Best fragrance-free laundry detergent

How we chose

This page asks one question: which laundry detergents have no fragrance in their published ingredient list. Everything here comes from documents. We have not tested these products, and we do not describe how they smell, clean or feel. Our check is mechanical. We took each maker’s ingredient list, retrieved on 2026-11-11, and looked for fragrance, parfum, aroma, perfume, essential oils and common fragrance chemicals. A product passes only if none appears. Every list below was read from the maker’s own page, the strongest tier we use, and we do not use retailer pages as evidence. Price bands, where shown, come from Amazon listings as a rough guide only; two products have no Amazon listing.

The definition we use is in our explainer on fragrance-free versus unscented: fragrance-free means the listed ingredients contain no fragrance material. A marketing claim of unscented or free and clear is not the test, and nothing on this page rests on a claim alone. Formulations change, so every list is dated. The wider category sits on the laundry hub and the underlying issue on the masking fragrance page.

What to look for on a laundry label

The word fragrance, or its alternatives. The FDA, writing about cosmetics, says fragrance and flavour ingredients can be listed simply as Fragrance because the formulas can be trade secrets. Laundry detergents are not cosmetics and the rules differ, but the practical point carries over: one word can stand for a whole blend. See what parfum means and our guide to reading an ingredient list for other names such as aroma and perfume.

Unscented is not the test. The FDA also says some products labelled unscented may contain fragrance ingredients, and that a maker may add a fragrance to cover the smell of other ingredients. That is masking fragrance. A detergent can smell of nothing and still list fragrance, and one with no fragrance listed can still have a faint smell of its own. The list is the check, not the nose.

Where the list lives. Detergent ingredient lists are often not on the bottle. The American Cleaning Institute describes a voluntary initiative under which participating makers share ingredient information on the label, a website or a phone line, and California’s SB 258 is described as adding legal disclosure duties for certain cleaning products. Both pages blocked automated access for this check, so we do not rely on them for any product fact and rely on each maker’s own online disclosure instead. Our page on fragrance labelling and trade secrets goes further.

A fragrance-free list is not an ingredient-free list. Detergents contain surfactants and often preservatives, enzymes or other additives. Which matter to you is your decision, and the router above sorts the six products by the common ones. The Tide Original list we rejected shows that scented and free-type products from one brand can differ in more than one ingredient: it names a blue chromophore and a fluorescent brightener alongside fragrances.

Certifications. The National Eczema Association runs a Seal of Acceptance, and NEA pages are described as listing laundry as an eligible category with no fragrance permitted. Our page on the NEA Seal covers what it does and does not mean. We did not check these products against the NEA directory or SkinSAFE, so we say nothing about their status.

Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Free & Clear (105 fl oz)

Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Free & Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent has a list with no preservative and no enzyme. Per the maker’s ingredient disclosure, retrieved 2026-11-11, it has 11 entries: water; C10-16 alketh (the maker writes that this entry could include C12-15 alcohols ethoxylated, C10-16 alcohol ethoxylate and C12-16 alcohols ethoxylated 7EO); sodium laureth sulfate; sodium carbonate; sodium C10-16 alkylbenzenesulfonate; acrylic acid homopolymer; sodium bicarbonate; pentasodium DTPA; disodium distyrylbiphenyl disulfonate; sodium hydroxide; and nitrilotriacetic acid. None is a fragrance, parfum, aroma, perfume or essential oil.

The maker marks nitrilotriacetic acid, the last entry, as a non-functional constituent. We report that as the maker’s marking and add no judgement of our own. The maker’s claim on the listing is free of perfumes and dyes; the list is consistent with it, since no dye and no fragrance is named.

Who it suits: a shopper who wants a liquid and whose filter is fragrance, or fragrance plus preservatives and enzymes. Caveat: the brand also sells scented lines, including the one rejected below, so match the exact product name. The Amazon listing title mentions SkinSAFE certification and a hypoallergenic claim; those are retail-title claims, and hypoallergenic has no regulatory definition for consumer products. See our Arm & Hammer page for the line-by-line view. The listing title gives 105 loads, and its price band is the lowest of the products with an Amazon listing.

