I think the most magical part about homemade cleaning products is not their low cost, the fact that they are non toxic, or the whole “yay I made something” factor—it’s that they have this incredible ability to make me excited to clean my bathroom. For the first couple times, at least.
This lemony cream cleaner gets its power from vinegar and d-Limonene. Distilled from citrus rinds, d-limonene is also called citrus terpenes. It smells nicely of lemons, and is a great natural disinfectant. It is oil based, so I used solubilizer to combine it with the water and vinegar. The emulsion gives the entire solution a milky, creamy look. You can skip the solubilizer if you don’t like it or don’t have it, but then the mixture won’t emulsify and you’ll have to do some pretty enthusiastic shaking before every spritz.
It’s fantastic for bathrooms; spray and wipe down the shower, the counter, the toilet. And the best part is how the lemon scent is natural, and doesn’t leave me with a faux fragrance induced headache.
Lemon Cream Cleaning Spray
75mL | 2.54 fl oz d-Limonene
75mL | 2.54 fl oz polysorbate 20 (USA / Canada) or Polysorbate 80 (USA / Canada)
150mL | 5 fl oz white vinegar
200mL | 6.76 fl oz waterBroad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Mix the d-Limonene and polysorbate together. Slowly add the vinegar and water, gently whisking to combine.
Decant into a 500mL (16 fl oz) spray bottle and use for all your cleaning needs!
What a great idea! Another super creation you’ve made.
Thanks, Julie!
Looks like a great recipe! Is there a way to make a citrus oil infusion that would come close to the d-Limonene? Or would the cleaner be less effective? Thanks!
San
I think the closest you could come would be to infuse some citrus peels in vinegar for a couple weeks, and then add a few drops of citrus EOs, and some eucalyptus EO (it contains limonene). I’d also add some lemon juice to that, and it should be a great cleaner, though not really the same thing 😛
Can I substitute lemon EO for the d-limonene?
Eh… not really. I think the closest you could come would be to infuse some citrus peels in vinegar for a couple weeks, and then add a few drops of citrus EOs, and some eucalyptus EO (it contains limonene). I’d also add some lemon juice to that, and it should be a great cleaner, though not really the same thing as this.
Dear Marie, a HUGH THANK YOU for your amazing DIY recipes and awesome info. I’ve just taken my first step to start my small home business selling natural cleaning & skin care products along with healing salves. Living in Egypt, however, makes it extremely difficult to obtain the necessary ingredients and containers. Yet I’ll keep on pursuing my dream, thanks to the wonderful bloggers like you. God bless you
Iman Essam
Happy making and good luck! Please be sure to do this for several years before you start a business around it!
Hi Marie!
I normally do a slightly different version of this all purpose cleaner. I dissolve more or less 1-2 tbsp of soda crystals (or bicarb, whatever you have) in water and add a little limonene. Instead of shaking all time I use it, I add also about a teaspoon of my home-made-recycling-soap (basically I recycle all fat I use and turn it into soap just for cleaning, including dishes and washing machine).
The soap itself is an emulsifier, as all surfactants are, and I just shake a little and the emulsion made stays a little longer, ready to be used. When unused, the soap will go up the bottle, but after a good shake it’ll mix again.
For the bathroom I prefer to use a mix of tea-tree and pine EOs, I don’t know why XD.
Hope you like it 🙂
Hi Maria! How funny, I have been experimenting with almost exactly these ingredients, just in different proportions. Mine is more of a paste/gel right now 😛 It works wonderfully on bathtubs and blasts away grease and tea stains. I do love how soap is an emulsifier—the emulsifier here is also a mild surfactant, but I find you need so much of it that soap is definitely a better option for future batches 🙂 I’ll have to give your version a go when this batch is gone!
That would be great, thank you! 😀
Soap is wonderful, and so, so useful as an emulsifier that I make also a version of home made soap made entirely with stearic acid (to make, so, sodium stearate) to use it as a co-emulsifier and it works beautifully to make fluid creams and lotions in a very low proportion :). The same, made with beeswax (it would be sodium beeswax or sodium cerotate) is also very good, but like I said, only to use as co-emulsifier. Normally I associate these soap with glyceryl stearate home made + cetyl alcohol + xanthan gum (it is optional but gives a very good slip).
I cannot wait for your new post. Happy Christmas with your family and friends and have a good time
OOoh, very cool! You sound like you must have a background in chemistry that trumps my 12th grade chem 😛 I am really hoping to play with more emulsifiers in the new year, especially more “homemade” ones like the ones you’ve just talked about. So many projects & possibilities, eh!?
My background is not that big in chemistry, but I love looking here and there and study by myself 🙂
If you want some ideas about the emulsifiers, just ask 😉 some of them are really easy to make.
Ah, just like me—a dabbler, only more accomplished 😉 I shall be sure to ask if any of my future dabbles baffle me 😛
Hi Maria. Just read your exchange and am very interested to know more about your emulsifier learnings, especially those using cetyl alcohol (primarily) and stearic acid (secondarily). And especially if you’ve figured out how to use these with d-limonene to make a spray for countertops. Like you, I’m a dabbler and have a LOT of cetyl alcohol but haven’t quite figured out how to use it. If you’ve figured out how to use it with eo’s in room sprays or lotion that would be fantastic too. I also have homemade liquid soap I could use, but I’m concerned that using more than a spoonful in a spray-and-wipe countertop spray might leave a film.
