How Cleaning Products Affect Indoor Air Quality And Health

• December 1, 2025

When I look at what actually happens in a home on “cleaning day”, the pattern is always the same: as soon as we spray or pour conventional cleaners, they release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other chemicals into the air, which push indoor pollution levels well above what we normally breathe outside.

In many studies, common VOCs are measured 2–5 times higher indoors than outdoors, and during heavy use of strong products, the peaks can go much higher and linger for hours after we finish wiping the benchtops. That chemical fog is not just an abstract number on a graph; it shows up as stinging eyes, scratchy throat, tight chest, headaches and, for some people, full asthma flare ups.

Over years of regular exposure, especially in people who clean a lot, children and anyone with asthma or sensitive lungs, that repeated irritation links with higher risks of asthma, reduced lung function and possibly chronic respiratory disease.

Key takeaways

• Cleaning spikes indoor pollution for hours. Routine use of sprays and disinfectants raises both VOCs and fine particles during cleaning and keeps them elevated well after you put the bottle away.
• You feel some of the impact right away. Eye and throat irritation, coughing, wheezing, headaches, dizziness and “heavy air” after cleaning are all classic short-term responses to higher VOC and particle levels.
• The rest of the impact is slow and silent. Long-term, frequent exposure to cleaning products links with higher rates of asthma, faster lung function decline and a possible rise in COPD and chronic bronchitis, especially in people who clean for a living.
• “Green” and fragrance-free products usually pollute the air less. Recent chamber studies show conventional products emit more hazardous VOCs than most green products, and fragrance-free green cleaners tend to sit at the lowest end of the risk range.
• Your habits matter as much as the bottle. Good ventilation, choosing low-VOC, fragrance-free products and using smaller amounts all dramatically cut the pollution “spike” inside your home without making you clean less.

When I walk people through their cleaning routine step by step, the biggest “aha” moment is usually "you do not have to clean less to breathe better; you have to clean differently."

What Do We Mean By “Conventional” Cleaning Products?

When I talk about “conventional cleaners”, I am not pointing at some exotic industrial solvent. I mean the everyday products most of us have under the kitchen sink:

• Multipurpose and multi-surface sprays
• Disinfectant sprays and wipes
• Glass and window cleaners
• Bathroom and toilet cleaners
• Oven and cooktop cleaners
• Air fresheners and “odour eliminators”
• Standard laundry powders and liquids

These are the bottles you toss into a trolley at the supermarket without thinking. They are designed to cut grease, kill germs, and leave a strong “clean” smell, and they usually do a good job on visible dirt.

Conventional cleaners are not the same as:

• Low-VOC cleaners (formulated to emit fewer volatile chemicals)
• Fragrance-free cleaners (no added scent mix)
• Plant-based or “green” cleaners (where the main surfactants and solvents come from plant-derived sources)
• Certified eco cleaners (which meet specific third-party criteria for ingredients and emissions)

From a health and indoor air point of view, the dividing line is that "conventional cleaners prioritise power and perfume; low-tox and eco cleaners prioritise lower emissions and simpler formulas."

When we choose products for an eco-friendly cleaning products range, I pay more attention to what I do not see on the label (certain solvents, strong synthetic fragrances) than what the marketing font shouts on the front.

Typical ingredients that affect air quality

If you strip away the branding, many conventional cleaners rely on similar families of chemicals. The ones that matter most for indoor air fall into three broad groups.

1. VOC solvents

These are the “working” molecules that help dissolve grease, lift stains and keep the product evenly mixed.

Common examples include:

• Alcohols like ethanol and isopropanol (frequent in glass cleaners and disinfectant sprays).
• Glycol ethers such as 2-butoxyethanol, widely used in window and multipurpose cleaners because they cut through oily films very well.
• Terpenes such as limonene (that “orange peel” smell) added for a fresh citrus scent or to help dissolve oils.

These solvents evaporate easily, which is helpful for streak-free glass but less helpful for the air you breathe.

2. Fragrance blends (“parfum”)

Most people recognise a brand more by smell than by logo. That smell comes from complex fragrance blends marketed simply as “fragrance” or “parfum” on the label. Those blends can contain dozens of individual VOCs, many of which contribute to indoor pollution and can trigger headaches or respiratory irritation in sensitive people.

3. Reactive disinfectants and “quats”

To kill germs fast, conventional products often lean on:

1. Chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite)
2. Ammonia-based cleaners
3. Quaternary ammonium compounds (“quats”), the active in many disinfectant sprays and wipes

These ingredients do a strong job against microbes but are also respiratory irritants, especially as aerosols, and they can react with other chemicals in the air to create new byproducts.

From an indoor air perspective, the specific brand matters less than these ingredient families. Once you know the patterns, you start reading bottles very differently.

