Enzymes vs. Probiotic Cleaners

What’s the difference between probiotic and enzymatic cleaners?

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Enzymes, probiotics and the biological alternatives to chemical cleaners.

We all know chemical cleaners can be harmful when used in a home. But, we’ve also all wasted mountains of money — and precious time — on all-natural methods that simply do not work. So, where could you, dear cleaner, find a cleaning product that is at-once not harmful to your health while also very effective in your home?

Well, for that we look to science. Science! Enter enzymes and probiotics.

Enzymatic cleaners are all the rage these days, lining shelves at retailers and hawked by influencers across the world wide web. But most people, even those who stock their home with enzymatic cleaners, don’t know how they actually work at a microscopic level.

Probiotic cleaners are the new kids on the block, as a packaged product at least. They’ve existed naturally for as long as microbiota has existed — which is to say, for as long as life has been on earth.

So, which one should you reach for the next time you have a mess to clean up? The rest of this page is a breakdown of what each of these alternatives to chemical cleaners can do, explained in a way that you don’t need a PhD in Biology to understand.

So, raise a glass of red wine or uric acid, spill it, and let’s find a way to clean it up. To knowledge! To science!

What are enzymes?

Enzymes are proteins used to speed up a specific reaction.

Different types of enzymes catalyze different types of reactions — for example, when talking cleaners, specific types of enzymes treat specific types of stains.

The downside when it comes to enzymatic cleaners is that when cleaning something, you have to make sure you’re treating it with the corresponding enzyme:

• Amylases break down starch molecules — e.g. eggs, ice cream, gravy
• Cellulases break down cellulose material — e.g. mud, dust, plants
• Lipases break down fat molecules — e.g. butter, grease, oil — so they can be washed away
• Proteases break down protein molecules — e.g. wine, blood, pee, poop
• Uricases target uric acid - e.g. pee

If you don’t match the enzyme to the mess, it’s not going to be able to break down the molecules and clean it. When reaching for an enzymatic cleaner, make sure you reach for the right one for the mess at hand.

Or, make things easier on yourself and reach for a probiotic cleaner.

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are alive. They’re living organisms most commonly known as “good” bacteria.

You’ll find probiotics in plenty of drinks these days from kombucha to soda alternatives, consumed to establish a healthy gut environment.

You can also find them in do-not-eat products like household cleaners, applied to establish a healthy home environment.

The way a probiotic cleaner like Lively works is it overwhelms a surface with good bacteria to ward off the bad bacteria. That good bacteria continues to work for days after applied, consuming more and more bad bacteria until there isn’t any left to consume. That bacteria will also travel from surface to surface, consuming all bad bacteria in its path — meaning, the more high-touch the cleaned area the better.

Fun fact: The good bacteria in probiotic cleaners actually produce enzymes, each bacterium producing thousands of enzymes at that. Where enzymatic cleaners require specificity in their application, probiotic cleaners adapt to the context, producing the specific enzymes needed in the specific amounts required.

Bit of a mic drop moment for probiotics. And, if you do drop your mic, probiotics could clean that thing right up.

Enzymes vs. Probiotic Cleaners: What’s the difference?

Can you use probiotics cleaners and enzymatic cleaners together?

While a probiotic cleaner on its own would do the trick, you could make extra super duper sure it’s clean by tag teaming the mess. It is generally safe to use both probiotic and enzymatic cleaners together so no harm, no foul.

In practice, you could apply the correct enzymatic cleaner for the mess that calls for it. The enzymes would break down the molecules into smaller molecules, eagerly waiting to be gobbled up by — you guessed it — probiotics. The good bacteria from the probiotic cleaner would then swoop in to further digest the waste particles left behind.

Teamwork. Dream work. Tag team, back again. Check it to wreck it, let’s begin. Party on, party people, let me hear some noise.

But we digress from the mess. Back to the topic at hand.

What can you use probiotic cleaners on?

Pretty much anything that has waste molecules on it. What will it be effective on? Well, that depends on the thing you’re trying to clean. At Lively, we have a whole suite of products for a variety of cleanups.

Cleaning up the table your kids sit at daily? Reach for the Lively Multi-Surface Household Cleaner.

Got a naughty dog who likes to mark their territory on your heirloom Persian rug? Blot, spray, blot with the Lively Pet Multi-Surface Stain & Odor Remover. 

Husband can’t eat spaghetti without getting it all over his heirloom white t-shirt? Soak that stain with the Lively Stain Remover.

In short, probiotics can clean blood, mud and everything in-between for all of life’s in-between moments. 

What fabrics does Lively work on?

Research (science!) shows that probiotic cleaners are more effective and work longer after application. Enzymes work, but only if the enzyme used is specific to the mess at hand.

Check out probiotic cleaners