Hey Wen! I’m not Maria, but I thought I’d chime in. Maria is saponifying the fatty acids she’s talking about, which is how they end up functioning as emulsifiers—they are soap. Also, both fatty acids you mentioned will thicken a spray (after they are emulsified, which will require additional emulsifiers, which totally defeats the point) to the point of it not really being spray-able anymore, so they aren’t very good choices for a spray.
Well, Marie has already replied.
I think that for countertops a better idea could be using a spray made with vinegar or bicarbonate. I personally use sodium bicarbonate diluted in water with tea tree, lavender and lemongrass essential oils as my everyday counter cleaner. And it works like a dream.
Hope this helps
I love the sounds of your counter spray 🙂
Sorry for jumping in—most questions directed at other readers never get answered as most commenters don’t turn on their notifications, so if I can provide some sort of an answer I usually will.
Never mind. When a question is answered and the person asking have the info, it’s good for all. This is a public space and we all share the information for the good of us all 😀
Greetings from Scotland!
Thank you both for your replies! Have either of you used d-limonene for a counter spray with an alternative emulsifier (I have Polysorbate 20 but use it sparingly)? If so, could you share the recipe? Also, Maria’s counter spray sounds interesting! What’s the purpose of the baking soda? I know that it can neutralize acids and act as an abrasive in dry form, but what does it do in a spray? Also, do the eo’s separate from the mixture? Thanks!!!
Hi,
Bicarbonate, when diluted, is also degreaser and antiseptic. You can use in the mixture the d-limonene to enhance degreasing properties, as if it is an essential oil. No need for a solubilizer as only a tiny amount is needed.
This mixture works for everyday use. For something dirtier, you can make a paste with our bicarbonate and limonene and rub and rub.
Hope this helps
I haven’t—in many places sulfated castor oil/Turkey red oil can be used instead of polysorbate 20, but in a cleaner the added surfactant properties of polysorbate 20 make it a better choice.
Thanks, Marie! I agree, turkey red would add too much oil to a cleaner. I love it for my eo baths, though! I will be trying both the Polysorbate recipe as well as the bicarbonate recipe. Thanks again!!
🙂
Oh, one more thing… In the original exchange Maria mentions a bicarbonate-limonene-soap spray. How much limonene do you use? Thank you!
😀
Hi Wen,
I use a small amount, about 5 ml of limonene per litre of spray. Just like an essential oil, a wee bit more for its degreasing and cleaning properties, but not too much.
In the end, limonene is some kind of @uber/concentrated lemon oil 😉
Perfect, thank you! I can’t wait to try it!
Dear Maria, I hope you could help me please on the proper way to use emulsifiers/solubilizers/surfactants. It would be great to know how to apply them in air freshener (including alcohol, essential oils and water)
and countertop cleaner (including baking soda, vinegar, water & essential oils).
Your reply is greatly appreciated
Iman
I highly doubt Maria will ever see this or reply; beyond the resources I have up here I would recommend Point of Interest as a great resource.
Can the solubilizer be subbed with polysorbate 20?
Solubilizer = polysorbate 20, so definitely 🙂
Can I substitute d-limonene essential oil for the d-limonene? That’s all they seem to have on saffire blue and I don’t want to spend $100 at nda to meet the limit!
I’m 99.9% sure they’re exactly the same thing, so go for it 🙂
Hi I had made this recently and noticed that it separates after a little while is this normal?
Hi Danie! It can start to stratify a bit, but a quick shake should easily re-combine it 🙂
That is what I have been doing far it stays together long enough for me to use it I was just surprised to find that it separates I thought the solubilizer is suppose to prevent that
I did, too, but alas, that seems not to be so :/ The description also says it keeps the solution clear and that’s obviously wrong as well.
LOVE IT!!! Dare I say, it may even work better than some of the commercial cleansers I’ve bought… My only regret is that I did not purchase the d-limonene and solubilizer in bigger bottles. Thank you so much for sharing this, it’s a winner in my book! Looking forward to trying more of your concoctions.
Wonderful! I’m so thrilled you’re loving it 😀 Yay for homemade, natural cleaners!
Hi, Marie:
Regarding preservatives, did you use Liquid Germall plus? if so, how much, and when did you add it?
I did—I don’t remember how much I used as you’ll need to weigh the final product to figure that out (handy preservative calculator here). Add it after you’ve mixed everything else together so you have a final eight to work with 🙂
Hi, Marie:
I use the Vitamin C found in the Camu Camu plant from the Amazon. It is exceptionally high in Vitamin C — I just use the tip of a knife when ingesting or for my diy skin potions. Amazon also sells it. Sophie Uliano in her Gorgeously Green books also recommends the camu camu plant. She also recommends the L-ascorbic Acid.
OOoh, how interesting! I’ve never head of that one before. Even better, it’s also on Amazon.ca and doesn’t cost a fortune! I’ll have to add it to my wishlist 🙂
Thank you for the recipe. Do you need a mask & gloves to work with Di-Limonene.
In an industrial application it may be advisable to do so, but the MSDS recommendations aren’t any different from those of any other essential oil I looked at, and we typically don’t wear ventilators and gloves to work with essential oils. Simply be careful, work in a well ventilated area, wash your hands when you’re done, and if you drench yourself with it, change your clothes and take a shower.
Thank you for your reply.