5 cleaning ingredients to avoid – are they secretly making your allergies worse? Here's what to use instead

It can be tricky to pick new cleaning products. Between swerving disingenuous green washing and finding products that actually work, it's easy to pickup a well-known brand and hope for the best without paying too much attention to the ingredients.

However, cleaning experts warn that there are several common chemicals found in commercial cleaning products that can worsen your allergies and be hazardous to your health.

Here, they share the main five cleaning product ingredients they avoid, and why you should consider green cleaning instead to reduce your allergies.

Cleaning product ingredients pros say to avoid

Now, more than ever, cleaning experts' top cleaning tips include more DIY cleaning solutions and green cleaning alternatives – and for good reason. Strong chemicals are often unnecessary and, while they can be effective, are often too damaging to be worth the payoff. Even with no visual damage, strong chemicals can wear surfaces down over time, or lead to skin and airway irritation.

This, paired with cleaning mistakes that make you sick (such as not ventilating your space as you clean) accumulate over time. This is why the pros suggest avoiding these five ingredients to make your cleaning easier on you and your home.

1. Ammonia

One of the most vital cleaning product ingredients to avoid is ammonia. Most commonly found in bleach, ammonia is a common household item that pollutes your air and poses a serious risk to your health.

Josh Miller, CEO of Clean Carpets says, ‘Avoid ammonia which is a common ingredient in many glass cleaners since ammonia can cause severe irritation to the respiratory tract; it also irritates the skin, especially for asthma or allergy-prone individuals.’

Ammonia can also be dangerous if mixed with other chemicals, whether accidental or not, so using it also means brushing up on the cleaning products you should never mix – adding extra work onto cleaning.

Instead, Josh suggests, ‘Replace ammonia-based products by switching to cleaning with vinegar or citrus-based cleaners, which can do similar degreasing and glass cleaning.'

2. Perchloroethylene

Dry cleaning clothes at home and cleaning upholstery might seem like a good budget hack to save money on cleaning, but it exposes you to more dangerous chemicals, such as perchloroethylene, says Evie Graham, professional cleaner and founder of Wasted Direct.

‘Common in dry-cleaning solutions and some spot removers, it's a known carcinogen. I opt for steam cleaning with the best steam cleaners and steam mops, or plant-based dry-cleaning alternatives.’

3. Chlorine

The only time you should be using chlorine is when shocking a pool. Otherwise, the risks and adverse health benefits are not worth it says Josh Miller, cleaning expert

‘Although chlorine is present in many bleach-based products, it is an irritant to eyes and lungs and potentially causes respiratory damage if inhaled over a period of time.

‘You may replace chlorine bleach with a milder chemical such as cleaning with hydrogen peroxide, which is equally effective for disinfection.’

4. Strong fragrances, also known as Phthalates

Phthalates – or synthetic fragrance additives – are not as serious as some of the other entries on this list, but they are best avoided when you can. There are plenty of other ways to make a home smell nice when you’re sensitive to fragrance, such as natural scents or essential oils. You can test out a selection such as LagunaMoon essential oils pack of six from Amazon cheaply.

Alessandro Gazzo, cleaning expert at Emily’s Maids of Dallas, says, ‘I think you should avoid fragrances if you’re sensitive to strong fragrances. If that’s the case, look for odor-free or fragrance-free options. You can find them under the ingredient list, usually listed as Fragrance or Parfum. Instead, you can use cleaning products with the tags unscented or neutral scent.'

5. Sodium hydroxide

Cleaning ovens and drains might seem like hard tasks that need strong chemical products, but there are several ways to clean an oven without chemicals or freshen up drains to stop musty smells without the need to rely on harsh additives such as sodium hydroxide.

Evie Graham, a professional cleaner says, ‘Present in oven cleaners and drain openers, sodium hydroxide is extremely corrosive. Instead, I use a paste of baking soda and water for oven cleaning, and a mixture of baking soda, vinegar, and hot water for drains.’

Avoiding harsh chemicals in your cleaning products is a great way to make your home a little less toxic – especially if you have allergies, pets, or children. If you do have some chemical-based cleaning solutions in your home, consider implementing color-coding cleaning practices to keep chemicals secure and avoid making dangerous mixes that could be hazardous to your health.