Did you know that oven cleaners are some of the most dangerous cleaning products on the market?
Take, for example, Easy-Off Fume Free Oven Cleaner. Cleaning without fumes is a good thing, right?
Yes, cleaning without fumes is a good thing. But NOT when you’re dealing with a toxic product. In their Guide to Healthy Cleaning, the Environmental Working Group gave Easy-Off Fume Free Oven Cleaner an F because it contains:
- Ethanolamine, a chemical that irritates allergies and damages skin. It also affects respiratory systems and organs.
- Butoxydiglycol, another chemical that affects the respiratory system. It also is a suspected carcinogen and may damage DNA and affect allergies, vision, as well as digestive, endocrine, nervous and reproductive systems.
Homemade remedies
For the past year and a half I’ve been using safe, natural and homemade ways to clean my oven – completely with baking soda and white vinegar.
I documented my first experience – flaws and all – in my post, Make Your Own Oven Cleaner.
But I updated it, along with tips for less mess, in my post, An Improved Homemade Oven Cleaner.
What I use in my own home
If you’ve been reading my cleaning series this November, you already know that I use Norwex products all the time in my home.
I wondered if Norwex could clean my oven – so I tried. I scrubbed with Norwex’s stainless steel Spirinetts, and wiped away the grime with a Norwex EnviroCloth. It definitely worked – but it blackened my EnviroCloth. Even after a few washes, my EnviroCloth is still stained.
Since I don’t really want to stain my EnviroCloths, I’ve cleaned my oven with a combination of homemade remedies and Norwex. Starting out with baking soda and white vinegar, I scrub with old, used aluminum foil and wipe all the black, burned on crud away with an old rag. Then I follow up with a light scrub with Norwex Spirinetts and finish everything with the EnviroCloth.
With surprisingly minimal effort and absolutely no chemicals, I have an amazingly clean oven!
How do you prefer to clean your oven without chemicals?
Latest posts by Hilary Kimes Bernstein (see all)
- The Day I Realized Healthy Choices Don’t Guarantee Health - July 21, 2015
- Avoid Synthetic Bug Sprays with All-Natural Repellents - July 16, 2015
- The Day I Learned I Could Cook Real Food - July 13, 2015
Rachel R. says
Norwex has an oven cleaner, too, if just elbow grease and the scrubbers/cloths isn’t getting it clean. I don’t know what’s in it – Norwex claims their stuff is natural (and it’s definitely more natural than most), but it may or may not be “ideal.” But I know it doesn’t have fumes like traditional oven cleaners!