11 Worst Products For Doing Laundry

Most conventional laundry detergents contain toxic chemicals that are known to be unsafe. These products may smell clean, but they're far from it. Here are the top 12 worst offenders.

Nikole Stewart |

Updated: Jun 27, 2025

Worst Products for Doing laundry Unsplash — Credit: Unsplash

When you wash your clothes with conventional laundry detergents, you’re getting a lot more than just soap. Laundry detergents that claim to brighten clothes actually include optical brighteners, which are chemical residues that stick to clothes and make colors appear brighter. To avoid harmful chemicals, synthetic dyes, and preservatives, avoid these worst products for doing laundry.

Your laundry room should be a haven, a place with happy colors, light, fresh scents, and the occasional framed ironic motivational quote. It should not play host to a collection of toxins. It makes you wonder where else in your home harmful chemicals may be lurking. For instance, what are the worst products for doing laundry that you should avoid?

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1. Fab Ultra 2X Liquid Laundry Detergent, Spring Magic

The ingredients in this laundry detergent aren’t so fab. For one, this detergent contains formaldehyde. (The same stuff used to preserve dead bodies.) Formaldehyde is a carcinogen and has an F rating by the EWG. Besides that, this detergent also includes two ingredients, alcohol ethoxylates (C14-15) and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, that both pose environmental concerns and may be toxic to aquatic life. Overall, this product earned an F from the EWG.

2. Tide Plus a Touch of Downy Liquid Detergent, Lavender

This detergent has a lot goin’ on—a lot of ingredients anyway. The EWG lists 29 ingredients, many of which pose concerns health-wise and for the environment. And, that high number is with the company providing “poor” ingredient disclosure. That many ingredients, both known and unknown, are a little disconcerting. Why so much? Oh, and guess what the label lists as the ingredients in this product? “Biodegradable surfactants (anionic and nonionic) and enzymes.” The company seems to be shortening the list a tad, huh? Overall, this product earned an F from the EWG.

3. Ajax 2X Ultra Liquid Laundry Detergent, Original

Formaldehyde, preservatives, synthetic colors, methanol, and synthetic fragrances are just a few of the nasty ingredients in this laundry detergent. From causing cancer and damage to DNA to toxicity to aquatic life, the effects of these ingredients probably aren’t what you think about when pouring this detergent into the wash cycle. Overall, this detergent earned an F from the EWG.

4. Ivory Ultra Snow Liquid Laundry Detergent

This product reaches out to new moms to use on babies’ clothes; however, EWG gave this detergent an F-rating. The EWG found that this detergent includes such harmful ingredients as sodium borate, which has developmental, reproductive, and endocrine effects; ethanolamine, which has respiratory effects; and several ingredients that are toxic to the environment. Even worse? The company’s website states that this detergent doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals. With the evidence from the EWG telling otherwise, you could say that’s a blatant lie.

5. All Small & Mighty Laundry Detergent HE, Fresh Rain

Curious about how this detergent manages to smell like “fresh rain”? That scent certainly isn’t from anything natural. It comes from undisclosed “fragrances”. Like fragrance, many of the other ingredients listed for this product are vague terms that make it difficult to know what exactly is in the product. Words like stabilizer, buffer, colors, fabric brighteners, nonionic surfactants, and anionic surfactants mean essentially nothing. Overall, this product earned an F from the EWG.

6. Dynamo Liquid Laundry Detergent

Want to know what’s in this product? Good luck. The company had “poor” ingredient disclosure, according to the EWG. The five ingredients listed in the EWG’s database include F-rated formaldehyde, C-rated alcohol ethoxylates (C14-15) and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, and A-rated alcohol denatured and sodium carbonate. Overall, this detergent earned an F from the EWG.

7. Gain Liquid Detergent, Island Fresh

You may gain clean clothes by using this laundry detergent, but you’ll be using ingredients that mess with your hormones and harm the environment to do it. Sodium borate anhydrous poses high concerns for developmental, endocrine, and reproductive effects. At the least, it can cause skin, eye, and respiratory irritation. Other ingredients in the formula can potentially not biodegrade and may be harmful to aquatic life. Overall, this detergent earned an F from the EWG.

8. Tide Liquid Detergent with Febreze Freshness, Meadows & Rain

Mixing an F-rated product with a D-rated product? It’s no surprise, then, that Tide Liquid Detergent with Febreze Freshness, Meadows & Rain earned an F-rating from the EWG. In fact, all Tide products listed in the EWG’s database earned D- or F-ratings, except one, which earned a C.

9. Wisk High Efficiency Liquid Laundry Detergent

Of the (not many) disclosed ingredients in this product, all of the ingredients earned an F- or D-rating individually from the EWG. They likely earned these ratings because all ingredients disclosed were non-specific. The ingredients listed include vague terms like buffer, water softener, stabilizer, colors, fabric brighteners, polymers, nonionic surfactants, anionic surfactants, and fragrance. Overall, this detergent earned an F from the EWG.

10. Tide HE plus a Touch of Downy, April Fresh

Sadly, “America’s favorite detergent” (this is according to Tide’s website) is a repeat offender on this list. Thanks to harmful ingredients, Tide HE Plus a Touch of Downy fared no better than the other Tide products we’ve listed, scoring an overall score of F from the EWG. One of the ingredients in question, ethanolamine, is a moderate general systemic concern as well as a moderate organ effect according to EWG.

11. Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean Liquid Laundry Detergent, Fresh

Last on our list is another popular detergent that you’re likely to see in most markets. Don’t let Arm & Hammer’s association with harmless baking soda fool you; this product has dozens of harmful ingredients. At the top of that list is endocrine-disrupting sodium borate, which is a high concern for reproductive harm. Overall, this detergent scored an F from EWG.

This is just a sampling of products in the Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning database. Visit the database for more information.