My Chemical-Free House

A Guide to Creating a Healthy Home

Cleaning Products for the Chemically Sensitive

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These are the cleaning products I have tested and use. After many years of trying different products and DIY recipes, these are the products I have settled on.

I have also looked at what the most chemically sensitive folks tolerate and use.

I continue to update this post with new products or new favorites amongst the chemically sensitive.

I have a related post on air fresheners for the chemically sensitive, and one on removing Febreeze, smoke and other contaminants.

Some of these products listed have affiliate programs. Upon purchase, I earn a small commission through affiliate links at no extra cost to you.

a graphic that says Cleaning products for the chemically sensitive and it is a window with blue skies behind it

An All-Purpose Cleaner / Dish Soap

two bottles of ECOs dish soap

You can clean many surfaces with simple and cheap products – vinegar, or baking soda.

Dish soaps also make great all-purpose cleaners. You can use it on dishes, counters, floors (including most wood), walls, and the bathroom.

You can even use many dish soaps as a body soap, shampoo, and laundry soap.

Seventh Generation is a popular brand but it does contain two preservatives that are common and not exactly healthy. Though most tolerate it, some like to avoid this.

The Best Dish Soaps:

ECOS Dishmate (pictured above) is a good alternative for those that want to avoid those toxic preservatives and most people do well with this one. Phenoxyethanol is the preservative and they do have a scent-free version.

Brands with no preservatives include:

a bottle of the brand Made of Organics hand wash

Branch Basics is quite a pure formula. Many chemically sensitive folks like this brand. The camomile extract in this does not have a scent.

Ingredients: Water, Coco Glucoside, Organic Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomile) Flower Extract, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Citrate, Lauryl Glucoside, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Phytate.

Made of Organics – Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Tocopherol, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera), Cocos Nucifera Oil (Coconut), Helianthus Annuus Oil (Sunflower), Ricinus Communis Oil (Castor, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Extract, Potassium Hydroxide.

Dr Bronners Castile soap – Ingredients: Water, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Palm Kernel Oil, Olive Oil, Hemp Oil, Jojoba Oil, Citric Acid, Tocopherol.

Scouring the Bathtub

I tried a lot of the natural DIY methods for tubs and none of them really did the job.

In the end, after a lot of research, I decided on Magic Erasers.

They are made of a melamine plastic, are scent-free, and are safe as long as you don’t end up eating any of the particles it could leave behind (i.e. don’t use it on dishes).

Chemically sensitive folks usually do well with these.

Bon Ami can also work well.

To remove stains from acrylic bathtubs, oxygen bleach with hot water can work well.

Scrubbing the Toilet

three cans of bon ami powder

To clean the toilet I tried natural methods like pouring vinegar or half a cup of lemon juice in the toilet bowl and letting it sit for 30 minutes.

You have to clean really often for this to work.

I ended up settling on Bon Ami as a much easier solution. This product is safe for almost all chemically sensitive folks.

Cleaning Glass & Windows

a pile of light blue microfibre cloths

A 50/50 vinegar and water solution works great on windows. No need for Windex.

Or, even simpler – water and a microfibre cloth!

You don’t need to add any product to this.

You can buy microfiber clothes on Amazon.

Polishing Stainless Steel

a bottle of ECOS natural metal cleaner

While lemon can remove hard-water marks, and baking soda with a scrubbing sponge can remove grime, a microfiber cloth will make it look shiny and new!

For the kitchen sink, use olive oil on a soft cloth to buff.

Baked on oil and food stains on a stainless steel kettle or cookie sheet can be removed with a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit for a while, it will work wonders. For pots and pans, soak in vinegar and then scrub with baking soda.

For fridges, the most liked natural metal cleaner is this one from ECOs pictured above. Most of the natural ones don’t work, or leave streaks. If you want something easy that works on a fridge, go with that one. The most sensitive folks have done well with it.

Cleaning & Disinfecting Marble, Granite, and Stone

a bottle of seventh generation granite and stone cleaner

Seventh Generation Granite and Stone is the best cleaner for stone (it does have an orange scent).

If you need to disinfect marble, granite, or travertine you can’t use most conventional options like bleach, ammonia (including quats, i.e. Lysol), hydrogen peroxide, or vinegar since they all damage the stone.

You can use hypochlorous acid (which is very affordable – I have this one), 7th Generation Thymol-based wipes / spray, or 70% rubbing alcohol (you can mix 99% isopropenyl, with some water, dish soap, and if you like, essential oil).

Those who are chemically sensitive could have challenges with any of those three disinfectants – so be sure to test what is best for you, it’s likely that one of them will work.

Polishing Furniture

Some wood furniture can be polished with one of the penetrating drying oils featured here. It really depends on what is already on the wood.

Don’t use a non-drying oil like olive oil or coconut oil as it can go rancid.

For a matte dark wood, like my rocking chair, I tried concentrated black tea (cooled to room temperature). It looked great but left the wood feeling slightly tacky.

Rubbing walnuts on wood furniture worked surprisingly well to remove scratches! (Works on wood floors too). 

A hairdryer can help to remove rings left by water. Follow with a polish.

Removing Stains & Mold

A mixture of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide bleaches and removes stains from many surfaces.

The mix works really well on stained tile grout, around the toilet, or to remove mold stains from grout.

I have used it as a non-toxic way to remove stains from marble and quartz as well.

