Benzalkonium chloride: products to avoid and clearing your laundry
General information for patients. Companion to Hyperkeratotic flexural erythema (granular parakeratosis). This page does not replace individual medical advice. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Why this matters
Benzalkonium chloride is a disinfectant used in laundry sanitisers, cleaning wipes and sprays. Clothes rinsed in it hold the chemical through many washes, and in some people this causes a rash, often mainly in the skin folds but sometimes over wider areas of skin, called hyperkeratotic flexural erythema (granular parakeratosis). The rash settles only once every source is removed and the chemical is washed out of your clothes and machine. This sheet lists where it hides and how to clear it.
How to spot it on a label
Look in the ingredients or the “active ingredient” line for any of these names:
- Benzalkonium chloride (also written BAC, BAK or BKC)
- Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (ADBAC)
- Quaternary ammonium compounds, benzyl-C12-16-alkyldimethyl, chlorides
Close relatives are best avoided in the same way while your rash settles: didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC), cetrimonium chloride, and anything described as a quaternary ammonium compound or “quat”.
Words on the front of a pack that should make you turn it over: sanitiser, antibacterial, kills 99.9% of germs, hospital grade, hygiene rinse, alcohol-free (on a hand sanitiser).
Laundry products
This is the main source. Treat every laundry sanitiser, hygiene rinse and antibacterial fabric conditioner as a problem, whatever the brand. Ordinary detergent cleans clothes; a sanitiser adds nothing except the chemical.
Australian products and what their labels list (checked October 2026; formulations change, so always read the bottle):
| Product | Listed ingredient |
|---|---|
| Canesten Laundry Sanitiser (formerly Hygiene Laundry Rinse) | Benzalkonium chloride 0.9% plus didecyldimethylammonium chloride 1.4% (older Hygiene Laundry Rinse bottles: benzalkonium chloride 70 g/L) |
| Woolworths Clean Laundry Sanitiser Antibacterial; Clean Boost Laundry Sanitiser | Benzalkonium chloride 70 g/L |
| Pine O Cleen Laundry Sanitiser, including the Platinum range | Benzalkonium chloride 0.9% plus didecyldimethylammonium chloride 1.4% |
| Dettol Antibacterial Laundry Sanitiser | Dialkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (a close relative) |
| Sard Laundry Sanitiser | Didecyldimethylammonium chloride (a close relative) |
| Aldi Di-San Laundry Sanitiser; Coles laundry sanitiser | Same product type; check the label |
| Cuddly Antibacterial Care & Protect fabric conditioner | Cetrimonium chloride (a close relative) |
Washing-machine cleaners and laundry soakers labelled “antibacterial” may also contain these chemicals. Check the label before using one on the machine you are trying to clear.
Other household products
These matter when they touch your skin directly, or surfaces you sit or lie on (gym equipment, toilet seats, change tables, massage tables), or if you use them all day at work in cleaning, healthcare, childcare, hospitality or beauty.
- Disinfectant wipes: Dettol Antibacterial Multipurpose Surface Wipes (benzalkonium chloride 0.40%), Dettol 2 in 1 Hands and Surfaces Antibacterial Wipes, Dettol Disinfectant Wipes (hospital grade), Pine O Cleen Disinfectant Wipes.
- Disinfectant liquids and antibacterial sprays: Pine O Cleen Disinfectant Liquid. Many other “antibacterial” multipurpose sprays use the same chemical; check the label.
- Alcohol-free hand sanitisers: benzalkonium chloride is the usual active ingredient (for example Actisan Alcohol Free Hand Sanitiser). Alcohol-based sanitisers, where the label lists alcohol or ethanol as the active ingredient, are a different chemical.
- Outdoor mould and moss removers: Wet & Forget (alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride). Relevant if it gets on clothing or skin.
- Smaller sources, rarely the cause of this rash but worth knowing: preservative in many eye drops and nasal sprays, some antiseptic first-aid sprays and wipes, some baby wipes, pool algaecides.
Products people often ask about that are not benzalkonium chloride
- Glen 20 surface spray: alcohol-based.
- Dettol Antibacterial Liquid (the brown antiseptic): chloroxylenol. Still irritating to skin folds, and not to be added to laundry while your rash settles, but it is a different chemical.
- Alcohol hand sanitisers, ordinary laundry detergents, bleach, vinegar.
If you want hygienic laundry without a sanitiser: a hot wash (60°C or above) or drying in full sun does the job, and chlorine bleach is an option for whites.
Clearing your clothes and washing machine
The chemical binds to fabric and to the machine. The skin usually needs several weeks after the last exposure before it starts to settle, so the clearing has to be thorough and done once.
- Stop every product on this sheet today. Tell everyone who does laundry in your home, and check what is used at a partner’s house, a laundromat or by a cleaner.
- Clean the machine. Remove the detergent and fabric-softener drawer, where sanitiser is usually dosed, and scrub it under the tap. Wipe the rubber door seal. Run the longest, hottest empty cycle with ordinary detergent, then one more empty rinse cycle.
- Rewash the clothes. Everything that was ever washed with the sanitiser needs at least four washes in ordinary detergent before you wear it. Start with what touches the rash: underwear, bras, socks, leggings and activewear, pyjamas, sheets, pillowcases and towels.
- Replace what keeps flaring. If the rash persists after rewashing, replace the items in step 3 first. Loose outer clothing matters less.
- Do not forget gym towels, work uniforms laundered elsewhere, bedding at a partner’s house, and the car seat or office chair you sit on if wipes are used there.
- Keep sanitisers out of all future washes. The rash returns if the chemical does.
Bring to your appointment
Photos of the labels of every laundry, cleaning and skin product used at home and at work. If you are unsure whether a product counts, bring it.
Selected references
- Dear K, et al. Hyperkeratotic flexural erythema (more commonly known as granular parakeratosis) with use of laundry sanitizers containing benzalkonium chloride. Clinical and Experimental Dermatology. 2022;47(12):2196-2200. PubMed
- Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme. Benzalkonium halides: evaluation statement. 30 June 2022. AICIS
- Ingredient listings: manufacturer safety data sheets (Reckitt Benckiser, rb-msds.com.au) and Woolworths, Coles and Big W product pages, accessed October 2026.