Q: What was the gap you saw in the cleaning products market that made Natuary necessary?

So many of the safer-to-use cleaning products were asking us to lower expectations. Safer, sure, but often incomplete. Particularly with laundry, where clothes never really felt or smelled clean, and where stripping buildup was just part of the norm. There’s also still a lot of greenwashing - feel-good language without ingredient transparency or education to back it up.

And aesthetically, most household cleaners left much to be desired. My spray bottles stay out all day so I wanted something that worked and was pleasing to look at, so I created what I wanted in my home - from how they were crafted to how they looked left out on the counter.

Q: How do enzymes actually work to clean compared to the cleaning agents in conventional laundry detergents? What’s happening that makes them effective?

Enzymes are precision tools. Each one targets a specific type of stain, proteins, fats, starches, cellulose, even urine. They break down these complex molecules into smaller, water-soluble fragments that rinse out cleanly. Conventional detergents often rely on harsher surfactants or optical brighteners that mask rather than remove stains. With enzymes, you’re actually digesting the problem at its source. Our base detergent has the essential enzyme mix for everyday grime. But not every load needs the highest concentration, that’s why we built the stain remover as a separate product. It carries a much higher enzyme load for the spots that need extra treatment.

Q: Most people understand why synthetic fragrances are problematic. Can you talk about other common ingredients that had to go—and how you approached formulating without them?

From conventional laundry, we avoided petrochemicals, optical brighteners, and fabric-coating agents meant to simulate softness or brightness. Over time, these can build up, dull colors, trigger skin sensitivity, and their long-term safety profiles and environmental impact didn’t meet our standards.

From the more-natural side, we also looked at overly alkaline builders and salts. These often don’t dissolve fully in water, especially when paired with incomplete formulas, and leave behind that chalky film that makes clothes feel stiff or look faded.

In household cleaning, since these are formulas that don’t get rinsed out as a laundry detergent would, our focus was avoiding ingredients with allergenic profiles and endocrine disruption. We evaluated each ingredient for function and long-term impact - if it caused buildup, irritation, or imbalance, we left it out. We focused on a formula that cleans effectively, breaks down fully, supports the health of the home and honors the intelligence of the earth.

Q: The household concentrate uses probiotics. Can you explain how they continue working after you've cleaned a surface?

Probiotics are live beneficial bacteria. After the surfactants do the heavy lifting on visible messes, the probiotics stay behind and get to work on what’s left. They activate when they encounter microscopic traces of organic matter and start digesting it. As they do, they produce enzymes, like lipase to break down grease, protease for proteins, amylase for starches and cellulase for plant messes like mud and grass.

It’s not a one-and-done clean. These microbes keep working long after you’ve wiped, helping prevent regrowth of harmful bacteria and supporting a healthier balance on your surfaces. Especially useful in kitchens, bathrooms, and homes with pets or kids, places where mess tends to come back fast.

This isn’t about sterilizing your surfaces. It’s about supporting a balanced environment. Most conventional cleaners aim to eliminate everything, good or bad. We designed ours to clean effectively while allowing beneficial microbes to do their job. It’s a longer-lasting clean that works in rhythm with your home’s natural microbiome.

Q: When testing formulas, how did you prove they worked as well as conventional cleaners?

We tested side by side against leading products in real home environments. For laundry we produced every stain we could think of - grease, blood, grass, pasta sauce, fruit, you name it. We tried combinations with and without the stain remover. For the household cleaner, we used real-world messes, sticky counters, greasy stoves, grimy showers, etc.
Once it passed our bar, we sent it out to many households across the country to test across their own laundry challenges, machine type and water type and household cleaning in high-traffic homes with kids and pets to contribute to the testing zones. Based on their feedback, we made refinements until we had something that consistently delivered across the board. 

Q: What products are you excited to develop next? Where do you still see gaps in the non-toxic cleaning market?

Dishes. Both a dish soap and a dishwasher formula. We know we have a challenge there to provide a complete formula that performs well (without the water spots!) with ingredients acceptable to the ingredient-conscious community and the regulatory bodies that oversee food-surface cleaning agents!

Q:  What's the biggest misconception people have about natural cleaning products—and how do Natuary’s formulations challenge that?

Let’s be honest, it's not even a misconception: A lot of them fall short. Especially with laundry. That’s what we wanted to challenge. We didn’t want to sacrifice ingredient integrity, but we also weren’t willing to lower our internal bar for performance. That meant re-evaluating some of the ingredients we’ve been taught to fear. Some deserve that reputation. Some don’t. The data isn’t always contextually accurate, and science evolves. Natuary makes space for that complexity. It’s not about using fewer ingredients, it’s about using the right ones, for the right reasons, and staying committed to re-education as we learn more.

Q: Where can readers find Natuary and explore the full product line?

Everything is available online at natuary.com. We also wanted to provide a robust ingredient profile that didn’t ask customers to do all the heavy lifting. You’ll find our ingredient library has what we chose and why along with the link to the EWG rating (something I used to do manually for every product and every ingredient!)