She’s known as the ‘Queen of Clean’, and there is (so far), no question on stain removal that Shannon Lush has been unable to answer.
Shannon has been on radio and TV for many years all over the world, and has written six books on cleaning and stain removal.
Her first book ‘Spotless’ was first released in 2006, and was the highest selling Australian book of that year. Now, Shannon has revisited her original best seller and updated it for a whole new generation.
On the line from her home, Shannon said it wasn’t a case of having a good memory when she responds so quickly to a question, its just knowing her stuff.
“When you know your subject no matter what it is, that’s easy. If I asked you about stuff you did every day you could do the same, just like anyone,” Shannon said.
“When I was four I spilled a bottle of ink on my mum’s couch. She was furious. She said ‘get it out’, and I had no idea what to do, and she told me to use rotten milk.
“I didn’t believe her so I asked my grandmother, and she agreed. There are certain enzymes in milk that reacts with the ink, and I found that just fascinating. On my mum’s side of the family, they all passed their handy hints down, and with my interest in chemistry I wanted to know what which of these hints were old wives tales, and what ones really worked.”
Shannon believes that all stains can be cleaned up, it is just a simple case of collecting information then finding the solution.
“All stains come in certain categories, and you need a three vital pieces of information to solve each one. First is ‘what is the surface’, as reactions from chemicals depend on what the surface is made up of. Second is what is the stain made of, and if you don’t know there are ways of telling. Third is ‘what have you already done to it?’ as that changes the chemical structure of the stain. Once I know that I can do anything from there. Be it protein, carbs, pigments…they can all be in different combinations and how they work together is what determines the make up.”
Walking around the supermarket, there are literally hundreds of cleaning products, but Shannon believes that there are too many products to list that you just don’t need.
“If you’re allergic to dust mites you can pay $42 for a bottle of preventer which you spray on your floors, which in truth is made from one tea bag.
“If they let me put everything I wanted in the first book you’d never pick it up. With some of the other books I’ve gone room by room but with this new updated book I wanted to create a reference guide. At the end of the day all my books are designed to help people.”
WIN A COPY OF ‘SPOTLESS’
We’ve got two copies of ‘Spotless’ to be won.
To win simply email your details to [email protected] with the word ‘SPOTLESS’ in the subject line. Or post entries to Spotless Comp, PO Box 124, Ipswich Q 4305. Winners drawn on January 11th 2016. Prizes can be picked up from our office in the CBD and cannot be posted.
