Best Non-Toxic Cleaning Brands and Products

A few weeks ago, we talked about 3 essential cleaning product swaps. Today, I’d like to follow up and share my favorite non-toxic cleaning brands (and products). Below, you’ll find a list of the brands that I turn to over and over again. These brands are transparent about their ingredients, which enables me to make informed choices about the products I bring into my home.

First, let’s recap a few of the important points we talked about in the cleaning swaps chat…

• The US Government doesn’t test cleaning products and doesn’t mandate that companies test them either.
• Cleaning companies are only required to list active ingredients or ingredients of “known concern.”
• When you take a deep dive into researching cleaning products and the ingredients used to make many of these products, it’s concerning to read about the impact they have on the body (i.e. disrupting hormones, triggering respiratory issues, etc.)
• Chemicals are NOT bad. The goal is not to be chemical free (that’s impossible as everything has a chemical composition). The concern is that some of the chemicals used to make body and cleaning products today are known to have a negative effects on the body (disrupt hormones, cause respiratory issues, etc.).

3 Steps to a Healthier Home Environment

While it would be great to see change in the regulation and accountability of cleaning products, and we can certainly advocate for such changes, that change isn’t here just yet. So let’s focus on the steps we can take right now that directly impact our home environment and family.

• STEP ONE: Choose one product at a time to swap. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the products you want to swap, focus on JUST ONE a month or as products run out. You may even find that you don’t need as many cleaning products, so focus on your cleaning needs and find products that are multi-purpose. You’ll probably find that as you go non-toxic, you also simplify your cleaning routine. Join my free 5-Day Natural Cleaning Challenge to get started with 3 essential cleaning swaps.
• STEP TWO: Learn how to make your own cleaners. You don’t have to make everything. (I don’t!) Instead, learn the basics of how to make an all-purpose cleaner, a glass cleaner, and a homemade scrub. These 3 products will meet a wide range of cleaning needs. Even if you don’t make these cleaners regularly, there’s POWER in knowing HOW to make your own products. DIY Natural Cleaning covers how to make the basics and so much more.
• STEP THREE: Build a list of trust-worthy companies. There aren’t a ton of options on the market when it comes to trustworthy cleaning companies. Kind of sad, right? But this is slowly changing. There are more options today than there were when I started this journey. Knowing which companies are transparent and using proven-to-be-safe ingredients is helpful when navigating the tricky world of cleaning products. Below, I’ll share my favorite cleaning brands.

Best Non-Toxic Cleaning Brands and Products

Below, you’ll find my favorite non-toxic cleaning products and brands. Some of these brands may be found in stores (I only have experience with US stores) and all may be found online (via Amazon or the brand’s website).

• Branch Basics: My favorite cleaning company, run by 3 women with a passion for helping families #tossthetoxins. With one cleaning concentrate, you can clean every surface in your home and launder your garments. Use code livesimply for 10% off a starter kit. (Listen to my interview with one of the founders of Branch Basics here.)
• Seventh Generation: An easy brand for most people to find and everything is very affordable (compared to some pricier options). I stick with their unscented products.
• Better Life: This brand is easier to find online (via Amazon) than in the store. I love the dishwasher soap and laundry soap.
• Molly Suds: A local company to me, but they sell nationwide across the US. A great option for powder laundry soap and dryer balls (a replacement for dryer sheets).
• Ecover: My favorite brand of dishwasher soap. Also makes dish soap.
• BioKleen: Makes great dishwasher soap, stain and odor remover, and laundry soap.
• Plant Therapy Essential Oils: Everyone has an opinion about which essential oil brand is best. I am not a rep or loyal to any one company. I use oils from a few different companies, including the big ones you’ve heard about. The brand I turn to the most due to quality and price is Plant Therapy. Mountain Rose Herbs is close second. I like to diffuse an essential oil in our home every so often instead of spraying any kind of air freshener or scent in our house. My favorites include: Germ Fighter and Eucalyptus. I use this diffuser in white.
• Dr. Bronner’s: I use castile soap and/or Sal Suds (both made by Dr. Bronner’s) for many of my cleaning needs. Many of the recipes in my cleaning book rely on this ingredient. I love to use it to clean the oven, make a scrub cleaner, as an all-purpose cleaner, and as dish soap. These products are highly concentrated so a little bit goes a long way. Yes, this product is used to make many products, but it’s also a great stand-alone soap.
• PUR Home: This small business is the next best thing to DIYing your products, because the ingredients used are super basic (similar to the ingredients and formulations used in the cleaning book recipes). PUR Home sells everything from laundry soap to dish soap to scrub cleaners to a cleaning concentrate (similar to Branch Basics in that you can use this one concentrate to clean multiple surfaces).
• Common Good: I’m a sucker for good packaging and brand design and Common Goods nails it in both areas. I love the refillable aspect of this brand, with the refillable laundry and dish soap and they even sell Wool Dryer Balls (which I will teach you how to make in this post). Everything they sell ranks as an A with the Environmental Working Group, meaning the brand is “squeaky clean” as far as ingredients (see what I did there).
• Puracy: Puracy makes a ton of different products, ranging from general cleaning needs to glass spray bottles and even deodorant (I can’t vouch for their skincare products, just the cleaning products).
• Ecos: This brand is easy to find in health food stores, Whole Foods, and on Amazon. All the products, ranging from dish soap to laundry soap to furniture polish and toilet bowl cleaner to stain remover spray, get an A rating with the Environmental Working Group.
• BonAmi: A famous scouring powder that’s cheap and easy to find in most stores. I don’t recommend the spray cleaner from this brand, but the scouring powder is a great option and receives an A rating from the Environmental Working Group due to the stellar ingredients.