(MOBILE, Ala.) It's a product that claims to clean-up any mess in your kitchen, your car, your boat, you name it! The Shamwow looks like across between a sturdy paper towel or large rag. But it feels like a soft blanket or even felt, it's also machine washable and reusable. There's also the popular infomercial with a memorable host that promises your Shamwow isn't your average kitchen towel. His big catch phrase is, "You'll say wow, every time you use the Shamwow."
To find out if it really works, we enlisted the help of busy car wash manager Todd Gunter. The product claims to soak up spills no ordinary towels can match. So, first up, Todd saturates the Shamwow.
"We got it as wet as we could to see how much water it would absorb and hold. Rang it out which was 16 ounces of water or 2 cups. After ringing it out to see if we could absorb all the water back up, it didn't necessarily pick up all the water we rang out of it," says Gunter.
While it didn't soak in every drop, he was impressed how much water it did draw in.
"It does absorb water pretty well, and it does seem to pick up more dirt than a regular towel would," says Gunter.
While the Shamwow does do a good job at cleaning and absorbing dirt and water, the expert says as far as leaving your boat or car streak free, it doesn't necessarily do as well as the box advertises. Todd put my car through the car wash, to test that streak-free claim.
"It kind of smeared it around, as the towel got wetter it smeared it more. You ended up having to ring the towel out and wipe it over again. So, you're actually double working," says Gunter.
How about spills? The Shamwow did not disappoint, and Todd says that's the wow factor.
"This, in the long run would you save you money as far as buying paper towels and being able to reuse them and wash them," says Gunter. "I say it's a deal."
Shamwow claims to work wet or dry. We tested it both ways, and got the same results.
