I sneeze whenever I use a Swiffer duster. The tool is a dust magnet but it also stirs up the dusts that get me under.

could you be reacting to the chemical adhesive used on the fabric?

For sweeping up pet fur I do love the rubber broom from chwy— no daily disposing of non compostable material.

I have a rubber broom from Dollar Tree. :) I agree it's awesome for pet hair!

I'm thinking along the same lines as palisades suggests - it's stirring up dust.

I don't have any allergies that I'm aware of, but whenever I dust/vacuum or move things around that are dusty, my nose gets irritated with a very ticklish feeling and I start sneezing.

PC, try putting it outside or away for awhile.

I once had dry eyes so severely that Olfa cutting mats would sting me eyes. No scent, but there was some outgassing from it. I ended up giving it away to a quilter.

These days my eyes are not so dry and I am okay with those mats.

If you might have dry eyes, try those preservative-free eye drops that come in little ampules. Allergan Refresh is a good brand.

They are a synthetic material. Pretty easy to be allergic to chemical compositions.

I use them all the time, especially with a house full of plantation shutters. I do make sure to get the unscented but agree you could be sensitive to any flying dust particles.

Perhaps they aren’t picking up as much dust and dander as your old system? I do think they are treated with chemicals to attract particles. Any reason you don’t just use a stick vac with a hepa filter? Back in the olden days of dust mops, we would just take them outside and shake them. Maybe doing that before you wash the micro fiber mop would remove enough dog hair to go safely through your washer?

'Any reason you don’t just use a stick vac with a hepa filter?"

I have about 2000 sq ft to deal with; using a floor duster takes about 10 minutes, it's very fast whereas the vacuum takes about 30 minutes, give or take. I do vacuum once a week but for daily upkeep the floor duster is much more efficient.

Interesting comment about the Swiffer not picking up as much as the microfiber and instead kicking it up. I didn't think of that, I thought the Swiffer picked up more but maybe I've been fooled because the Swiffer cloths are white so they look really dirty, whereas my microfiber pads are gray and blue. Hmmm....

In any case, I think I should send the starter kit back. I got it off A**n so that won't be a problem.

ETA: I also wonder if the stuff they use to treat the fabric cloths ends up transferring to the floor and is off-gassing or something. ?

I ran out of Swiffer clothes once and resorted to spraying a paper towel very lightly with water and was surprised how well it worked and have been doing that ever since. The best brand of paper towel to use is Viva as it's softer than other brands and seems to pick up the most dust and dirt.

FWIW, whenever I need to spend a lot of time with anything dusty, inside or outside, I wear a KN95 mask now. It really seems to help minimize reactions.

I have plenty of allergies. Scented anything drives my nose and breathing to the moon Especially that Gain or Lavender scents. i once bought scented garbage bags by accident, that was horrible and donated them real quick.

When I buy dryer sheets, that we put in the pontoon boat for the winter I get them in a seperate bag, tie it shut, open a back window on my van stick the bag in the window and close the window so the bag is hanging outside the van!

Update: I decided to keep the Swiffer because I found another use for them rather than general floor dusting.

I've been using the Swiffer 2-3x/week in the master bathroom -- IDK why but I don't like using the microfiber floor dusters in there, but the Swiffer does a quick job of things, is easier to manuever because it's kind of cramped in there, and I when I'm done with the floor I can take off the cloth and use it to get in the cranny behind the toilet and up top behind the washlet seat, then just take the cloth and toss it in the covered wastebasket and that's the end of it. I also found that I like the Swiffer on the basement stairs because it's smaller than my floor duster and easier to maneuver on the stairs proper and within the stairwell because the handle is shorter (no banging into the walls).

For overall floor dusting, though, I went back to what I was using. I've been thoroughly shaking them outside before throwing in the bin for washing, which has cut drastically cut down on the dog hair going through the washer -- I still have to vacuum out the drum and seal after running the dusters through the washer, but what's there is minimal compared to previously when my habit was just to throw them in the wash sans shaking.

I don't feel weird or "not right" since just using the Swiffer for these limited purposes. The new box of cloths I bought clearly says unscented; I'm not sure what was in the starter kit, but I didn't notice any smell on those.