What is dust?

At La Providence, cleanliness is at the core of what we do. Every day, we work hard to make your workspace more comfortable and pleasant. Cleaning is mainly about dusting and disinfecting, but have you ever wondered where all that dust comes from? What is it made of? And could it be harmful to your health?

It’s probably not something you think about regularly at work – after all, our cleaning teams are already taking care of it.

But we'd still like to share some insights about dust and explain why maintaining a clean, healthy environment is so important.

What is it made of? About 80% of it comes from dead skin cells, hair, and fibers from our clothing. In fact, we shed around 30,000 particles of skin and fabric every second, and lose an average of 40 to 60 hairs a day. The remaining 20% can come from microscopic fungi, insect fragments, pollen, and even particles from space!

A dust particle is less than half a millimeter in size, and when viewed under a microscope, dust isn’t actually gray, but multicolored. The gray color is just the result of the mix.

Maybe you’ve tried rubbing a balloon against your hair at a birthday party to create some static and impress your friends. This happens because your hair gets charged with static electricity.

It’s not just balloons that cause this effect – even combing your hair can do the same. When a hair falls out, it attracts other dust particles that are also charged with static electricity. This creates the "snowball effect," leading to those pesky dust bunnies.

While dust bunnies might help you fall asleep counting them, they aren’t exactly welcome in your home or office. That’s because they can carry harmful substances like plasticizers and solvents. Plasticizers, commonly found in cables, can interfere with your hormones and accumulate in the dust behind your furniture. When the room gets disturbed – which often happens at work – this dust becomes airborne, increasing the risk of inhaling fine particles.

Despite common myths, dust itself doesn’t make you sick. However, it’s home to tens of thousands of dust mites. For people with allergies, exposure to dust mites can trigger asthma, irritation, and sneezing. To give you an idea, 1 gram of dust can contain up to 10,000 mites!

Since the average person spends 65% of their day at work, keeping these spaces clean becomes even more crucial.

Unfortunately, we can’t completely eliminate the dust around us. However, there’s a simple solution: continue to trust our cleaning teams. Not only do they ensure your workspace remains clean and pleasant, but they also work to protect your health from the potential risks dust can pose.