How to Clean a Dirty Shower

If you hate having to clean your shower, we sympathize with you. However, you may not have realized quite how easy it can be to clean a shower. In the following post, we will give you some quick and easy ways you can do it.

Rinse Everything Off First

Before you even get down to the dirty stuff, start by rinsing off all that grime, hair and other unmentionables around your shower and on the tiles. You will find this easy if you have a detachable showerhead. If you don’t, just use a bucket. Start by working from the top downwards so that all the dirt washes easily away.

Wash your Shower Curtain

This is often overlooked but can make a dramatic difference to how clean your shower looks, feels and…smells. Even if you have a plastic shower curtain, it is normally fine to stick in the washing machines. An excellent tip to ensure all the dirt and grime is properly worked on is to put them in the same wash as some old towels. The towels help scrubs away that hard-to-shift grime and mildew that has built up over time. Avoid putting the shower curtain in the tumble dryer, unless otherwise stated. The best place to hang it to dry is outside.

Use Natural Cleaners

Do you have a shower that is connected to your bath? If so, get yourself a grapefruit. That might sound odd, but trust us on this one. Cutting it in half and using it with quarter of a cupful of salt you can give your bath and extremely intense, yet environmentally friendly clean.

Prevent the Build-up of Mildew

After you’ve cleaned your shower curtain, as directed above, leave it to soak in a bowl full of salty water. This handy little tip helps you to stop mildew from developing. They do say that prevention is the best type of cure.

Get Your Shower Door Its Shine Back

Of you've got large sections of glass such as with frameless shower enclosures, get yourself some WD-40, spray it over the door to your shower and leave it at least for 20 minutes. Then, take a paper towel and wipe it off to make it really shine.

Utilize Your Dish Sponge

Although you probably use a dish sponge in the kitchen, did you know you can use them in the bathroom as well? Impregnate it with a cleaning mixture, say one consisting of vinegar and water and then leave it to hang up in your shower. The, whenever it’s time to clean your shower, you won’t find it hard to scrub away at the dirt and stains.

Sandwich Bags

If you have trouble cleaning your shower head completely, you may be able to give it a new lease of life using a sandwich bag. Take the bag and put a cup of vinegar and 2 teaspoons of baking soda inside it, now place it over your shower head and secure it using an elastic band. Turn on your shower for a few moments to fill the bag with some water and then leave it overnight. The next day, when you clean your shower head you will notice that the soap scum and mildew falls off much easier.

Invest in A Guard for Your Plug

If you find that hair seems to get everywhere in your shower, you need to invest in a guard for your plug. These sit over the plug hole in either your bath or shower and will catch all the bits that can clog up your drains.

Purchase a Squeegee or Wiper

Squeegees or wipers are easy to source and can be bought online from places like Amazon and at local hardware and DIY stores. Interestingly, they are not just suitable for cleaning the windows in your home and your car’s windscreen, they are also perfect to use on your shower door too. They help to get rid of all that excess water, freeing the glass from smudges and making it sparkle.

Consider a Secondary Curtain Rail

To help keep your shower and bathroom cleaner and tidier, you could install an additional curtain rail. Set it a little lower than your current one and use it to hang handy baskets up where you can keep shower gel, shampoos and other items.

Use Vinegar as Much as Possible

Vinegar is not just good on chips and salad. Along with the shower cleaning tip further up the page, you can also use vinegar to make a powerful cleaning spray. Combine one part vinegar to one part water and then keep it in a spray bottle in your bathroom. This cleaning solution is ideal for removing soap scum from the tiles and surfaces in and around your shower.

Give Chrome Fittings Their Shine Back

Lemon Is a perfect natural ingredient to use for giving the shine back to your chrome fixings and fittings. Cut a lemon in half and rub the flesh over the chrome surfaces. Then, get some cold water and rinse the lemon juice off.

Give Your Shower Curtain a Shake

One of the easiest ways to prevent mould from growing on your shower curtain or in and around your shower is by shaking the shower curtain after you use the shower to remove any excess water. This will ensure that it dries quicker and is not left covered in water.

Invest in Microfibre Cloths

If you have never used a microfibre cloth for cleaning before, you are missing out. Invest in one and then use it to dry off your shower area, bath, and walls. When it’s dry, watermarks and lines won’t develop, and this will mean you have less work to do later.

Get the Family Involved

Do you share your house with a few others? If you do, don’t leave all the cleaning to yourself. Instead, enlist the help of your family or housemates. Even if everyone simply rinses off the shower after they have used it, you will find you have less cleaning to do. The more every person in your house does to stay on top of the cleaning and keep surfaces sparkling, the easier it will be to maintain it.