Imagine Carol Krska standing in the cleaning aisle of a grocery store. She picks up a conventional all-purpose cleaner, the kind with a bright label and a name that implies freshness. She does not look at the front. She turns the bottle around and reads the ingredient list, top to bottom, the way she has read thousands of formulations over her career as a M.S. Chemical Engineer.
What she sees is different from what most people see. Most shoppers glance at the front label, maybe notice a claim or two, and move on. Carol reads the actual chemistry. Here is what that looks like.
Reading the Label
A typical conventional all-purpose cleaner might list something like this: water, sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, monoethanolamine, fragrance, DMDM hydantoin, FD&C Blue No. 1, methylisothiazolinone.
This is a real-world ingredient profile. Not every cleaner looks exactly like this, but these ingredients appear across hundreds of products on store shelves right now. Here is how Carol reads each one.
Water. The base of almost every liquid cleaning product. No concerns here. This is standard and expected.
Sodium laureth sulfate (SLES). A surfactant, which means its job is to break the surface tension between water and grease so dirt lifts away. It is the ingredient that creates foam. SLES is effective at that job, but it is a more aggressive surfactant than many cleaning tasks require. For wiping down a kitchen counter, you do not need this level of surfactant activity. It is included because consumers associate foam with cleaning power, even though foam itself does not clean anything.
Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB). A secondary surfactant added to soften the harshness of the primary one. It boosts foam, improves the texture of the product, and makes it feel milder. If the primary surfactant were gentler to begin with, this balancing act would not be necessary. CAPB has also been named the American Contact Dermatitis Society's Allergen of the Year (2004), which means it is a known sensitizer for some people.
Monoethanolamine (MEA). A pH adjuster and emulsifier. MEA helps the formula stay stable and keeps the pH in the right range for the surfactants to work. It also acts as a mild solvent for grease. The concern with MEA is that it can react with other ingredients to form nitrosamines, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has flagged it as corrosive to skin, eyes, and the respiratory tract at certain concentrations. In a rinse-off product used briefly, the exposure is limited. In a spray cleaner used on surfaces where food is prepared, the calculation changes.
Fragrance. This single word on an ingredient list can represent dozens of individual chemical compounds. Under current U.S. labeling regulations, "fragrance" is treated as a trade secret, so manufacturers are not required to disclose what is in it. A single fragrance blend can contain allergens, phthalates, and synthetic musks without any of those appearing on the label. The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) lists over 3,000 materials used in fragrance formulations. When Carol sees "fragrance" on a cleaning label, she sees a black box.
DMDM hydantoin. A preservative that works by slowly releasing small amounts of formaldehyde over time. That is its mechanism of action; it is classified as a formaldehyde-releasing preservative. Formaldehyde is effective at preventing microbial growth, which is why it is used. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified formaldehyde as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans. Between 8 and 9 percent of the U.S. population shows an allergic reaction to formaldehyde releasers on contact, according to a 2011 study published in the journal Dermatitis.
FD&C Blue No. 1. A synthetic dye. It has one purpose: making the liquid look blue. It contributes nothing to cleaning performance. The blue color exists to signal "clean" to the consumer and to differentiate the product visually on a shelf. From a formulation standpoint, it is entirely unnecessary.
Methylisothiazolinone (MIT). Another preservative, used to prevent bacteria and fungi from growing in the product over time. MIT is effective, but the European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety has restricted its use in leave-on products due to sensitization concerns. In 2013, the American Contact Dermatitis Society named MIT its Allergen of the Year. It remains permitted in rinse-off products and cleaning products, but its track record of causing contact dermatitis is well documented.
What Most People Miss
The thing Carol notices that most people do not is how much of this ingredient list exists to support or counteract other ingredients. The secondary surfactant exists to soften the primary one. The pH adjuster exists because the surfactant system requires it. The preservatives exist because the formula's water activity and ingredient interactions create an environment where microbial growth is a risk.
Complexity breeds more complexity. Each ingredient you add creates a new interaction that may require another ingredient to manage.
The other thing most people miss is what is not on the label. Under current regulations, cleaning products in the United States are not required to disclose every ingredient. The EPA's Safer Choice program encourages transparency, but it is voluntary. "Fragrance" can hide dozens of compounds. "Preservative system" might not specify which preservatives. The label you are reading may not be the full picture.
How Carol Formulates Differently
Carol's approach at No Nines™ starts from a different premise. Instead of building a complex formula and then managing the interactions, she asks a simpler question: what does this product actually need to do, and what is the minimum effective chemistry to do it?
Most household cleaning tasks come down to basic chemistry. Oxidation handles sanitization. A mild surfactant handles grease. You do not need 15 specialized bottles under your sink. You need the right chemistry applied correctly.
HOCl (hypochlorous acid), the primary cleaning ingredient across the No Nines product line, is a good example. It is the same substance your white blood cells produce as part of your immune response. It is effective at breaking down organic matter on surfaces, it does not require secondary chemicals to manage its interactions, and it breaks down into simple saline. No fragrance needed to mask a chemical smell, because there is no chemical smell to mask. No dye needed to signal "clean," because the product does not need a visual trick to justify its existence.
Every ingredient in every No Nines product is disclosed. Every product follows the No Nines™ Standard™, which excludes nine categories of ingredients entirely. Not because those ingredients do not work, but because effective formulations do not require them.
Carol formulates with her M.S. in Chemical Engineering and a preference for simplicity. The result is a shorter ingredient list, full transparency, and products that do what they need to do without the chemistry you do not need.
