Bona Floor Cleaning Products

I was fortunate enough to nab two bottles of Bona's floor cleaning products from Houston's eco-friendly home goods shop, New Living. When I bought my first house down here recently I was suddenly faced with a new substance to clean, one I'd never dealt with before- travertine. Travertine is in most of the houses I looked at down here in TX, at least somewhere on the property. It's common on newly remodeled shower walls, but also in dens/ adjacent to kitchens. It stays nice and cool in the scorching summer heat, so it has that advantage over wood at least. (Had we been able to choose I may have selected bamboo flooring instead.)

Anyway, I have read a lot about ways that different cleaning products can damage travertine, and we already have cracks in some of our tiles from foundational shifting. I wanted to be able to clean this stuff in my shower AND on my floor, and wanted to be able to use my existing microfiber mops.

I tried the spray cleaner first, and was impressed that it wasn't as much of a pain as I'd feared to spray while I walked around the room. I had been careful to vacuum the room first as per the directions, and the floors looked squeaky clean when I was done. (Then one of my dogs peed on them, as it was lightening out and she gets hysterical. Thanks, Mei.)

I was most interested in the floor polisher though- could it really make these tiles gleam? It claimed to provide a protective coating that will guard against damage in the future- that I definitely am in favor of.

The bottle said to keep traffic off the floors for 12 hours after use of the product for best results- and I knew that wasn't going to happen, as our stone floors are in the middle of the house and must be crossed to get anywhere. This stuff smelled a bit strong (I cannot think of what to compare it to), but it did seem to coat the tiles lightly. I'd say I was ... mildly pleased, as I'm not sure the results on my flooring are as dramatic as they might be on other kinds of stone, tile, or on laminate. (It's worth trying on your end, I think.)

I must admit, I am really intrigued by Bona's wood floor polishing products- I love the sight of a gleaming wood floor. I hadn't heard of this line before New Living tipped me off, but I haven't found anything else that even claims to be non-toxic to clean these floors with.

Oh, and my shower? That one was tougher. I gave it a good once-over with the cleaner, but I still cannot figure out how to deal with the mineral leaching (it looks like rust) coming off of the stones. It seems like a combination of their natural properties and my very hard water.

Caldrea Daily Shower Cleanser

Huh, I am looking on Caldrea's website right now, and I don't see any shower sprays listed. Perhaps they have been discontinued! That's a shame, the one I tried worked quite well. I nabbed the "Basil Blue Sage" scent from drugstore.com, and it did cut down on the amount of shower cleaning I had to do while using it. My major qualm about it was that the package was too small and we went through it super fast. I am already done the bottle and I feel like we just got started! I felt guilty trying to cover my full shower each time I used it. Considering the price, I'd have preferred the bottle last longer.

Caldrea is Mrs. Meyer's more upscale brand, and they tend to have pretty good, largely essential-oil based scents. I've never been disappointed by anything of theirs I've tried (but that's admittedly limited to hand soap and shower sprays.)

Hey, maybe they're re-doing the package and it'll be back! In the meantime, drugstore.com has the Citrus Mint scent left.

I want to try Caldrea's dishwashing powder (I love powders), hand balm, and laundry detergent. I'm also wondering if their linen spray would be nice before clothes go in the dryer (or to freshen up bed sheets mid-week.)


p.s. Now that I am between store-bought products, I am using a homemade daily shower spray: 50/50 mixture of white vinegar, water, and maybe 6 drops each of tea tree and lemon essential oils. I haven't been using it long enough to gauge its success yet.

Earth Friendly Products Shower Kleener

Ok, I'm going to confess something to you here. I shied away from Earth Friendly Products for a while because their packaging isn't as nicely designed (exception- their spa line) as some of the others out there.

I was curious after reading this though:
"The only non petroleum based, naturally derived shower cleaner on the market. This unique and revolutionary product uses tea tree oil, lavender oil, purified water, a plant derived surfactant, and ethanol derived from corn to clean your shower and bath areas."

I always love the "plant derived surfactant" in descriptions. Anyway, EFP is an Illinois company, so as soon as I moved here I found that I could buy their products almost anywhere. It was my inability to get to a hippie store for a while that led me to snatch this up. And may I say, I am properly shamed.

It's actually really lovely.
In the past, I've tried Method and Mrs. Meyers shower cleaners, but the scent bothered my husband (particularly the Method, but it kinda smells like bum, if bum smelled like bad ylang ylang.) The EFP version hardly smells at all, and better yet, when I spray it in our stall shower I can see it chasing away the soap drips from the glass. It's kept me from having to do a thorough scrubbing in the nearly two months that we've lived here.

I've actually... repurchased, which for me is something. I'm a fickle gal. What's your favorite shower cleaner? I don't mind the Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbana either.