Fresh scent of cleaning products worse for you then traffic pollution

[hardshoulderr]

Here you are mumsnet, this will rock your world
😄😄

I always said cleaning was bad for you.

I’m asthmatic and often lose my voice when cleaning. Asthma nurse said it’s a mix of exertion and cleaning products.
Can’t cope in overly perfumed spaces or shops. Lush or Yankee candle displays are a big no.

Synthetic fragrances interfere with the function of the nervous system quite apart from the damage they do when you breathe them in.

My mum taught me never to use artificial cleaning products 60 years ago. She wasn’t a lentil-knitting hippie but always said the natural products she used were healthier, cheaper and easier to find in the shops. I’ve never in my life seen any reason to buy them and I started running her house at 14 and my own house since I was married at 19.

@HobgoblinNorFoulFiend Do you have any natural cleaning method tis you can share please?

I believe it. I get asthma attacks from aerosol sprays all the time and have a limited number of cleaning products I can use without any effects, where as I rarely struggle with traffic unless it's exceptionally heavy.

Perfume also triggers it. The only scents I can tolerate are citrus and vanilla, so I have lemon cleaning products, orange body wash, and a vanilla body spray.

I’d be really interested to hear what you use please. My daughter seems to be allergic to a lot of of what I am using so I would like natural alternatives. Thanks

Haha love it! Hate the smell of those products

I hate it when you go to holiday accommodation and the whole place reeks of chemical peaches or some such. The bedding is enough to make you heave and you spend the first half hour unplugging plug ins and putting those appalling stick in a scent bottle contraptions in a cupboard.

Just clean the place nicely and open a window for heaven's sake.

Another bugbear for me is the spray attachment on all the cleaning products. Why would anyone want to create a miasma of chemicals to breath in is a mystery to me = plus you can't recycle the bloody thing.

You can make a really cheap multi purpose cleaner with water, a big splash of lemon juice or white vinegar, a squirt of washing up liquid and a few drops of essential oil if you want a particular scent although that bit is optional. I just mix it up and shake it together in an old spray bottle and that cleans all of the surfaces in my home.

For cleaning the shower and sink in the bathroom I just use one of those washing up sponges where you fill up the handle and do a mix of white vinegar and washing up liquid.

For anyone wondering about natural products, buy Nancy Birtwhistle's books. The recipe for every cleaning product you'll ever need. And they work. I don't buy any manufactured cleaning products at all now other than eco washing up liquid.

If you look at her SM, she'll often put product recipes on there for free.

Clean Magic or Clean and Green will cover everything. No I'm not her btw, just a convert!

Yes, perfumes and aerosols are terrible for you. You can clean anything with just dish soap and water.

Yeah this is mainly what I use. Along with white vinegar and water for a few things.

I do have some bleach but that’s for if someone is vomiting/has a stomach bug and I want to disinfect a bit more thoroughly.

I make my own cleaning spray out of star drops, water and essential oil. I'm still alive, so I'm assuming it cleans things to a good degree.

Why would it 'rock our world'?

I can't walk down a cleaning product aisle without feeling woozy.

For those after better products, lemons and vinegar are great if a little messy to make and companies such as Splosh make cleaning products that won't bring people out in hives. I bought a job lot of Splosh when I left the UK and am finally down to my last inch of bathroom spray and am very sad about it!

DH bought some scented cleaning spray that makes me cough up a lung. It's awful. I do have an unscented one that I use sparingly because soap and water does the job I need, most of the time. Even then, I've taken to just pouring it because it gives me nosebleeds, if I spray it.

I don't know why anyone would be surprised by this? White vinegar can do almost everything, and washing up liquid and water. Those scented products a massive waste of money to.

No surprise there.

I have eczema (as does my son) and have used eco laundry balls for years now. Probably over 10 years.

I use no detergent and no softener. They are pointless and when you don't use them, the scent absolutely repels you. It doesn't matter what flavour scent it is, it is gross and so fake and manufactured-smelling.

I am surprised that people haven't moved to eco balls and are still insistent on using these nasty, expensive, smelly products on their clothes. I really thought by now people would have caught up.

They are much better for my skin, my clothes and save me a small fortune (I don't sell them, by the way!)

Do the natural products actually clean stuff properly? Genuine question because I’ve been thinking about changing what I use for ages. I was brought up with a Mum obsessed with bleach and if we had a bug she’d put us in a Dettol bath! My sisters house makes me feel sick with plug ins and scented cleaners. I do like a Spanish cleaning product for the smell but want to go more natural, just worried about the cleanliness aspect.

Because men always rows about this.

I can’t stand any kind of spray cleaning products anymore and have gone back to using good old Cif cream cleaner. I’d forgotten how brilliant it is, can clean anything from trainers to window frames without having to inhale a mist of chemicals!

Er ok.

Nope, no idea. Maybe go have a nap?

This is the thread where a lot of people will learn just how many other people hate the artificial scents they spray everywhere in the name of 'freshness'.

She means MN

Oops. Autocorrect. MN