Bon Ami in the Test Lab

Product: Bon Ami Cleaners
Price: $3 – $4
Rating: Recommend*

After we wrote a post on how to shop for green cleaners, Bon Ami sent some test products to our office to see how they stacked up against other non-toxic green cleaning brands. Recently rebranded with a lighter, more streamlined look (that still preserves the classic chick logo), the kit included the classic powder cleanser, dish soap, all-purpose cleanser, and liquid cleanser.

While we’ve used the powder scrub before, this was our first time trying out the liquid cleaners — all of them are very mild products that don’t rely on harsh chemicals to do their job.

Bon Ami has been around since the 1890s, when J.T. Robertson started using leftover feldspar from New England mines to make soap. Feldspar is a gentle abrasive cleaner, and it was seen at that time as a waste product from quartz mining, so it was cheap and readily available. Bon Ami still uses North Carolina and North Dakota feldspar in their cleaners, along with baking soda, corn oils, coconut oils, palm oils, citric acid and other non-toxic ingredients.

We’ve sung the praises of the powder scrub before — while it doesn’t have the super-white-scrubbing ability of harsh chemicals like bleach, it’s one of the most effective green cleaners we’ve found. The feldspar abrasive provides just enough friction to get under dirt, but it’s mild and doesn’t scratch up surfaces.

The dish soap and liquid cleansers are likewise very mild. To be honest, the dish soap might be a little too mild for our liking. While it works well, the consistency is a little watery, and we find ourselves using it up more quickly than other dish soaps.

The all-purpose cleaner is a good product that doesn’t have a strong scent (a bonus in our book) and works well for wiping up counters and surfaces. We haven’t yet tried the liquid cleanser on shower tile or bathroom surfaces — where it’s really meant to be used — so we’ll hold off comments on that one for now.

Overall, we’re giving it a solid thumbs up, with the strongest recommendation for the classic powder cleanser. The liquid cleansers are also mild, with a scent that’s fresh but soft, and they’re effective, although a little watery.

Any first-hand reviews of Bon Ami to add? Let us know in the comments!

*Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.

*Our Ratings:
Strong Recommend
Recommend
Weak Recommend
Don’t Recommend

Photos: Bon Ami