Homemade natural cleaning products are used by billions of people worldwide to keep our homes clean and free from dust, dirt, odors, stains and bacteria. Effective homemade cleaning products include kitchen, bathroom and surface cleaners, laundry detergents and furniture polish, upholstery cleaners, stain removers and even dishwashing products.
Anyone with the time, skills, and materials can create natural cleaning products that restore the sparkle and shine!
The household cleaning industry is a growing sector and the global household cleaning products market is projected to grow by over 85 billion US dollars in just seven years.
In this article, we describe the functions and ingredients of natural cleaning products, including detergents, deodorizers, abrasives and limescale removers. We provide details on how to make your own natural household cleaning products and benefit from this fast-growing market sector.
4 reasons to formulate your own natural cleaning products
There are many reasons why formulating your own natural cleaning products is a great idea, but here are our top four:
- Cheaper
Making your own natural and organic household cleaning products can save you money, as they’re often cheaper to make and last longer.
- Environmentally friendly
Homemade cleaning products use refillable and reusable packaging. Using natural cleaning products can help protect the planet from environmental damage.
- Reduced risk of allergies
The natural ingredients used in homemade cleaning products reduce the risk of allergies or irritation that can come from using chemicals found in shop-bought cleaning products.
- Brand boosting
Natural ingredients inside homemade cleaning products will appeal to your existing customers if you have a natural beauty brand, so you might want to think about adding natural household cleaning products to your range.
Surfactants in natural cleaning products
Natural household cleaning products use detergent and foaming surfactants to remove dirt, grease and other stains effectively. But what are surfactants, and why are they essential to natural cleaning products?
The basics of surfactants?
The word surfactant is a shorter term for surface active agent, which actually describes how it functions – it lowers the interface surface tension between two liquids; between a gas and a liquid or between a liquid and a solid.
Imagine water and oil mixed together. They will not form a homogenous mixture. Where the two liquids touch each other (interface), there will be tension that keeps the two liquids separate. If surfactants are added to this mixture, they will lower the tension and allow water and oil to mix.
How does this help in household cleaning products?
A surfactant molecule contains two parts. One part is hydrophilic, which means it is attracted to water. The other part is hydrophobic which means it is ‘water-fearing’ but ‘oil-loving’ and so is attracted to oil in the dirt and grime.
These opposing forces reduce the surface tension and loosen the dirt and grime on the surface, allowing it to be easily washed away from the surface.
Surfactants aid in cleaning any oil-based impurities from surfaces and fabrics, including food grease from kitchen surfaces, dishes or clothing, or skin oils from bed linen, clothing and upholstery.
Surfactants are also used in natural cleaning products, such as homemade window cleaners and homemade oven cleaners, due to their foaming properties. The foam helps to increase contact time on a soiled surface to allow the surfactants enough time to effectively loosen the dirt.
Formulating with surfactants opens up the door to a whole new and diverse range of products from shampoos, conditioners, hair treatment and styling products, to foaming cleansers, face and body washes and much more!
So, if formulating with surfactants is something you’re interested in, then you’ll probably also want to check out our Diploma in Natural Haircare Formulation and our Diploma in Formulating with Natural Surfactants courses. Please note that these courses don’t go into teaching you how to make natural household products, though. That’s covered in our class, Formulating Natural Household Cleaning Products, which you’ll find inside the Club!
For more information on surfactants and their properties, see our Formulating with Natural Surfactants course.
What other types of ingredients do you need to make natural household cleaning products?
Wetting agents are a type of surfactant that increase the contact between a cleaning product and the surface it is applied to, allowing the product to clean more effectively. Abrasive agents or polishing agents are small, slightly rough particles which are designed to remove dirt. And limescale removers are commonly used in bathroom, dishwashing and laundry products in areas where limescale is likely to build up.
Can I make my own natural household cleaning products at home, and will they be effective?
Although a broad range of products is available on the market for all types of household cleaning, in fact, just a handful of natural household cleaning products are needed to tackle all of your cleaning needs!
The natural ingredients we include in the class are strong enough to tackle even the dirtiest areas, but gentle enough to use around the whole family.
With fewer plastic containers that can be refilled when needed (or you can decide to use no plastic at all), your consumption of single-use plastic packaging can be significantly reduced. Your natural household cleaning products will be a safer option for the environment, making the planet healthier and happier.
The even better news is that you can create your very own natural household cleaning products in the Natural Cosmetic Formulation Club’s Formulating Natural Household Cleaning Products class!
In this class you will discover all there is to know about the science behind natural household cleaning products, as well as getting your hands on five fabulous formulations!
Learn how to make:
- Lemon and Rosemary All-purpose Cleaning Spray
- Eucalyptus Dishwashing Liquid
- Green Mandarin and Petitgrain Laundry Detergent
- Bathroom Cleaning Powder, and
- Furniture Polish balm!
Cleaning our homes can be a way to cleanse the Earth. Each scrub of your brush and every wash of your linen can be a step towards helping solve our planet’s plastic problem and waste worries. Together, with each conscious decision about our products’ ingredients and packaging, we can all be the change this world needs.
Not a member?
No problem! Simply check out our Natural Cosmetic Formulation Club page here to find out how you can join the Club, get access to Formulating Natural Household Cleaning Products and discover more exciting material that’s released on a regular basis.
If you have any questions, please email us at hello@schoolofnaturalskincare.com
