Green Product Review: Creamy Lemon Cleanser

Product: Creamy Cleanser from Earth Friendly Products

Uses: Replacement for toxic scouring powders. Effective at deep cleaning and polishing stainless steel, porcelain, hard surface counters, corian counter tops, and other bath and kitchen surfaces.

Ingredients: Purified water, Lemon oil, xanthan gum, crystalline silica, 100% natural anionic coconut kernel oil-based surfactant.

Cost: $4.09 for 17oz. Also available in bulk.

Eco facts:

• All Earth Friendly Products are non-toxic and plant-based.
• This cleaner is free of phosphates, chlorine, petroleum chemicals and an amazing amount of other harmful ingredients.
• 100% biodegradable cleaner.
• All parts of the container are easily recycled; even the cap! HUGE plus.
• Septic and greywater safe.
• Never tested on animals.
• The company donates to and participates in a number of eco-minded local and global organizations.
• Company posts all their MSDS product sheets online. BIG bonus points!

WHAT I THINK:

So far I’ve tried out about four or five products from this company and this one is my least favorite. That said, let’s start with cons.

SO HARD TO RINSE! This is my number one complaint. You apply this cleanser as directed (squeeze a quarter sized amount of cleaner onto damp cloth, wipe on surface to be cleaned, rinse and let dry). It all goes as planned up to the rinse stage. It took me forever to get this rinsed off surfaces, my tub, the sink; really everywhere I used it. It wasted a lot of my time when I tried to use it on large areas.

Didn’t work great. Honestly, I feel that plain old baking soda scrubbed away more dirt, plus scrubs faster and rinses cleaner than this cleanser.

In pro news – I LOVE how this smells. OMG it smells like you’re growing a fresh lemon tree in your bathroom or kitchen after using it, and not a fake weird lemon, but REAL lemons. Awesome scent. Also, while I felt that it was hard to rinse and didn’t clean large areas well, it did get some small specific areas nice and clean – like the grooves in the sink drain and the areas around the faucets. I squeezed some onto an old toothbrush, and it worked nicely.

Of course the eco-perks are excellent. If you’re resigned to a commercial scrubbing cleaner, this one is so much healthier than one of the more toxic traditional store bought scouring powders.

Happy Tree Score:

3 out of 5 happy little trees. The fact that this company rocks overall, and has many other worthwhile products scored this item a three. However, I would suggest plain old baking soda over this cleanser. Who should use this? People who only want to use a ‘real’ not homemade scouring cleaner. This one rinses no worse than some toxic conventional scouring cleaners I’ve seen, but is made without those icky ingredients. Also, I’d personally use this on my sink. Even though it’s hard to rinse, it pays off when my kitchen smells like lemons. I would never EVER use this on a large surface.

Now, in case you’re wondering about other products from Earth Friendly Products, I’ve reviewed many, and liked all of them so far besides this lemon cleanser. Read my other reviews below (the Parsley Cleaner is amazing! BTW).

• Parsley Plus Surface Cleaner
• Orange Plus Surface Cleaner from Earth Friendly Products
• Organic Lavender Window Cleaner