The hunt for nontoxic air fresheners and carpet cleaning
November 3, 2008 by Susie Collins
I worked on a question today from Ruth (at left), one of our flock with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, who emailed me about two problems she’s having in her apartment building. The first problem is about the toxic air fresheners used in the common areas, and the second is the landlady’s plans to have the hallway carpets professionally cleaned.
In Ruth’s first email, I could feel her frustration:
…after speaking with the assistant manager and the land lord late last week, they have decided that they would just remove one of the gel type fresheners…the one that is in the main entry that I come in from my car in the parking lot….they said that there are just too many odors in the building coming out of people’s apartments, so it is necessary for them to use these. They thought of other things (those perfume mounts on the walls that spritz out fragrance periodically, like in the nursing homes…that is one of the reasons I am not working now!) and they came up with having the hall rugs cleaned….I asked that they not use fragrance in the solution…they can’t honor that because the rugs are so dirty and stinky…thus they “have to use it.”
They asked me if I knew of an alternative….I thought perhaps there was an essential oil air freshener (solid?) that could be placed in the hallway instead, but have not found anything…
Luckily, Ruth’s landlady is open to alternative solutions. While I was researching air fresheners, Ruth emailed me with an update on the carpets:
The carpet cleaners are scheduled to come on Thursday, the 6th, and they will do just the halls. I spoke with my land lady just now, and she said she called them right away after I spoke with her the other day, explained my situation to them and they understood that there should be no fragrance used. It is a dry type of cleaning that they do, apparently…they don’t use water. Not sure what that is about. But it sounds like she did her best to let them know about my issue with fragrance. So we will see what happens.
I was so happy to hear this! What I was most impressed with was the way Ruth got proactive, went to speak to her landlady. Brava, Ruth!
Meanwhile, I asked my Twitter community (an online social network) about any suggestions for nontoxic air fresheners. I received many suggestions, some ideas more suitable for home use than for an apartment building, but they are all good ideas. As always, people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity should be very careful when using any product; what might work for one person might be problematic for another.
Allie at Allie’s Answers recommends the Everyday Stain & Odor Remover from Earth Friendly Products. Is there a canary out there who has tried this product? Please give us your thoughts in the comment section.
Of the rest of the suggestions, some involve natural scents, which may or may not work for people with MCS.
Adonya Wong at Healing… Through the Eyes of Autism says she uses “Pure Citrus Orange by North American, it’s 100% natural & non aerosol. If the halls are carpeted, sprinkle baking soda on it. If not, mop with vinegar & water. Great odor fighters. Or dab your fave essential oil on a cotton ball & ‘hide’ it in several places.”
Recycle Your Day says, “We use Uni-Fresh, Air Freshner, Lavendar Scent by Earth Friendly Products - non toxic!” Lavendar is one of the very few natural scents that I can tolerate.
Two true Earth mamas recommend herbs straight from the garden. Arwen at Musings on the Tarot recommends fresh rosemary and sage (I grow both in my garden and LOVE them!), or DIY air fresheners with essential oil and distilled water. And Rose at A Little Bit of Green suggests fresh eucalyptus, which she says she’s always loved from her father’s floral shop, but would not work for me personally because I have a bad reaction to eucalyptus and other menthol type botanicals (up my nose and in my eyes!).
And in my hunt, I found natural Aromatherapy Refreshing Sprays at Vermont Soap Organics.
Your thoughts?
Photo from Ruth. Used with permission.
UPDATE!!!: Leslie, aka La Mama Naturale, at Recycle Your Day, has found just what we are looking for! It’s a nontoxic air freshener made my Method: no phthalates, in a container that 80% recycled paper, lavender scent (which as I noted is a botanical that I can tolerate).
I need to confess that the Method product was suggested on Twitter yesterday by the nice folks at Aquatic Eco-Systems, but I couldn’t find the link to the Method website to check the ingredients. And now we know! Yep, nontoxic!!
Hi Susie, great post, as Ruth’s quest for MCS friendly (healthy) air fresheners and carpet cleaners effect us all. You go Ruth–great being proactive, you not only help yourself, but you educate at the same time.
When we moved our daughter into her dorm, I noticed the air freshners all over the hallways, especially near the bathrooms. Ugh! So I too would love to find a non-toxic air freshener strong enough to use in apartments, dorms etc. Love to pass it on to the University–I think they’d be glad to use a non-toxic product if we could find one.
Here’s what I use in my house. A bowl of water either with cinnamon sticks, or cut up orange or lemon. Microwave for a good five minutes, remove from microwave and set the bowl in a place you’d like to smell wonderful. Microwave again if you want to refresh the scent.
I think Baking soda is the best nont toxic oder absorber- or some sort of essential oil machine that puts out steam on occasion. The whole concept of air fresheners is pretty toxic though. It’s too bad so many places use toxic carpets in the first place, glue and nail them down & make it so they can not be cleaned without bringing in machinery.
Go Ruth for fighting for your right to fresh air!
Wow! This is amazing, Susie…I feel like a celebrity!!! I hope that by bringing this up it will help others who face the same situation. It’s so much easier to control the environment when you own your own place! When you don’t, it is a challenge every day. I really like your suggestions that you came up with, plus both Leslie and Kerry’s. Thanks a bunch!!! I went on Debr Lynne Dadd’s site, too, and found an idea…take a cotton ball and put some of a favorite essential oil drops on it, and stick it into a container of artificial flowers on a table…that can be done in a halway, as well. I’m going to look at that for my apt. and suggest it to my L/lady.
Being proactive sure makes one feel better when you have MCS…even though I know there are days when I won’t feel up to doing much at all. Those days pass eventually. It is amazing how much LESS lonely one feels, when they share the
problem with someone else, rather than just isolating with it.
