12 Toxic Cleaning Brands You Should Never Use (+ Natural Alternatives)

Last Updated on January 7, 2021

The products you use to refresh and clean the house can actually have a dangerous effect on your health, through inhaling or skin contact. And since the skin provides a direct link to blood, anything absorbed through your skin can easily make its way to your blood. Even worse, household products go further in our waterways and pose great risk to marine life.

Your enthusiasm about clean surfaces, tidy counters, shiny mirrors and anti-bacterial products is amazing, but you should be aware about what kind of products you’re using, what are they made of and how safe they really are.

Read on to know all about household cleaning products :

1. Main toxic ingredients to avoid

Have you ever noticed ‘fragrance’ or ‘dye’ on the ingredients list of your product ? The manufacturers in the United States and Canada are not required to expose all ingredients of their products, which means there is no way to really know what that ‘fragrance’ or ‘dye’ actually is.

However, we can provide you with some toxic chemical ingredients that you should better avoid

Sodium hypochlorite

This chemical is what you commonly find in bleach products, it is highly toxic and can cause eye irritation, skin burns, aggravate asthma and promote respiratory issues. In case it’s mixed or came in contact with a cleaner containing acid, it creates the toxic chlorine gas.

Triclosan

found in anti-bacterial personal products and also used as an anti-bacterial in dish-washing liquid and laundry detergents. It is associated with microbial resistance and can wreck your hormones.

Fragrance

This single term can be any of the over 3000 chemicals that may or may not be safe, and it’s linked to allergies. It is recommended to avoid products with this ingredient, unless it was mentioned what the fragrance exactly is.

Quaternary ammonium compounds

are used as disinfectants in fabric softeners and detergents. These compounds can be highly toxic when concentrated, and are linked to redness, irritation and severe burns. Many types can be listed on the label, such as – Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (ADBAC) or Benzalkonium chloride- Stearalkonium chloride- Quaternium 1-29- Cetrimonium bromide

Formaldehyde Releasers