What Are VOCs And How Do Cleaners Change Indoor Air Quality?

In technical terms, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are organic chemicals that evaporate easily at room temperature and enter the air as gases.

In human terms: whenever you smell that sharp “cleaning aisle” odour, you are breathing a mix of VOCs. They come off wet surfaces, freshly sprayed mist, and even closed bottles sitting in a cupboard. Some VOCs are relatively harmless at low levels; others are irritants or have longer-term health concerns attached.

Why VOC levels jump when you clean

Every time we clean with conventional products, we create a short, intense “experiment” in our own home:

1. You spray a multipurpose cleaner across the kitchen bench.

2. A fine mist of liquid hits the surface, but a lot of it hangs in the air as tiny droplets and vapour.

3. The VOCs in that mist spread through the room and slowly disperse to the rest of the house.

EPA’s Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) studies found that levels of a dozen common VOCs in homes averaged 2–5 times higher indoors than outdoors, regardless of whether people lived in rural or urban areas. During some activities – like paint stripping or heavy product use – levels jumped to as much as 1,000 times outdoor background, and stayed elevated for several hours after the activity ended.

More recent work that tracks hundreds of VOCs through actual home cleaning sessions shows the same pattern: after a typical cleaning event, around 60% of measured VOCs and 80% of semi-volatile compounds rise noticeably, then decline slowly as they are ventilated or absorbed by surfaces.

On top of that, there is a second layer we do not see. Terpenes such as limonene (the citrus smell in many “fresh” products) can react with the small amount of ozone that leaks indoors and form secondary pollutants — including fine particles and oxidised VOCs — that add extra irritation potential to the air.

So when you feel the air change during cleaning, you are noticing both:

• The direct emissions from the product
• The new compounds created when those emissions react with your indoor environment

Typical VOCs in household cleaning products and what they do

When I break this down for people, I like to put a few of the common VOCs into a simple table. It is not meant to scare, but to connect names you might see in safety data sheets with real-world effects.

*These concerns refer to higher or chronic exposures often studied in occupational or accidental contexts; normal home use is typically lower, but poor ventilation and frequent use can move you along that spectrum.

The point of this table is not that you need to memorise chemical names. It is that “glass cleaner smell” is not just a smell. It is a mix of active chemicals with clear, documented effects above certain levels.

How Cleaning Products Affect Indoor Air In Real Homes

Laboratory work is useful, but I always ask, “What happens in an actual home when someone cleans the kitchen?”

Recent field studies in apartments, offices and professionally cleaned homes have done exactly that: measure VOCs and particles before, during and after real cleaning sessions.

The pattern is consistent:

1. Before cleaning

• Indoor VOC levels sit at a “background” level driven by building materials, stored products, cooking and normal activities.

2. During active cleaning

• As soon as sprays and disinfectants are used, concentrations of many VOCs jump sharply.
• Some compounds increase several-fold compared with baseline within minutes.

3. After cleaning stops

• VOC levels stay elevated for hours, decaying gradually as air exchanges with the outdoors or is filtered.

In poorly ventilated rooms, those elevated levels can persist much longer, especially for heavier semi-volatile compounds that stick to surfaces and dust, then re-enter the air slowly.

In one 2025 study, more than 200 VOCs and 52 semi-volatiles were tracked during professional home cleaning; about 60% of VOCs and 80% of semi-volatiles rose after cleaning and contributed to the occupants’ overall exposure.

From a practical point of view, this means your body “remembers” cleaning day as a several-hour exposure event, not a quick five-minute spray-and-wipe task.

Kitchens and bathrooms show the highest peaks because:

• They are usually smaller rooms
• We tend to use stronger, more scented products there
• Ventilation (especially in internal bathrooms) is often poor or only switched on after the smell becomes overwhelming

If you already notice you need to “escape” a room while cleaning, the instruments would almost certainly agree with your nose.

Secondary pollutants and chemical reactions

The part that still feels counterintuitive, even to me after years of reading this research, is that you can add pollution even while your VOC levels go down.

Here is what happens:

• You spray a citrus-scented cleaner rich in limonene or similar terpenes.
• Those terpenes float around the room and start bumping into ozone that has sneaked in from outside or is produced by some indoor devices.
• The terpene–ozone reactions create secondary organic aerosols (SOA) — tiny particles small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs — along with a cocktail of more oxidised VOCs.

Studies that model and measure these reactions show:

• Fine particle number and mass can increase significantly during and after a cleaning event even as the original VOCs decline.
• These particles add to the respiratory burden, especially for people with asthma or cardiovascular disease, similar to how outdoor smog does on high-pollution days.

