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.
An All-Purpose Cleaner / 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:
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
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 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
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 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
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 or 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).
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:
- Air fresheners for the chemically sensitive
- Removing Febreeze, frangraced and smoke residue
- Non-toxic alternatives to Febreeze
Corinne Segura is a Building Biologist Practitioner with 6 years of experience helping others create healthy homes. I have lived with environmental sensitivities for most of my life.
Sources:
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
Corinne says
The dish soap that you best tolerate should be used on floors.
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.
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.
Corinne says
that’s awesome
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!
Corinne says
Thanks for brining it up I added AFM Carpet shampoo to the post (and a spot cleaner too). I also use the enzyme cleaners for spot cleaners myself.
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
Rinkal Mehta says
Amazing blog post, Thank you for sharing this.
Devid Warner says
Amazing; these are really best natural cleaning products that helpful to clean. Thank you for sharing this.
SUSAN VAVAK says
Any suggestions for non-toxic laundry detergent for people with MCS?
Corinne says
I list some here but I do find with laundry it is very individual! https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/2018/03/personal-care-best-of-natural-non-toxic.html
Bryan says
I have had great experience with Molly’s Suds Unscented Laundry Detergent Powder. I am highly sensitive to almost every detergent and can’t get near the fabric softeners. This one has caused no issues with me:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WCZRHQR
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!
Julia says
Thank you <3 Very helpful tips and good information. I will try out some new products 🙂
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
شركة تنظيف بالطائف
شركة تنظيف مجالس بالطائف
شركة تنظيف خزانات بالطائف
شركة مكافحة حشرات بالطائف
شركة رش مبيدات بالطائف
شركة عزل اسطح بالطائف
شركة تسليك مجاري بالطائف
شركة نقل اثاث بالطائف
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?
Megan says
I have this exact same question! I know it’s been 3 years but….any answer?
Corinne says
Rubio makes a special cleaner but generally any gentle soap like a natural dish soap can be used on naturally oild floors.
Some other brands do have their own products and some of those are useful for keeping the oil looking fresh.
https://www.realmilkpaint.com/help/tutorials/how-to-finish-a-floor-pure-tung-oil/
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.
Mohammed Ata Elgammal says
You can try enzyme cleaners products available in the market. These cleaning products are able to remove stains found on your mattress and it has been proven effective to break down any particles.
Cleaning apartments
Lauren Bootfall says
These are some really good tips which I might have to try. I have found that odor elimination can be a difficult task but there are some good ways to get the smell gone.
Thornhill Louis says
The use of natural cleaning products is certainly becoming the most preferred cleaning alternative these days. The best natural cleaning products are safe and odorless because they do not have harmful toxins in them.
Natural Cleaning Products
inovexenterprises says
Its is really wonder to here that lemon,vinegar were used for the cleaning purpose.Your blog is useful.Here after i will try to do this type of best and cheap cleaning