Is Sodium Polyacrylate Safe? Why We Use it in Laundry Detergent & Dishwashing Products

Posted By: Truly Free Home

Posted On: 9/25/2025

How Sodium Polyacrylate Works

Here’s where it gets cool. Sodium polyacrylate absorbs water and swells, forming a gel-like matrix that locks in liquid. That gel structure increases viscosity (a fancy word for thickness), which:

Keeps your detergent and rinse aid from becoming unstable
Helps suspend cleaning agents so they don’t sink to the bottom of the bottle
Enhances cleaning power by holding onto dirt and grime until they can be rinsed away

So each time you wash your clothes or dishes, this polymer ensures your product feels right, works consistently, and delivers reliable results.

Is Sodium Polyacrylate Safe? Why We Chose It

At Truly Free Home, we’re picky about every single ingredient. Here’s why sodium polyacrylate has our stamp of approval:

Performance: Sodium polyacrylate keeps products stable and effective from the first use to the last.
Eco-Benefits: Sodium polyacrylate reduces soil redeposition (a fancy way of saying it stops dirt from reattaching to fabrics).
Safety: The Environmental Working Group (EWG) rates sodium polyacrylate as a 2, a low score that signals minimal risk when used in liquids and solids. (Concerns rise mainly in inhalable forms like powders or sprays, which is not how we use it.)

It’s worth noting: While sodium polyacrylate is a synthetic ingredient, “synthetic” doesn’t automatically mean “toxic.” Many safe, effective, and eco-friendly materials are lab-made. How “toxic” an ingredient is doesn’t just depend on whether it’s natural or synthetic; it depends on things like its chemical makeup, how pure it is, how concentrated it is, how you’re exposed to it, and what happens to it in the environment.

Many synthetic ingredients are actually designed to be:

Extra clean: Free from the impurities, allergens, or germs that sometimes come with natural extracts.
Highly effective: Made to work really well, stay stable, and break down safely.
Environmentally smart: Engineered to degrade quickly and not stick around in the environment.

In the levels we use sodium polyacrylate, it’s considered safe for household cleaning products.

The Transparent Takeaway

Sodium polyacrylate may not be a household name, but it’s an essential ingredient hero that ensures your Truly Free Home products are stable, effective, and easy to use.

By choosing ingredients carefully, and balancing safety, performance, and sustainability, we’re making sure your laundry and cleaning routines stay powerful and non-toxic.

Because when you’re building a healthier home, even the little ingredients matter.