A Review of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

I first spotted the real magic eraser in Home Depot months ago when I was searching for a simple way to remove marks from my walls. It had one blue side for scrubbing, and the rest was a smooth spongy white material that is used to wipe away debris. Well, wouldn’t you know it, as soon as it was time for me to buy another Magic Eraser from Home Depot there were none to be found; however, shortly after that, the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser came on the market. So I figured the Mr. Clean folk just bought out the previous Magic Eraser manufacturer and it would be the same product – but I was wrong.

Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser is supposed to remove more grime per swipe than the leading all purpose spray cleaner – well who really uses a spray on their walls anyway? The Magic Eraser is marketed as a powerful multi-purpose cleaning pad that requires water alone to tackle messes but I found it actually caused a mess on my walls.

Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser does not have the blue side and hence does not actually do anything. You are supposed to wet the sponge and squeeze it out before rubbing it against the marks on your wall. Then you lightly rub the marks and let the wall dry. Well after I did that, there were huge discolorations on the wall surrounding the original marks. Great! So now the small marks – that might not have been obvious – turned into a huge disaster, and meant my husband had to spend his Saturday afternoon painting the wall.

I’ve always been a fan of Mr. Clean products; they usually smell like lemons and do a thorough job at cleaning and disinfecting – so what went wrong? Well, I think they had good intentions but they changed the product into something ineffective – and worse, damaging. The old Magic Eraser was so thorough and worked every single time, so why couldn’t Mr. Clean just take the same product and sell it as is? I guess they know their product is ineffective because they now sell Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Extra Power.

Perhaps this magic eraser isn’t so magical after all. Or perhaps it’s just not meant to be used on walls. It is marketed as a product that can be used on soap scum, kitchen spills, inside microwaves or on dirty countertops; so maybe I’ll take my “magical” eraser and try cleaning the sink next time.

The Magic Eraser web site does list the following tips, but use them at your own risk:

• Wipe away filthy soap scum in the shower or the tub with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
• Use it to remove stains from the sides of plastic trash cans.
• The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser can get through grime and scuff marks around the base of your toilet.
• It can do away with stains and dirt covering the inside of your sink and the countertop surrounding it.
• Use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to erase dirt and scuff marks left on your floor.
• Keep your home’s interior doors, trim, and baseboard looking like new by using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to remove scuff marks and dirt.
• Erase coffee stains from countertops with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
• You can even use it at the office to wipe away pesky residue on dry-erase boards and clean stains off your desk.
• Use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to clean up messes on your plastic or metal kitchen appliances.

If you’d like to learn more about the Magic Eraser visit: http://www.mrclean.com/en_US/products/eraser.shtml