If you weren’t germophobic or anal about cleaning before the pandemic, chances are you are now. What with disinfecting everything that comes into your home, including yourself, it can be exhausting. And the smell. Ugh. Heavy-duty antimicrobial cleansers or bleach will kill bacteria, sure, but they’re harsh on surfaces and your body. Enter the CleanWell family of antibacterial products, which kill 99.9% of household germs just like Lysol — without the harsh chemicals or noxious smell. They’re one of a few botanical disinfectants that are on the EPA’s List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2. That’s the list of cleaning products that are known to work against the COVID-19 virus.
CleanWell has wipes and sprays that come in either a lemon or citrus scent. Unlike the other heavy-duty COVID-19 virus killers, these products won’t cause skin, eye or respiratory issues. Once you’ve sprayed or wiped down surfaces with a CleanWell product, you don’t have to re-wash those surfaces to make sure pets and people aren’t harmed by the harsh chemicals.
CleanWell sent SPY samples of their new cleaning products for testing, and we’re officially converted to the superior cleaning power of plants. There’s just one problem — they’re selling out almost as fast as they go up on Amazon. Right now, all of the CleanWell botanical disinfecting wipes are sold out online, though you may be able to find them in some stores. Fortunately, you can order the company’s antibacterial sprays, our favorite new Lysol alternatives, via Amazon.
Related Stories
Cleaning With CleanWell: How Do These Products Work?
We know what you’re thinking, because it’s the same question we have about other plant-based cleaners: do they work? In my testing, they absolutely did.
The company harnesses the power of thyme in its products, which makes these antibacterial cleaners a chemophobe’s dream come true. Thymol is an antibacterial agent that comes from thyme and other essential oils. It’s so strong that it kills 99.99% of germs, microbes, viruses, and all of those disgusting tiny things that you don’t want to hang around your home. On top of that, thymol kills these germs fast. Technically speaking, CleanWell’s products kill Influenza A virus, H1N1, Rhinovirus type 37 (the common cold), Salmonella enterica, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Methicillin Resistant S. Aureus, (MRSA), Escherichia coli, Norovirus, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger. And, according to the official EPA registry, COVID-19. Think of CleanWell as a gunslinger who can take out all the bad guys in one shot.
I had the chance to road test the lemon-scented wipes and disinfecting spray recently. Confession time, I was one of those people pre-COVID. You know, the ones who always carry anti-bac gel with them wherever they go. So, the pandemic really, and I mean really, ratcheted up my fear of germy surfaces. By September, I was also fed up with the fake floral and weird chemical scent that most heavy-duty germ-killing products have, and I couldn’t wait to try something else. If I’m going to be stuck at home for long periods of time, I want it to smell like a home. Not a doctor’s waiting room.
Let me tell you that the CleanWell disinfecting wipes and sprays smell like sunshine. The uplifting lemon scent has a nice earthy undertone. I’m guessing that comes from the Thymol. I had to watch myself because I would spritz a room with the disinfecting spray just so that I could enjoy the aromatics. Which is bad because I’m wasting product. But it’s good because it doesn’t smell like something you’d use in a lab.
The CleanWell Botanical Disinfectant All-Purpose Cleaner (24 fl oz) can be used on any hard, nonporous surface. Spray and 10 minutes later all those germy germs are dead. It’s safe enough to use in the kitchen. The lemon-scented Botanical Wipes come in two sizes: 35 or 160 wipes. Here’s a tip I learned that I’m going to pass on to you: when you’re using a wipe to disinfect and clean things, you can keep using the same wipe until it’s dry. You’ll be surprised how long one wipe can last when you start using it that way, instead of using a cleansing wipe per item.
Unfortunately, finding CleanWell’s products in stock online isn’t easy. Almost as soon as a new batch of products becomes available, it’s sold out. We’ll continue updating this post as we find more CleanWell products available for purchase. In the meantime, you can stock up on their antibacterial sprays or use CleanWell’s online store locator to find some near you.