Looking for a suite of hypoallergenic, odor-free cleaning products

February 10, 2023 12:03 PM

Every time my apartment gets cleaned, I'm slightly allergic to living here for 2 to 3 days afterward. I'd like to just throw out all my old cleaning products and bring in a new suite of hypoallergenic, completely odor-free products for cleaning everything in my apartment.

This would include dish detergent, glass cleaner, furniture polish, kitchen/bathroom surface disinfectant, something for picking up dust, marble polish, metal polish, liquid cleaner to be mixed with water for mopping large areas, something for polyurethane floors.

(No home-brew ideas please. Metafilter seems to be obsessed with vinegar. I don't like it.)

So, is there a brand that makes a full suite of hypoallergenic, completely odor-free home cleaning products that you can recommend? (I'm looking for a "suite" -- or maybe two "suites" if one doesn't have everything -- to simplify the shopping and ordering.)

Seventh Generation exists, but I'm not sure they have all the different products, and I suspect that being famous doesn't necessarily correspond to being the best. Thanks.

posted by JimN2TAW to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

My slightly cranky opinion is that most the products associated with these tasks--and, in some cases, the tasks themselves--were invented to sell me stuff, and I resist buying them.

So, at risk of sounding like a fucking hippy, I use either plain water, unscented castile soap flakes (as in saponified fat) or very rarely Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds (basically concentrated sodium lauryl sulfate with an extremely light pine scent) in water for basically all of the things you listed, or I don't do them at all.

I can't remember the last time I polished metal or marble, and virtually all of my wood furniture has modern finishes which don't require polish. I do rub either food-grade mineral or linseed oil into the sorts of wood that need oiling, which are cutting boards/wood counters and outdoor teak furniture, respectively. I tend to believe the wood that actually requires polish is limited to furniture with a traditional drying oil finish, which you may have; if you do, I'm afraid I don't have a recommendation. I've heard of people using a food-grade drying oil like walnut on cutting boards, but it's relatvely expensive and I'm a bit concerned that it could wind up sticky so I haven't tried it.

Laundry and dishes are exceptions to my rule, and I'm hesitant to make suggestions because a lot depends on how you do these things (e.g. hand wash vs. front load vs. top load vs. the laundromat), and, honestly, I think both do require a dedicated product, but I'm not sure I've loved a dish or laundry detergent brand enough to endorse it in public.
posted by pullayup at 1:00 PM on February 10, 2023

I haven't tried the specifically unscented varieties, but I've had good experience with Method's products, and they have your dishwasher and laundry needs covered.
posted by box at 1:09 PM on February 10, 2023

Best answer: Biokleen is the only brand whose products I’ve never reacted to, and I’ve been using them for 25+ years at this point.

They were originally created for people with multiple chemical sensitivities, and I’ve used their laundry detergent, dish liquid, dishwasher powder, glass cleaner, floor cleaner, spray general purpose cleaner, Bac-out cleaner and odor eliminator, which is still the only odor eliminator I know of that uses actual living cultures to consume the sources of odor, and possibly others I don’t remember right now. Their dish liquid is the only such product I’ve ever tried that truly has no odor
posted by jamjam at 3:16 PM on February 10, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I'm actually a big fan of Seventh Generation "Free and Clear" products. I like their dish soap, multi-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, and hand soap. I haven't used their bathroom cleaning products.

BTW if you like their cleaners you can go online and order big refill containers of them (they're marketed for professional use).

Method doesn't have a ton of scent-free products - their whole marketing ploy is their scents.

For laundry I use Tide Free or All Free Clear.
posted by radioamy at 5:00 PM on February 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Your list of products is really long - for most of those items, you can just clean them with water on a damp cloth, and maybe a tiny dab of dish soap if something is greasy. Quickly wipe things dry after to reduce streaking. For almost all dirt, plain water is enough. Clean more often rather than cleaning harsher.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 5:56 PM on February 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for all your great answers. I'll try them out!
posted by JimN2TAW at 6:41 PM on February 10, 2023

Best answer: E-cloth for window and glass, which I know someone else recommended in another cleaning post on this site, do a fantastic job of cleaning glass and mirrors with just water. The textures of the cleaning and the drying cloth work very well. I’ve not used glass cleaner since purchasing them.
posted by hilaryjade at 4:51 AM on February 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: 2nding the Tide Free or All Free for unscented/hypoallergenic laundry detergent. And also the Seventh Generation - I really like their dish soap (for handwashing dishes). I think they have some that are scented, but I get the one that isn't.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:16 PM on February 11, 2023

Best answer: Nature Clean is hypoallergenic and scent-free. I am allergic to a LOT of things, as well as scent-sensitive, and I have never had a problem with them! They have a suite of products that should cover a lot of your bases, though not all of them.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 2:16 AM on February 13, 2023