ECOS Hypoallergenic Free & Clear Liquid (100 fl oz)

ECOS Hypoallergenic Free & Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent has the shortest list among the liquids. Per the maker’s ingredient page, headed Full Ingredients, retrieved 2026-11-11, it has six entries: water; cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium coco-sulfate and cocamidopropylamine oxide, each described by the maker as a plant-derived surfactant; and phenoxyethanol and methylisothiazolinone, each described by the maker as a preservative. No fragrance or essential oil appears, and no enzyme or brightener is listed.

The short list carries two preservatives. If you are avoiding methylisothiazolinone or phenoxyethanol, this is the one product here to skip, and our pages on methylisothiazolinone and phenoxyethanol give the context. The choice is yours.

Caveat: ECOS publishes two Free & Clear formulas on its site, a plain one and one with enzymes. The Amazon listing we first matched for 100 fl oz was unavailable on 14 November 2026 (its card now links to the maker’s page) and did not say which formula it was, and the list we recorded is the one with no enzyme. Both maker lists name no fragrance, so the fragrance-free result holds for either, but the rest of the list may differ. The listing is a pack of two bottles (200 loads in its title), so its price band is not like for like with a single bottle. Its title also mentions a hypoallergenic claim and EPA Safer Choice certification, which we did not verify.

Tide Free & Gentle Liquid (105 fl oz)

Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent is the long-list entry. Per the maker’s SmartLabel page for the 105 fl oz size (80 loads), retrieved 2026-11-11, the list has 18 entries: water, C10-16 alketh, sodium C10-16 alkylbenzenesulfonate, sodium lauryl sulfate, polyethyleneimines alkoxylated, sodium salts of C12-18 fatty acids, sodium citrate, propylene glycol, C10-16 alkyldimethylamine oxide, alcohol, sodium cumenesulfonate, tetrasodium glutamate diacetate, calcium formate, subtilisin, amylase enzyme, benzisothiazolinone, cellulase enzyme and mannanase enzyme. There is no fragrance, parfum, aroma or essential oil.

What sets it apart is what else it lists: four enzymes (subtilisin, amylase, cellulase and mannanase) and the preservative benzisothiazolinone, a different isothiazolinone from the one ECOS lists. If you are avoiding enzymes or isothiazolinone preservatives, the list tells you in advance. The maker’s claim on the listing is free of dyes and perfumes, and the list is consistent with it.

Caveat: Tide sells scented products in similar bottles, and the Original liquid is rejected below because its list includes fragrances. The words Free & Gentle on the label are what matter; see our Tide page.

All Free Clear for Sensitive Skin (141 fl oz)

All Free Clear for Sensitive Skin Liquid Laundry Detergent has the largest size here. Per the maker’s page, read by our fetch and retrieved 2026-11-12, the list has nine entries: water; C12-15 alcohols ethoxylated; sodium laureth sulfate; sodium carbonate; trisodium dicarboxymethyl alaninate; fatty acids, C8-18 and C18-unsaturated, sodium salts; sodium polyacrylate; and benzisothiazolinone. The maker prints CAS numbers beside each entry. No fragrance, parfum, aroma, perfume or essential oil appears, and no enzyme is listed.

The maker’s claim is 100% free of perfumes and dyes and hypoallergenic; the list is consistent with the first part, and hypoallergenic has no regulatory definition for consumer products. The one preservative-type entry is benzisothiazolinone, the same isothiazolinone Tide Free & Gentle lists. Who it suits: a shopper who wants a mainstream-brand liquid with no enzyme and only one listed preservative.

We found no Amazon listing for this product, so its card links to the maker’s site and is not an affiliate link. All also sells scented lines, so match the exact name; our All page covers the brand line by line.

Seventh Generation Free & Clear Liquid (90 fl oz)

Seventh Generation Free & Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent is the list that carries the most functional labels. Per the maker’s page for the 90 fl oz size, read by our fetch and retrieved 2026-11-11, it has 13 entries: water; laureth-6; sodium citrate; sodium lauryl sulfate; sodium chloride; sodium oleate; sodium sulfate; citric acid; protease, amylase and mannanase enzyme blends; and the preservatives benzisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone. The maker describes most entries as plant-derived or mineral-based; we report that as the maker’s wording. No fragrance, parfum, aroma or essential oil appears.

