If we wouldn’t want it for our family, we wouldn’t ask you to use it near yours. We don’t formulate our products with these ingredients:
A floor cleaner that cleans away dirt and grime, brightens your floor and provides lasting protection.
Create a protective coating or shine on a surface.
For competitive reasons, the supplier of this ingredient has asked us to keep the details confidential, and we're legally bound to do so. But we can tell you that it is a film former that creates a coating or shine on the surface. This means that the surface has an added level of protection, and also has the shine that helps the surface look its best. And, it has met our strict Greenlist™ standards for health and environmental effects.
Help ensure even distribution of ingredients.
Ethoxydiglycol is a solubilizer that can also be found in hair products, makeup and bath products. It ensures even distribution of the ingredients throughout a product, to help it work better. No matter how much you shake or blend a formula that combines oil and water, over time the oils will separate from the rest of the liquid - just like salad dressing. A solubilizer like Ethoxydiglycol helps keep a formula well mixed. Ethoxydiglycol is one of many glycol ethers, which are solvents used for various purposes including as solubilizers. While some groups have said glycol ethers could cause health effects, studies indicate this would only potentially occur when a person is exposed at very high levels over time. At the concentrations at which we use glycol ethers in our products, they have low toxicity and break down quickly after use. So, we feel that based on the scientific data, they can be used without harm.
Phenoxyethanol is a solubilizer that can also be found in makeup, baby products and bath soaps. It ensures even distribution of the ingredients throughout a product, to help it work better. No matter how much you shake or blend a formula that combines oil and water, over time the oils will separate from the rest of the liquid - just like salad dressing. A solubilizer like Phenoxyethanol helps keep a formula well mixed.
Adjusts the pH of a product to improve stability.
Ammonium Hydroxide is commonly referred to as ammonia and is found in air, soil and water. Many consumers use it at home for cleaning and laundry. It’s a cleaning agent that removes dirt, and it can also be used as a pH adjuster that alters the pH of a product to improve stability. Every formula has an optimum pH to make it work best. For example, a formula that’s more acidic works better for soap scum removal. Its opposite, a formula that’s more alkaline, might be more effective at removing grease or greasy soils. We use pH adjusters to make sure we achieve the best pH for a particular job. Also, the pH of a formula can affect how long it lasts within a container – for example limiting its tendency to rust in a steel can. Household ammonia has a strong odor; by using Ammonium Hydroxide in combination with other ingredients, we can achieve the same cleaning results while using much less ammonia.
Break down dirt and deposits.
Ethoxylated Alcohol is a cleaning agent that can also be found in a variety of products including toothpaste and shampoos. It removes dirt and deposits by surrounding dirt particles to loosen them from the surface they're attached to, so they can be rinsed away. Ethoxylation is the process of treating a fatty acid alcohol to give it detergent properties.
Oleic Acid is a cleaning agent and a type of fatty acid that occurs naturally in some foods; others are Stearic Acid, Lauric Acid, Myristic Acid and Palmitic Acid. In cosmetics and personal care products, these fatty acids are used in cleansing creams, soaps and pastes. Oleic Acid removes dirt and deposits by surrounding dirt particles to loosen them from the surface they're attached to, so they can be rinsed away.
Removes soap scum and soils.
Pentasodium Pentetate is a chelator that can also be found in hair colors and other hair and bath products. It removes soap scum and mineral deposits that are caused by hard water. The word chelator (pronounced "key-lay-tor") comes from the Greek word chele, or claw. Think of a chelator as a tiny claw that reaches out and grabs the minerals in soap scum or soils, to keep them from depositing on a surface. By binding to the soap scum or deposit, Pentasodium Pentetate allows them to be rinsed away.
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Help maintain a product formula over time.
Benzotriazolyl Dodecyl p-Cresol is a stabilizer that can also be found in body wash, shampoo and laundry detergent. It is a light (UV) stabilizer that helps prevent fading and maintain the color of a product when it is exposed to light over time. It works by absorbing ultraviolet light.
Hydrogen Peroxide is an alternative to chlorine-based bleach that can also be found in products such as mouthwash, hair products and teeth whiteners. It can be added to household cleaning products to remove or lessen stains and odors. You probably have a bottle of over-the-counter-strength Hydrogen Peroxide in your medicine cabinet, since many people use it as an antiseptic as well. It can also be used to make foam, or as a stabilizer to maintain a product as it is exposed to air, light, or heat.
Protects a product against microbial growth to maintain performance.
Dimethyl Oxazolidine is a preservative. It helps maintain product quality and performance over time. Some people raise concerns about preservatives, because a small number of individuals have allergies to them just as some people have allergies to nuts or bees. But preservatives play a very important role in food, cosmetics and household products. Without preservatives, many products would not last more than a week or two before being contaminated by bacteria, mold or yeast. So, we feel the best choice is to add preservatives in the smallest effective quantity to protect our products, but to list these preservatives in our formulas so that those with allergies in the family can make informed choices.