Understanding cleaning product labels without a chemistry degree.

Why are ingredient lists so confusing?

Because they’re designed to meet strict regulations. Which means they use:

• Scientific names
• Group terms, like “fragrance”, instead of listing out individual ingredients
  

But when you know what to look for, they make a lot more sense. So let’s look at the label.

First things first.

Remember… everything is a chemical. Water, oxygen, vinegar.

So if a cleaning brand claims it’s “chemical-free”? Bold claim.

Instead of worrying whether a product contains chemicals or not (impossible), it’s better to consider what the ingredients are doing and how much of each is being used.

How to read an ingredients list.

1. Start with the first few words.

Ingredients should be listed in order of amount. So the top of the list shows what the product is mostly made of. Conversely, the last few items make up much less of the total and can often only be present in trace amounts.

2. Check if the product will do what you want.

Most cleaning products contain similar sets of ingredients:

• Surfactants to lift and remove dirt and grease
• Enzymes to break down stains (like food, sweat, grass)
• Builders to soften water (which helps surfactants work better)
• Fragrance to add scent
  

The names can differ, but the jobs they do are the same.

3. Don’t panic at long words.

A chemical name that’s impossible to say out loud doesn’t automatically make the ingredient something to worry about. For example,

• Cocos Nucifera Oil is just coconut oil
• Citric Acid comes from citrus fruits
• Cocamidopropyl betaine is a surfactant that comes from coconuts
  

We don’t need to worry about how scary a word sounds. We just need to look at what it does and how much of it is being used.

4. Understand “fragrance”.

“Fragrance” or “parfum” is often several ingredients. Brands don’t tend to list out the entire set of scents used because the exact blend is part of their recipe and that’s something they are allowed to keep to themselves. The list can also be super long and complicated so brands tend to stick to simply “Fragrance”!

It’s also important to note that fragrance ingredients are often only present in tiny trace amounts.

What matters more when dealing with fragrance is whether a product has been dermatologically tested and of course, whether you personally like how it smells!

5. Watch out for “free-from”.

Free from….

It sounds good, but products can remove some ingredients yet still use others that are similar to get the job done. For example, some fragrance-free products might have removed the perfume but they then add in other ingredients to mask or ‘neutralize’ the odour of the formulation.

It’s better to focus on whether a product works and how much you need to use.

If a product uses large doses, you’re putting more ingredients (in total) into your home and down the drain. Concentrated products (hello smol!) mean you’ll use less and rinse less away.

Curious about how ingredients are used (and avoided) in smol? Check out The Right Stuff.