I use the Magic Erasers to remove stains from walls. They are non-toxic as long as you don’t digest it. For that reason, I don’t use them on countertops.

Carpet Cleaner

AFM Safecoat, a company that makes products for the chemically sensitive, makes a scent-free carpet cleaner. You can use that as a solo product to shampoo carpets or with their carpet sealing system.

An innovative carpet spot cleaner uses mineral technology to remove stains (and is scent-free).

Non-Toxic Hardwood Floor Cleaner

You can clean hardwood floors (solid or engineered) with a synthetic finish (acrylic/polyurethane/poly-acylic/UV cured synthetic finishes) with diluted dish soap, diluted Branch Basics concentrate or diluted AFM Superclean.

If the floor is finished with a natural oil or wax, don’t use Branch Basics, which is likely to remove natural finishes. You generally can use diluted dish soap, or diluted AFM Superclean on tung oil and linseed oil finished floors. You should ask the company that makes the finish what they recommend and you may want to go with their branded cleaners in some cases like with Rubio Monocoat.

Industrial Strength Degreasers

If you need an industrial-strength degreaser there are two main non-toxic options, AFM Superclean and Simple Green Crystal. This post goes into more detail or where you should use them.

Related Posts:

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Corinne Segura is a Building Biologist Practitioner with 8 years of experience helping others create healthy homes. I have lived with environmental sensitivities for most of my life.

Sources:

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. carole wiles says

    Hi there, thanks so much Corrine for sharing the results of your extensive work! i have the Raintree engineered wood flooring you suggest, but Raintree recommends only Swiffer’s and the Bona products for cleaning and maintenance! i won’t use either of those products yuck….what is safe to use on that engineered wood flooring?

    Reply

  2. Sarah says

    Just found a link to a consumer product information database that I wanted to share should it be helpful to anyone. You can search for various products to see a complete list of ingredients in the product and what they (whoever “they” are) deem problematic. I would imagine there may well be ingredients not checked off as problematic that could still be troublesome for people, but still sharing if it’s of any help to anyone out there.

    https://www.whatsinproducts.com/pages/index/1

    Reply

  3. Stacey says

    What do you suggest for a cleaning wood floors. I am EXTREMELY chemically sensitive and odor/scent sensitive, so even organic things like lavender, rose, lemon, citrus eucalyptus tea tree I can’t tolerate. Thank you so much for your suggestions

    Reply

  4. Braden Bills says

    I want to make sure that I use the right products to clean my home. It makes sense that I would want to get a professional to help me out with this. They would be able to ensure that everything ends up working nicely.

    Reply

  5. Jai says

    I am chemically sensitive andI have used AFM Carpet Cleaner for years . It is a great product. Not only do I use it for the carpet and spills, I also use it for stains on clothes before I put them in the wash. I even travel with a small bottle of it in my cosmetic bag.

    Reply

  6. Nathalie says

    Thank you so much for the great resources! Any suggestions for carpet cleaning/shampoo? What about upholstery/furniture cleaning? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
    Thanks!

    Reply

  7. Alice says

    Hello! Thank you so much for your website it is so helpful. I just moved and the last tenants burned a lot of incense, would you mind telling me how I can remove the smell of this from the walls? I have tried rubbing them with bicarbonate of soda and washing liquid (all natural), but neither worked. Some places online said to use white vinegar but I am worried about dissolving some of the paint on the walls by accident and releasing more toxins into the air? I also have an odour spray that contains zinc ricinoleate and capryleth-9 carboxylic acid, this has worked great on the sofa but again i am not sure if it will do more harm than good on the walls? I am a bit lost to be honest!! Thank you so much, alice

    Reply

    • Suzi says

      We started using Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds and it works beautifully! A little goes a long way. And that’s with our very hard (naturally high mineral-content) water. We’re now moving to a new-to-us house with water softener. We expect we’ll need even less Sal Suds in our laundry there. Check out https://www.lisabronner.com/ She offers such great and simple non-toxic cleaning ideas with her family’s wonderful products. We’ve been using Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soaps for everything in our house… for decades… and still do. Didn’t even try Sal Suds till maybe a year ago… and boy, I wish we’d done it sooner. Among other things, it’s revolutionized our laundry washing!

      Reply

  12. ES.HAMZA says

    شركة السالم لخدمات التنظيف ومكافحة الحشرات ونقل العفش مع الفك والتركيب بالطائف يتم العمل لدينا من خلال فريق وعماله فنيه مدربه في غاية الاتقان ومن خلال احدث المعدات والاداوات مع شركة السالم فانت دائما في راحة تامه وامن مستمر
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    شركة مكافحة حشرات بالطائف
    شركة رش مبيدات بالطائف
    شركة عزل اسطح بالطائف
    شركة تسليك مجاري بالطائف
    شركة نقل اثاث بالطائف

    Reply

  13. Lindsay Craig says

    How would you suggest to clean solid wood floors that are first finished in a wax then rubio monocoat oil? We've had some continuing construction in our house after having our solid wood floors were installed and now the floors are a wreck. I've vacuumed several times and was wondering if there's a concoction I can make myself to help smooth the surface?

    Reply

  14. Unknown says

    For cleaning my toilet I always use white vinegar and baking soda. Just let it fizz and sit for about 20 minutes and brush and flush. I have MCS and had to learn how to stay away from toxins fast and keep my home safe before I would get worse and have to live outside where it had just fresh air.

    Reply

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