I’ve gotta get out and vote yet today! Hope the lines won’t be too long and not too many frags on people, since it is later in the day here.
Forgot to mention that the little video of the boy talking about getting out to vote is totally charming, sweet, funny, and I want to take him home with me!!!!!
I’m still hunting for an air freshener that can REPLACE the toxic ones. By “replace” I mean the way it’s engineered– a contraption, probably plastic
with the nontoxic fragrance inside. Because we can’t expect institutions or public buildings to be willing to pay for the labor of sprinkling or spraying or soaking cotton balls with essential oils every so often. They want to buy a product ready-made that they can put out and forget– it’s the cost-effective solution to a problem that they are looking for.
Remember that the highly toxic synthetic ingredient in commercial perfume that makes the scent last a long time is the phthalate. That’s the wicked stuff. I don’t know whether that’s what we canaries react to in synthetic perfume, but scientific study has proven that phthalate is toxic.
Can we find a comparable air freshener product that’s nontoxic? And further, can we find a nontoxic product that doesn’t get people with MCS sick? That’s the challenge.
That said, all of these suggestions we’ve received on this topic are great solutions for home use!!
Wow!!! Thanks for linking up to my response on Twitter. I’m delighted to have made your list.
All the suggestions here are great. Indeed baking soda and vinegar are the least expensive and are definitely effective. I occassionally sprinkle baking soda on our rug and vac up after letting it set for awhile. Works like a charm! When I cook a big meal for the holidays and have that food smell going on…I will use the method of boiling/simmer citrus peels and cinnamon sticks with fresh herbs such as lavendar, rosemary or rose petals if available. You really can’t beat it- eliminates odors - fast! Method also has plug-ins that may be more effective in your situation with the land lady! They have a scent that’s lavendar and lemongrass- sounds heavenly. I also know that my health food store carries all natural- non toxic plug ins as well…but I can’t think of the brand for the life of me! Darn. Good luck. I hope all the suggestions by everyone find you some luck! 
Thank you Leslie aka La Mama Naturale!! Here’s the link to Method– it looks like a good product! Just what we are looking for. The $64,000 question is: Can Ruth and others with MCS tolerate it??
http://www.methodhome.com/m/Product.aspx?id=003039
Hi Susie!
Ah the air fresheners! I cannot stand to watch the airwick and glade or any other commercials. To me that is like paying someone to get allergies, lung problems and perhaps even cancers.
You have many good ideas listed here as alternatives. Personally I just open the windows whenever I can to have a fresh breeze come through. And as for carpet I am so lucky as we only have some on the stairs, so no need for a carpet cleaner.
Hi Evita, I am with you! I have 22 windows in my house and they are all open all the time!!
But an air freshener replacement like Method’s would be a good alternative that we could suggest to institutions like schools and hospitals, and communal residential living like apartment buildings, where those of us with MCS might be exposed as we come and go in our lives and work.
“Pure Citrus Orange by North American, it’s 100% natural & non aerosol.”
I haven’t seen this stuff so I can’t comment on it specifically. I just want to say that whenever I see something using orange for scents or for cleaners, my red flag goes up because you’re more than likely to find the active ingredient is d-limonene. Yes it’s an “all natural” extraction, but it’s also known as an MCS sensitizer.
As far as cooking oranges and/or their peels (or those of other citrus fruits), you’ll probably want to make sure they’re organic. Oranges will have pesticides and also dyes (because people who don’t live in Florida don’t realize that oranges don’t come off the trees with perfect orange coloring).
Regarding phthalates: Years ago I had to try to figure out what I was reacting to. I knew I tended to react to scents that lingered and also to our minivan. I finally figured out that both of these have phthalates: perfumes to make fragrances linger and the minivan because it’s used as a plastics softener. I don’t know if it’s actually the phthalates that I react to or if it tends to “carry” the truly offending chemicals in higher concentrations. Guess it doesn’t really matter because they all stink and they’re not likely to go away!
Hi Mac, thanks so much for your input!
I remember years ago someone coming in to my shop and trying to sell me the Pure Citrus Orange stuff. I remember his claim that it was natural, but I also remember not liking it at all and feeling highly suspicious that it was truly natural. I don’t know what company it was. So your thoughts on that are interesting and worth the red flag.
The phthalate issue is VERY interesting. It’s in the news right now and people are becoming very aware of its toxicity and its presence in so many products. What fascinates me is that we canaries are reacting to all the products that contain phthalates– the plastics, the perfumes and so forth. I hate those perfumes that are engineered to STICK; it is often impossible to get that crap out of something like fabric once it’s permeated. And I often wonder the same thing: is it the phthalate itself that I react to or what it’s doing to the product?
Wow…the Old Gods are watching out for us! I AM SO HAPPY TO FIND YOU. Here is product we found through the MCS Vine in Seattle. We have used it while we lived in our car (6 months on the beaches, roads and driveways of Oahu), and in public spaces/places. It’s called PURE ayre, it’s made in Kent, WA (small company) and here’s their website http://www.pureayre.com. If you’re in Hawaii, DownToEarth sells it. The ingredients sited on the bottle: purified water, food grade enzyme technology, natural mint, food grade preservative. I’m gonna see whether their site gets any more specific. But, we have used this in laundry with baking soda to help with getting thrift store treasures cleared (sometimes it works, and sometimes the treasure can’t be salvaged even after a dozen washings.)
We’re a new MCS Blog, come visit us at http://www.vardofortwo.blogspot.com
Mahalo, Mokihana
Aloha Mokihana and welcome to The Canary Report flock! It’s great fun to have someone with Hawaii roots join us! Your websites are wonderful. As a writer, I especially love Sam and Sally http://samandsally-vardofortwo.blogspot.com/ , very creative, very wonderful. Thanks much for the product recommendation!