A natural cleaner can be an attractive option for your household. Green cleaning products offer an alternative to the detergents, abrasives, and acids that make up chemical cleaners. Exposure to these elements can be harmful to your health. Even though natural cleaning products are safer because they are non-toxic, many people still opt for chemical products because they disinfect effectively. 

When someone compares natural cleaners to synthetic/chemical cleaners, the primary concern is the effectiveness of natural products. It is essential to understand that the sanitizing and degreasing abilities of a natural disinfectant cleaner depend on its ingredients. Some natural substances are as effective as their chemical counterparts, if not more so. Unfortunately, not all green cleaning products have these ingredients, so you need to find options that contain these powerful components.

Here is what you need to know to select an effective natural cleaner.

What Are Natural Cleaners?

A truly natural cleaner contains non-synthetic ingredients. In other words, the elements occur in nature with minimal human intervention. Though they may be refined in some way, they are not altered by chemical ingredients.

Unfortunately, no set standard governs which products a company can market as natural. However, the EPA does have Safer Choice and Design for the Environment (DfE) labels that denote products that meet strict guidelines for safety, eco-friendliness, and effectiveness. If you are concerned about the environment and the safety of your family, the non-chemical cleaning products on these lists are excellent choices. 

Common natural cleaner ingredients include vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, castile soap, citric acid, and essential oils. 

Do these natural cleaners actually work? Yes, but some green cleaning products are formulated for specific purposes, and they may not be effective in all situations. For example, baking soda works as a natural degreaser, but it cannot safely disinfect a surface like other natural ingredients, such as citric acid. 

Here is a closer look at which natural cleaner ingredients work best in a given situation. 

Cleaning

Natural cleaners are effective at cleaning surfaces. Some common household ingredients are effective cleaners. For example, vinegar or lemon juice can also clean surfaces, and baking soda works as a degreaser and odor reducer.

Certain essential oils, aloe, and saline can also work as cleaning agents.

Lesser-known natural ingredients can be even more effective cleaners. Castile soap, which is made from olive oil, is an example of these potent natural cleaners. This cleaner, named after the Spanish province where it was invented, works by binding itself to dirt, germs, and grease. You can then simply rinse these unwanted elements away with the soap.

Castile soap is an example of a natural ingredient that is as effective as its chemical counterparts.

Castile soap does bind to germs, but it is even more effective when combined with a disinfecting substance like citric acid. Natural cleaning products, such as Mama Suds All-Purpose Cleaner, combine these two substances (along with others) to create a powerful natural disinfectant cleaner. 

Sanitizing

Many people will use natural cleaners for washing counters, tables, and even their floors. However, when it comes to sanitizing, they still reach for bleach instead of a natural alternative. They may not realize that some common household ingredients are effective at killing bacteria. You can naturally sanitize your home with isopropyl alcohol, which has strong anti-bacterial properties. Hydrogen peroxide is another sanitizer that you probably already have in your medicine cabinet. Vinegar and citric acid also have similar properties.

These ingredients work on their own as sanitizers, and they may be combined with other non-chemical cleaning agents to increase their effectiveness as all-purpose cleaners.

Disinfecting

Do natural cleaners disinfect? According to the EPA, alcohol, citric acid, and other natural disinfectant ingredients are effective. The agency maintains a list of natural disinfectants that can kill bacteria and viruses. It considers products with one of four active ingredients: citric acid, lactic acid, ethanol, and hydrogen peroxide. Three of these four — ethanol, citric acid, and hydrogen peroxide — are ingredients in green cleaning products that effectively eliminate viruses, including COVID-19.

Because they do not contain synthetic chemicals, these disinfecting agents are better for the environment and your health than their chemical alternatives.

What to Look For

Natural cleaning products are better for the environment and less harmful to your health than their synthetic counterparts. However, you need to be sure that the natural ingredients in your green cleaning products can accomplish the necessary cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting tasks to keep your home clean and germ- and bacteria-free.

You do not want to purchase a green cleaning product only to find that it is not effective. However, you can improve your odds of getting a reliable cleaner by opting for products made with proven dirt eliminators, such as castile soap.

It is even more important to look at the ingredients of natural disinfectants and sanitizers. These products need to work to ensure your family's health, so it is imperative to look for the right ingredients, such as citric acid, hydrogen peroxide, ethanol, or alcohol.

Finding the Best All-Purpose Natural Cleaner

If you are looking for an all-purpose natural cleaner, you must ensure that it has the ingredients you need to handle any cleaning and disinfecting job.

Our All-Purpose Cleaner provides both cleaning and disinfecting agents. It contains castile soap, so it can bond to dirt and germs and rinse them away. This product, available in regular strength and concentrate, also contains citric acid, which can safely disinfect surfaces. Additional cleaning agents, such as aloe vera and lemon, are also included on the list of ingredients. This all-natural cleaner has the elements you need for any cleaning and disinfecting task.

Contact MamaSuds to learn more about our natural, non-toxic cleaning products or browse our full line of cleaning products.