I remember reading years ago that most people decide what brands of cleaning products to buy (e.g., soap, detergent, and toilet cleaner) based on what their mother bought. It this is true, what do expats do? Most brands in the stores are different than the ones you grew up with. So how do you pick? I try to find recommendations from Stiftung Warentest (the German equivalent to Consumer Reports) or from Ökotest or other test results. In case it’s helpful for others, I’m going to try to write up what I’ve found out so far, starting with the results for bathroom cleaners.
First of all, you should be aware that you don’t need to use a special bathroom cleaner — you can get by fine with just use a regular all-purpose cleaner for the bathroom. This works best if you wipe down surfaces and faucets regularly, to prevent any limescale or soap deposits from forming. (Most sites also recommend that after you shower you use a squeegee to pull water off tile and glass in the shower.) But once limescale deposits have formed it helps to have a bathroom cleaner with some sort of acid in it. But certain acids (like formic acid) are very aggressive and bad for your skin and lungs. They can also damage marble, natural stone, and metal (faucets, for example). The milder lactic acid and citric acid are better for you and the environment, but not as effective. Most bathroom cleaners have fragrances added, which can be irritants or allergens, and many of them are bad for the environment as they don’t break down easily. Some sites also recommend that you use vinegar or lemon juice mixed with water as a natural acid. I’m not sure how well this works.
You can find an overview of the Ökotest results on their website, and more detailed results at www.testberichte.de. Overall they say that (with a few exceptions) the cleaning results are acceptable for most of the products (assuming you spray the cleaner, wait a few minutes, rinse with water, then use a cloth to wipe up the softened residues). The only product that had outstanding cleaning scores was Zekol (from Aldi), but it contains formic acid, a very aggressive acid. So that leaves only the products with okay cleaning abilities, in which case the deciding factor should be the ingredients.
- Safe ingredients:
- Frosch Badreiniger: It cleans with citric acid. Ökotest gives the ingredients a “very good” and the effectiveness a “good”. It contains a surfectant, so it’s advisable to wear gloves.
- AlmaWin: The effectiveness was rated “good” (it did well with limescale but left behind a bit of soap residue). It contains no problematic acids, but has fragrances.
- Viss Power Pro Naturals Bad Antiscale : The cleaning effectiveness was fine, but not outstanding. It’s free of problematic substances or acids.
- Fit Grüne Kraft Badreiniger: The effectiveness was rated “good”. It contains no problematic acids.
- Some problematic ingredients:
- Ecover Badreiniger: Ökotest gives it an effectiveness score of “good”. It uses citric acid, which is not too harsh, but Ökotest also found problematic glycols, which are used as solvents and pollute the air.
- Highly problematic ingredients:
- Zekol (from Aldi Süd). It got the best scores for cleaning effectiveness, but contains formic acid.
- Terra: Although this one is advertised as a “green” cleaner, it contains formic acid, which pollutes the indoor air and can cause breathing difficulties. Therefore, the overall rating from Ökotest is only “satisfactory”.
- Lidl W5: Contains formic acid. Ktipp says “Very good at removing dirt, only sufficient in decalcification.
- Biff Bad Total Lemon. Contains formic acid.
- DM Denk Mit: Contains formic acid.
- Meister Proper: Got “good” score for cleaning effectiveness, but it contains artificial musk fragrance, which can accumulate in fatty tissue and has led to liver damage in animal experiments. Thus the ingredient score is “insufficient.” Ktipp tested it in Aug 2012 and says “The new Meister Proper failed not only in the removal of dirt, but also in decalcification. For both sub-criteria, there was an ‘insufficient’. The bathroom cleaner also leaves streaks. With an overall score of 3.7, Meister Proper landed in last place.”
Ktipp, the Swiss consumer reports, tested some products that Ökotest did not:
- The only cleaner that had outstanding performance according to Ktipp was Cillit Bang Power Cleaner Kalk & Schmutz. It scored very well in removing dirt and limescale, but left some streaks behind. The remaining ten products they tested descale significantly worse.
- They say Alio from Aldi is very good at removing dirt, but only sufficient for decalcification and in terms of leaving no streaks behind.
- Cif scored very badly — dirt and lime removal as well as the streaks result were all “insufficient”.
There are a number of other “Eco” cleaners that I haven’t seen tested anywhere. For example, the Swiss site Nachhaltig Leben mentions Sodasan, which is available in Bioladen in Saarbruecken, or in larger quantities online (for example at violey.de).
- Sodasan Dusche und Bad Reiniger: The site says that Sodasan not only cleans thoroughly, but it’s also suitable for very sensitive surfaces. And all this with only “safe” ingredients.
Thanks for info on formic acid ~ was considering ecover’s strong loo cleaner but unsure how green it is …and already have breathing probs! Seems either need to occasionally use gentle scourer in toilet bowl or use harsh / uneco cleaners ~ guess need to stop trying to make pooing 100% sterile experience and be glad no longer have to use leaves on bottoms ;) ps: citric oils corrode plastic so avoid in general purpose cleaners.