If you are exceptionally sensitive to synthetic fibres, you may have to avoid using them in curtains, furnishings and upholstery. Your choices then come down to pure cotton, wool, linen or silk. Pure cotton is for most people the best choice, for reasons of cost, practicality and the fact that it is usually washable. However, pure cotton furnishing fabrics are commonly treated with three types of chemical finishes which can cause sensitivity:
• Formaldehyde resins
• Fire retardant treatments
• Stain resistant finishes
Dyes and other fabric treatments rarely cause reactions.
Formaldehyde resins protect the fabric against stains, grease, water and creasing. They restrict dyes fading, and improve the feel and body of the fabric. Formaldehyde is a common sensitiser and irritant.
Most major manufacturers of pure cotton furnishing fabrics in the UK apply fire retardant finishes to most or all their fabrics. Fire retardant treatments are of two basic kinds. The first, more common, are proprietary chemicals applied to cotton fabrics at the final stage of production. Two of the most widely used in the UK, Pyrovatex and Proban, release formaldehyde and have been known sometimes to cause irritation and reactions. The second kind of fire retardant treatment is to apply a thin backing layer of a rubber-like chemical.
Stain resistant treatments are not so widely applied to cotton fabrics. The fabric is usually labelled with a proprietary name, or is called ’stain-resistant’.
If you are not sure whether you react to fabric finishes on a piece of fabric, you can use the Iron Test to help you find out. You can do this on a sample of fabric before you buy it to see if you react.
If you want to find out whether Pyrovatex, Proban, other chemicals or back coating have been applied to any fabric you want to buy, ring the fabric manufacturers to find out. They are invariably courteous and helpful.
Pure wool fabrics are not treated with formaldehyde resins, nor with fire retardant chemicals since they meet fire safety regulations without treatment. They are sometimes treated with stain protection chemicals. Wool furnishing fabric may therefore be a good option for the chemically sensitive, if you are confident you do not react to wool.
If you are very sensitive to fabric treatments and synthetics, and are allergic to cotton and wool, wooden shutters or roller blinds of wood, rushes or paper may be an alternative to curtains.
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