing stains than water.

However, this method is highly undesirable. Although alcohol can remove some stains, it is not very effective at cleaning stubborn stains such as grease and fingerprints.

Furthermore, eyeglass lenses typically have anti-reflective coatings, hard coatings, and UV protection coatings. Alcohol, as an organic solvent, can dissolve and damage these coatings, leading to lens damage.

In addition, it is not recommended to wipe the temples of glasses with alcohol, especially metal frames. Once they come into contact with alcohol, they will react, causing corrosion to the surface of the frame, resulting in mottled spots or discoloration, which will affect the appearance and durability.

Recommendation: Cleaning glasses is actually done with water. If you feel that water is not enough, dish soap, a neutral detergent that everyone has at home, is also a good choice for cleaning glasses. Of course, if your glasses are expensive enough, you can also buy a special glasses cleaner.

2. Acrylic

Acrylic, also known as plexiglass, has the advantages of high transparency, good processing performance and weather resistance, so it is widely used and most people have this material in their homes.

However, the downside is that it gets dirty easily. It leaves fingerprints after being touched, water stains and lint after being wiped with a cloth. To make it cleaner, many people will use alcohol to wipe it, but I'm telling you, don't try it blindly, or you'll regret it.

Firstly, wiping it may damage the acrylic surface.

Because alcohol is corrosive, wiping acrylic surfaces with it can slightly reduce their gloss, and in severe cases, it may leave scratches resembling small cracks, thus ruining the high transparency of the acrylic itself.

Then stress cracking can occur. There may be no reaction immediately after wiping, but alcohol can accelerate the release of stress inside the acrylic under certain circumstances, and real cracking may occur at any time after cleaning.

Recommendation: When cleaning acrylic, in addition to alcohol, avoid using hard cleaning tools (such as brushes or rough cloths) to prevent scratching the acrylic. It is recommended to use a soft, smooth fish-scale cloth to wipe it. If the surface stains are severe, you can use a fish-scale cloth dipped in soapy water to wipe it.

3. Genuine leather sofa

Everyone knows that leather sofas need maintenance, and people generally don't blindly wipe them with cleaning agents. However, it's not impossible that when faced with stubborn stains, some people might come up with some "foolish tricks" on their own.

Look, someone used alcohol to wipe their leather sofa, damaging the leather and leaving stains, and then came to ask if there was a good way to fix it.

To be honest, the only good way to prevent it from being too obvious is to use a similar color touch-up cream, because leather is delicate and once damaged, it is irreversible.

Recommendation: To ensure the beauty and durability of your leather sofa, a simple method is to wipe it directly with a semi-dry cloth, then apply leather conditioner or hand cream for maintenance. For a more professional approach, there are specialized leather cleaners available, or you can hire a professional to maintain and clean it. Do not attempt this blindly.