This is one reason why “natural orange smell” is not automatically safer. Terpenes are “natural”, but indoors, without enough ventilation, they can drive extra particle formation that your lungs still have to handle.

In my own decision-making, this is why I favour:

• Fragrance-free products for everyday use
• Essential-oil-scented products kept to small, well-ventilated spaces and occasional use rather than daily fogging of the whole house

You cut out not only the original VOC hit but also the “chemical aftershocks” that happen in the air later.

How To Tell If Cleaning Products Affect Your Indoor Air

Simple signs in everyday life

When I sit with families and walk through their week, I do not start with VOC graphs. I start with one question:

“How do you feel on cleaning day?”

If conventional cleaners affect your indoor air, the pattern often looks like this:

• Symptoms that appear or get worse while you clean: You feel a sore throat, tight chest, cough, burning eyes, a “heavy” head, or brain fog halfway through cleaning, then feel better later in the day or when you go outside. These are classic responses to elevated VOCs and fine particles in enclosed rooms.
• Asthma or breathing trouble on a predictable schedule: If someone in your home has asthma or another lung condition, and flare ups cluster around cleaning days (or around time spent in freshly cleaned rooms), indoor air and cleaning products sit near the top of my suspect list.
• Headaches that match the “smell curve”: Many people tell me, “I feel fine, then the smell hits, then the headache hits.” The scent fades and the headache fades. That “up and down” usually tracks VOC peaks and drops.
• Strong chemical odours that linger for hours: If the “clean” smell hangs around well into the evening, you likely still have VOCs and reaction products suspended in the air, long after the cloth left the surface.

Home checks and practical observations

Once you notice the pattern, the next step is to look at your home layout through an indoor-air lens. When I walk people through this, we focus on three quick checks. Ask yourself:

• Where does the pollution go when you clean?
• Small rooms with no windows or weak fans (internal bathrooms, laundries, storage rooms) allow VOCs and particles to build up and decay very slowly.
• Extractor fans that only run while you shower or cook do not help if you never run them during cleaning.

Guidance for healthy indoor air quality, including occupational standards, comes back to the same idea: fresh air dilutes pollutants. Open windows and doors when you can, and use bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans during and after cleaning to move used air out and fresh air in.

Product “hot spots” and storage habits

Next, I ask people to open the cupboards where they keep their products. We are not judging your tidiness; we are “reading” the air.

Warning signs:

• A strong chemical odour hits you when you open the cupboard, even when you have not cleaned it that day.
• You keep many half-used bottles under sinks or in tight laundry closets packed around the washing machine.

Safer Alternatives: How Non Toxic and Natural Cleaning Products Improve Indoor Air Quality

What “non toxic” and “low VOC” actually mean

After we talk about problems, the next question I always get is, “So which products do you actually trust?”

The honest answer: the words on the front label mean less than people think.

• “Non toxic” in many markets is a marketing phrase, not a tightly regulated standard. It often points at reduced acute toxicity if a child or pet ingests a small amount, not at total VOC emissions or long-term asthma risk.
• “Green” can mean almost anything: plant-derived ingredients, biodegradable surfactants, recycled packaging. Some green products still use heavy fragrance and high terpene content, which matters for indoor air.

So I focus on three more concrete signals instead:

1. Fragrance-free

• No synthetic fragrance blends or essential oil perfumes added. “Unscented” can hide masking fragrances, so I prefer labels that clearly state fragrance-free. Fragrance-free formulas usually emit fewer reactive VOCs and trigger fewer headaches and asthma symptoms.

2. Low VOC

• Some brands and ecolabels define low VOC thresholds and test products for actual emissions. Those products tend to use milder solvents and lower overall VOC content, which directly reduces the pollution spike when you clean.

3. Third-party certified eco products

• Logos such as EPA Safer Choice, EWG Verified, or regional eco-labels show that an independent body has reviewed ingredient lists and often VOC emissions against set criteria.

When I say low VOC eco friendly home cleaning products, I usually mean products that tick at least two of those boxes: fragrance-free and low VOC, with bonus points for third-party certification and clear ingredient disclosure.

Conventional vs eco-friendly products at a glance

You can capture the big picture in one simple comparison.

I still remind people that “eco” does not mean “eat it with a spoon”, but as far as indoor air goes, the direction of improvement is clear.

Conclusion

Conventional cleaners change the air in your home, not only the shine on your surfaces. VOCs and reactive chemicals in those products push indoor pollution well above outdoor levels during and after cleaning. The good news is that you do not need a laboratory or a perfect house to fix this. Small product swaps, better ventilation, smarter use, and thoughtful storage protect your family’s lungs far more than one heroic “deep clean” ever will.

At My Health Food Shop, we focus on sustainable home cleaning products that support the shift to low-tox cleaners for kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry.