The 10 Ingredients I Banned From My Home (and What I Use Instead)
The 10 Ingredients I Banned From My Home (and What I Use Instead)
By Kristina Braly, MD — Founder, AEMBR
When I started formulating AEMBR products, I built the ingredient list from the exclusions first. Not what I wanted to use — what I refused to use, and why. That list became the basis for every product we make.
These aren't arbitrary choices or marketing positions. Each of these is a substance with a documented mechanism of concern, a body of research I've read, and a reason I decided the risk-benefit calculation didn't hold for chronic household exposure. I'll give you each one in plain terms: what it is, what the concern is, and what I replaced it with.
1. Phthalates
Phthalates are a class of synthetic chemicals used as plasticizers and fragrance carriers. In cleaning and fragrance products, the most relevant one is diethyl phthalate (DEP), used to extend scent longevity. Others in the class — DEHP, DBP, BBP — are more restricted in products but appear in manufacturing byproducts and packaging.
Why it's banned: Phthalates are well-documented endocrine disruptors. They interfere with androgen signaling and have been associated in human epidemiological studies with reproductive outcomes including reduced sperm quality, altered hormone levels, and developmental effects in offspring exposed in utero. The pediatric concern is highest — children have more limited metabolic capacity to clear phthalates, and developmental windows have lower thresholds for endocrine disruption than adult maintenance.
What I use instead: Fragrance compounds that don't require phthalate carriers. This limits the available fragrance palette somewhat, but the performance trade-off is acceptable and the safety trade-off is not.
2. SLS and SLES (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate / Sodium Laureth Sulfate)
SLS and its ethoxylated cousin SLES are surfactants — they create foam and help lift grease and grime. They're in most conventional dish soaps, laundry detergents, and cleaning sprays.
Why it's banned: SLS is a known skin irritant with well-characterized mechanisms — it disrupts the skin barrier and increases transepidermal water loss. SLES is milder but carries 1,4-dioxane contamination risk from the ethoxylation manufacturing process. 1,4-dioxane is a probable human carcinogen (EPA Group B2) that isn't itself an ingredient but forms as a byproduct of the chemical process used to make SLES, and isn't required to be disclosed on labels. I'll address 1,4-dioxane separately below.
What I use instead: Milder, biodegradable surfactants from the glucoside and betaine families — cocamidopropyl betaine, decyl glucoside, coco glucoside. These achieve comparable cleaning performance with significantly lower irritation profiles and without the 1,4-dioxane formation risk.
3. 1,4-Dioxane
1,4-Dioxane isn't an intentional ingredient — it's a manufacturing contaminant that forms during the ethoxylation process used to make certain "softer" surfactants, including SLES, PEG compounds, and some ethoxylated alcohols. It won't appear on any ingredient label because it's technically not an ingredient.
Why it's banned: 1,4-Dioxane is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA. It's detectable in a significant percentage of conventional personal care and cleaning products tested by independent labs — studies by the Environmental Working Group and others have found it in items ranging from baby shampoo to laundry detergent. New York State now requires disclosure of 1,4-dioxane above threshold levels. The concern is chronic, low-level dermal and inhalation exposure across multiple product categories simultaneously.
What I use instead: Surfactants that don't require ethoxylation in their manufacturing. This means non-ethoxylated glucoside surfactants and betaines. You can read more about how to identify concerning surfactants on a product label in the label-reading guide.
4. Optical Brighteners
Optical brighteners (also called fluorescent whitening agents or FWAs) are synthetic compounds added to laundry detergents to make fabrics appear whiter and brighter. They work by absorbing UV light and emitting visible blue light, creating a visual brightening effect. They don't clean anything — they're purely cosmetic.
Why it's banned: Optical brighteners are not rinsed out in the wash — they're designed to remain on fabric. That means they stay on clothing against skin, on sheets against a sleeping body, and on children's clothing against skin with higher absorption capacity than adults. They are persistent in the environment, not readily biodegradable, and accumulate in aquatic systems. Several FWA compounds have shown cytotoxicity in cell studies. The risk isn't definitively characterized at typical exposure levels, but there's no benefit that justifies the uncertainty — brightening is an aesthetic effect I can achieve without a persistent synthetic compound sitting on fabric against skin.
What I use instead: Nothing. Clothes that are clean look clean without an additive that makes them fluoresce. See the laundry detergent ingredients breakdown for more on what clean detergent actually needs.
5. Synthetic Fragrance (Undisclosed)
"Fragrance" as a single ingredient declaration can represent anywhere from a handful to hundreds of individual chemical compounds, protected from disclosure as a trade secret. I've written about this extensively. The short version: I won't use fragrance in any product where the component chemicals aren't disclosed, because the disclosure protection specifically shields the ingredients I care most about evaluating — phthalate carriers, synthetic musks, and reactive VOC precursors.
Why it's banned: No disclosure means no ability to evaluate what you're actually exposing yourself to. That's the entire problem.
What I use instead: Fragrance compounds with disclosed ingredient lists. AEMBR products identify the fragrance materials used. This required working with fragrance suppliers willing to provide full composition disclosure, which is non-standard but not impossible.
