Force of Nature Makes a Killer Disinfectant, but It’s Not the Best All-Purpose Cleaner
While we’re confident in Force of Nature as a disinfectant swap, we’re less enthused about it as a replacement for multipurpose cleaning spray.
Supposedly, according to the company, the tiny amount of sodium hydroxide in the solution can dissolve grease, grime, and soap scum. But we found that Force of Nature wasn’t especially impressive at lifting crud off a glass coffee table, removing grease from a stovetop, or breaking down soap scum on tile, especially compared with our top-pick multipurpose spray, Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Spray Cleaner. Lipke speculated that the .0000003% concentration of sodium hydroxide might be too low to work as advertised.
Plus, the spray left drip marks and a noticeably hazy residue, particularly on stainless steel and glass surfaces — a relatively common side effect of disinfecting sprays, which require proper dwell time to be effective. For this reason, the formula doesn’t contain any drying accelerants like those present in most cleaning sprays, Lush pointed out, so she recommended wiping the solution off completely to minimize streaking. (But again, you need to wait two minutes if you want to also disinfect.)
To me, a multipurpose spray should quickly clean surfaces without needing to be completely wiped dry. But it’s definitely possible that I’m fussier than most. After all, many surface cleaners must be wiped after applying to avoid streaking — including a simple solution of dish soap and water, which we recommend as a cheap DIY all-purpose cleaner.
The reusable bottle’s nozzle also leaves much to be desired for an everyday cleaner. It shoots an aggressive stream instead of a dispersed mist, which contributes to the spray’s tendency to leave drip and smudge marks. Decanting the solution from the beaker into another clean spray bottle might be a good fix for this (as long as you use it quickly).
While the technology to create disinfectant-grade hypochlorous acid solutions was once prohibitively expensive for home use, it’s become increasingly accessible, and we expect to see more hypochlorous acid cleaning products like Force of Nature in the near future.
As someone with asthma, allergies, and eczema, I’m excited to have found a disinfectant that I’m confident won’t irritate my skin and lungs. I’ll keep the kit on hand for whipping up a quick batch the next time someone is sick or the kitchen sink needs deep cleaning. But my cleaning cabinet, alas, will remain cluttered.
This article was edited by Katie Okamoto and Catherine Kast.
