The search for one great household cleaner can sometimes feel like wading through the singles scene.
One prospect looks great. Another smells great. A third boasts just the right pedigree, but even that may not result in an ideal fit.
Shoppers may want to blame the household-care industry for perpetuating the myth that when something looks good or smells good, it automatically works well.
If only that were true.
All-purpose cleaners, especially those without alcohol, ammonia and other potentially toxic ingredients, often leave the impression that they work well simply because they smell clean. Nontoxic cleaners are now available in an array of herbal, floral and yummy food scents, but many simply fail to perform.
How, then, can Holy Cow All Purpose Cleaner be so attractive when it has little to no scent at all? Like love at first sight, this clear spray bottle filled with cotton-candy-pink liquid and wrapped in a pretty label featuring the company’s big-eyed, floppy-uddered, puckered-lipped bovine mascot has definite wooing power when placed on a shelf among dull, utilitarian bottles.
That color is a plus, but so are Holy Cow’s claims: natural, biodegradable, organic, nontoxic and free of volatile organic compounds. And it’s suitable for every chore from buffing granite to washing laundry.
But is Holy Cow too good to be true, like the date who talks a great game and then leaves his wallet at home?
No.
It overpowered coffee stains on the kitchen counter and dried soup on the stove with one spray, a few seconds to penetrate and a hassle- free wipe. A raised brown blob on the area rug by the back door seemed an even bigger challenge. But a spritz and a blot with Holy Cow and that goo easily clung to a cleaning rag.
So while some dates sound (and are!) too good to be true, Holy Cow All Purpose Cleaner proved itself to be a real household Casanova.
Holy Cow All Purpose Cleaner is $3 to $4 per 32-ounce bottle at Ace Hardware, Sam’s Club, Walgreens, and Bed Bath & Beyond, and online at and holycow .