6. Triclosan and Triclocarban
Triclosan and triclocarban are antimicrobial agents used in "antibacterial" soaps, cleaners, and some personal care products. They were widely used until the FDA issued a ruling in 2016 requiring manufacturers to prove safety and efficacy for consumer antiseptic wash products, resulting in many brands reformulating.
Why it's banned: The FDA ruling was based on insufficient evidence of clinical benefit and meaningful evidence of harm — specifically, endocrine disruption (thyroid and reproductive hormone interference documented in animal studies and some human data), antimicrobial resistance contribution, and environmental persistence. Triclosan is still present in some cleaning products and personal care items outside the consumer antiseptic wash category. I won't use it in any product category.
What I use instead: Surfactant-based cleaning that physically removes pathogens rather than attempting to chemically kill them. For most household applications, soap-and-water mechanical removal is as effective as antimicrobial additive approaches for reducing pathogen load, without the resistance and endocrine concerns.
7. Ammonia
Ammonia is an effective cleaning agent for glass and surfaces — it cuts through grease and leaves streak-free finishes. It's in many conventional glass cleaners and multi-surface products.
Why it's banned: Ammonia is a respiratory irritant at concentrations produced by household products in enclosed spaces. It reacts with bleach to form chloramine gases — a combination that produces toxic fumes and sends people to emergency departments every year from accidental mixing. It's harsh on skin at repeated contact. And it provides no benefit that can't be achieved with safer alternatives for home use.
What I use instead: Alcohol-based and citric acid-based cleaning solutions for surfaces and glass. These achieve the same streak-free, grease-cutting performance without the respiratory irritant profile.
8. Chlorine Bleach (as a Regular Cleaning Agent)
Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) is genuinely effective — it kills pathogens, whitens fabric, and disinfects surfaces. I'm not arguing it has no utility. But as a routine household cleaning agent used regularly across multiple surfaces, the exposure profile doesn't hold up.
Why it's banned from routine use: Bleach volatilizes in water to form hypochlorous acid and chlorine gas, both respiratory irritants. It reacts with organic matter on surfaces (including residue from other cleaners) to form chlorinated byproducts including chloroform — a probable carcinogen. Chronic low-level chlorine inhalation from regular bleach use in enclosed spaces is associated with respiratory symptoms in multiple epidemiological studies. And for most household "disinfecting" use cases, it's simply not necessary — normal surfaces in a healthy home don't require pathogen kill, they require soil and grease removal, which soap and surfactants accomplish.
What I use instead: Reserve actual disinfection (bleach, hospital-grade disinfectants) for situations that genuinely require it — illness recovery, food safety surfaces, medical need. For routine cleaning, use cleaning agents designed to clean, not disinfect.
9. Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (Quats)
Quaternary ammonium compounds — benzalkonium chloride, didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, and related compounds — are the active antimicrobial ingredients in most "disinfecting wipes" and spray disinfectants. They became ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic and remain in most conventional household disinfectant products.
Why it's banned: Quats are potent respiratory sensitizers — repeated inhalation exposure increases risk of occupational asthma, and this is documented in cleaning worker populations. They also show antimicrobial resistance development with regular use, similar to triclosan. They're persistent on surfaces after application and can be transferred to skin and airway through contact. The same calculation applies as with triclosan: for household use where true disinfection isn't medically indicated, the risk profile doesn't justify the exposure.
What I use instead: Surface cleaning agents that remove rather than kill. Reserve quat-based disinfectants for genuine disinfection needs.
10. Parabens
Parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and related compounds) are synthetic preservatives used in personal care and some cleaning products to extend shelf life by preventing microbial growth.
Why it's banned: Parabens are estrogenic — they bind estrogen receptors and produce weak estrogen-like activity. They're detectable in human tissue including breast tissue, and in urine and blood at measurable levels in most adults. The epidemiological evidence linking paraben exposure to health outcomes is less definitive than for phthalates, but the estrogenic mechanism is established and the body burden across the population is real. With effective alternative preservation systems available, there's no reason to add paraben exposure to the cumulative load.
What I use instead: Phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin at low concentrations, or formulation approaches that minimize preservation requirements (airtight packaging, waterless formulas, optimized pH).
A Note on Cumulative Exposure
None of these ingredients, at the concentrations in a single product used occasionally, is likely to produce acute harm in a healthy adult. That's not the relevant risk model. The relevant model is cumulative, chronic exposure across multiple products and categories, over years and decades, with particular sensitivity during developmental windows in children.
When I look at the full category list — laundry detergent, cleaning sprays, candles, fragrance products, personal care — and count how many individual exposure events each of these ingredients produces per week in an average household, the exposure picture is different from any single product evaluation. That's why I apply the same exclusion list to every product in the line, not just one category.
The full AEMBR collection is built on these exclusions throughout.
Kristina Braly, MD, is the physician founder of AEMBR. Nothing in this article constitutes medical advice. For questions about specific exposures or health concerns, consult a physician.