It is the only product here that lists both a set of enzymes and two preservatives. If you are avoiding methylisothiazolinone, see our page on methylisothiazolinone; the maker’s own list shows it is present. The maker’s claim is no dyes, no fragrances and hypoallergenic, and the list is consistent with the first two.

We found no Amazon listing for this product, so its card links to the maker’s site and is not an affiliate link. The card’s id says 100 oz but the maker page and the record are for 90 fl oz. See our Seventh Generation page for the brand view.

Charlie’s Soap Fragrance Free Laundry Powder

Charlie’s Soap Fragrance Free Laundry Powder is the only powder with a verified list here and has the shortest list overall. Per the maker’s ingredient page, retrieved 2026-11-11, it has five entries: sodium carbonate, C12-16 pareth-9, C10-14 alcohol ethoxylate, sodium metasilicate and water. No fragrance, preservative or enzyme appears. Two entries are alcohol ethoxylates and the rest are two sodium salts and water.

Caveat: the maker’s page covers the powder and is not size-specific, and the Amazon listing title reads 100 Loads, 2 Pack. We matched on the product line and the maker’s list, not on a size-specific disclosure. The title mentions a hypoallergenic claim, which we did not verify. For comparison with mainstream brands, see our All laundry detergent page.

Products we rejected

Two products fail the fragrance-free test on their own makers’ lists. Neither is rejected on opinion.

Tide Original Liquid (92 fl oz). The maker’s SmartLabel list, retrieved 2026-11-11, includes Fragrances. The page we read is for the 92 fl oz, 48-load Original Stain Release size.

Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean Fresh Scent (166.5 fl oz). The maker’s disclosure, retrieved 2026-11-11, lists Fragrances and Fragrance in two separate places.

These are two scented comparators, not a statement about every product in either brand.

Reading the six lists side by side

Surfactants. Every list has at least one. Arm & Hammer lists sodium laureth sulfate and an alkylbenzenesulfonate, plus the C10-16 alketh entry with the variants the maker names. Tide Free & Gentle lists a similar mix with sodium lauryl sulfate and an amine oxide. All Free Clear lists alcohol ethoxylate and sodium laureth sulfate, and Seventh Generation lists laureth-6 and sodium lauryl sulfate. ECOS names three, described by the maker as plant-derived. Charlie’s Soap lists two alcohol ethoxylates. We do not rank them: a maker’s statement about where a surfactant comes from says little by itself about how it behaves on skin or in a machine.

Alkalis and other salts. Arm & Hammer lists sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and sodium hydroxide. Charlie’s Soap lists sodium carbonate and sodium metasilicate. ECOS and Tide list none of these; Tide’s list has sodium citrate and tetrasodium glutamate diacetate instead.

Enzymes. Tide Free & Gentle (four) and Seventh Generation (three blends) list them. Four of the six list none, with the ECOS two-formula caveat above.

Preservatives. ECOS lists phenoxyethanol and methylisothiazolinone, Seventh Generation lists benzisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone, and Tide and All list benzisothiazolinone. Arm & Hammer and Charlie’s Soap name none. We only report what each disclosure shows.

Length. The lists run from 5 entries (Charlie’s Soap) to 18 (Tide Free & Gentle); All lists 9 and Seventh Generation 13. Length alone means little: a short list can hold a preservative you want to avoid, and a long one can hold only ingredients you accept.

What the label does not tell you

A list gives ingredients in the maker’s terms, and some things remain open. It gives no amounts, so we make no claim about proportions. We found no source that lets us say how much detergent remains on fabric after a wash for these products, and we do not claim a number; rinse depends on the machine, load and water as well as the formula. Fabric softener, dryer sheets and scent boosters can add scent to a load whatever the detergent lists, as our guide on what is in dryer sheets and the piece on scent beads and microcapsules explain. For a fully fragrance-free routine, check dryer sheets, fabric softener and laundry boosters as well, and see our switching guide if you are moving from scented products. Product lists change, so recheck the maker’s page when you reorder.

This page assesses fragrance only. It does not assess stain removal, machine compatibility or suitability for babies; for the last, see our newborn laundry guide. For any question about a skin or breathing condition, a clinician, an allergist or a dermatologist, or a society such as the National Eczema Association, is the right source, not a shopping page.

Some links on this page are affiliate links; if you buy through them we may earn a commission, which does not change which products pass the ingredient check.