What you will learn:
Whether you’re a tenant, homeowner, or cleaning professional, we can all agree that cleaning your shower is one of the most tedious and time-consuming tasks. Though, to maintain hygiene in the bathroom, cleaning your shower is something that needs to be done regularly.
So how do the professionals clean showers efficiently and effectively, day in and day out?
In this article, you'll learn how to:
By the end of this article, you’ll know the best way to clean your shower.
Cleaning the shower is an arduous task, and there are many ways it can be done. You may opt for harsh or toxic cleaners and a lot of elbow grease, but there’s a better way to work smarter, and not harder, by following these shower cleaning tips from a professional.
Removing hard water, soap scum, and mildew from showers with as little damage and fatigue as possible is vital. First, you want to take the time to correctly identify the specific soils and surfaces before diving in.
Different soil types and surfaces require particular cleaning chemicals and tools to get the job done, and what works on one soil type can worsen other soils. Not all dirty showers are created equal, after all.
You’ll usually find three types of stains in a shower. These are:
Hard water is usually chalky white calcium and magnesium deposits on shower glass. And tub rings, often in the shape of dried water droplets and drip patterns.
Red or green rust stains are also part of the hard water family. The iron that causes these stains is another chemical common in hard water.
Mildew and mold are usually slimy on the surface with colorful stains, typically black, green, tan, brownish gray, or pink.
Fun fact, the scientific names for each type of mold found in your bathroom are called:
It grows where moisture lingers longest in the shower, such as in unsealed grout lines that absorb water.
Soap scum is a crusty waxy film made when the chemicals of hard water, calcium, and magnesium, mix with soap residue.
The textured nature of the scum also traps bacteria, body oils, dead skin cells, and other debris, giving it a greasier and bumpier feel than just superficial hard water deposits.
Now that you’ve identified the soils, it’s time to choose the correct cleaning products to clean your shower the best way possible.
Hard water minerals (calcium, magnesium, and iron) will dissolve in acid. For the safety of the cleaner and the shower surfaces, select the mildest acid possible that still yields quality results.
Use products made with acetic acids, such as white vinegar, or oxalic acid, like Bar Keeper’s Friend. These products are accessible, safe, and effective and provide strong yet gentle scrubbing power to best clean your shower.
Mildew and mold must be whitened with an oxidizer to temporarily remove the stain. White vinegar, baking soda, or hydrogen peroxide are all effective for cleaning shower grout.
It’s important to mention that mold cleaners are short-lasting. Mold growing inside infected grout will continue to spread to the surface unless the water source is removed by re-sealing the grout.
Avoid using oxidizers like bleach on rust and iron deposits, as they will make the rust stains more vibrant and harder to remove.
Soap scum responds well to acids, just like hard water. But all the other soils trapped in the scum means you need to add detergents and degreasers to break through and lift the oils and dirt.
Cleaning soap scum with just acids without adding detergents like dish soap will lead to poor removal and needless elbow grease.
Detergents, gentle acids, such as citric and oxalic acid, and disinfectants are excellent and safe cleaners that power through the toughest soap scum. Using these products is the best way to clean your shower.
The Two-Stage Scrubbing Process is a simple technique. It provides a deep clean for your shower, while working in a practical and energy-saving way.
Determine how durable the shower surface you are cleaning is. If the shower is a delicate material like marble or travertine, you should never use acids or abrasives, so specialty products will be required.
Apply the correct cleaner and allow it to soak for at least 10 minutes, or per the manufacturer’s directions. This is critical to ensuring the cleaner has enough time for the desired chemical reaction.
Dissolving calcium, whitening mold, and breaking apart soap scum all take several minutes, especially if the soils are thick from neglect.
After the correct soaking time, select a gentle broad scrubbing tool, like the softer side of the Microfiber Scrubbing Sponge. Quickly scrub down the shower walls to loosen and wipe off all the easily removed soils.
Use broad, overlapping circles to emulsify soils over a large area quickly.
After a quick, gentle scrub down, rinse the walls and see what stubborn soils remain. Apply more cleaning products to those target spots and flip the Microfiber Scrubbing Sponge over to use the scrubbing side.
After the second scrub, rinse and dry the shower tiles with a Buff™ Microfiber Towel. Drying is especially critical when fighting hard water and soap scum, as the rinse water provides a new dose of hard water chemicals to re-deposit on the freshly cleaned shower.
One of the most stubborn areas of a shower is undoubtedly the grout between the tiles. It can become discolored and moldy over time, and you may not even realize it.
While you may opt for bleach or harsh cleaners to get that grout shining again, grout is more easily eroded than the rest of the shower surface, so using strong, abrasive cleaners is not advised.
To clean shower grout, you may have seen that a mixture of baking soda and white vinegar with a 1:1 ratio can work. Yet, hydrogen peroxide is a preferred ingredient used by professionals. All you need is a toothbrush and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
Before using any chemicals, scrub the grout with water to dislodge loose debris. Rinse thoroughly, and then go in with the hydrogen peroxide.
You can start scrubbing immediately to remove mold and mildew with the toothbrush or let the hydrogen peroxide sit on the grout for a few minutes if there are stubborn marks. Remember to pay particular attention to the corners and crevices for the best shower grout clean.
If you find stubborn spots that need attention, apply more hydrogen peroxide and allow it to sit for longer before scrubbing.
Once finished, rinse again and dry with a Buff™ Microfiber Towel. This is the most effective and safest way to clean the grout in your shower.
Want five tips on how to keep tile grout cleaner for longer? Read this.
Cleaning your shower and grout this way ensures efficiency and safety. If you take the time to select the correct cleaning products, you reduce surface damage, fatigue, and needless surface wear from over-scrubbing.
Employing strong caustic acids, heavy abrasives, and sharp scraping or scouring tools takes years off surfaces’ usable life and damages the environment. Use gentle yet effective soaps and tools to extend the lifespan of the bathroom surfaces and increase cleaner safety.
Aggressive cleaners should only be used as rare shock treatments in cases of extreme neglect. But always remember, less is more!
The two-stage scrub process greatly reduces the needless energy expenditure of heavy scrubbing on areas that don’t need it. It also reduces the wear on the shower tile and grout being needlessly scrubbed, extending the life of grout sealants and tile appearance.
This article wouldn’t be complete without showing you how to clean the rest of the shower; the shower head, the shower glass, and the plastic shower curtain liner.
Perhaps one of the most overlooked parts of our shower is the shower head. While it may not be subject to soap scum, it can be a haven for hard water stains and mildew if neglected.
To clean a shower head, simply attach a zip lock or freezer bag filled with white vinegar using an elastic band. Ensure the shower head is submerged in the vinegar, and leave this on for 20 minutes or longer.
Remove the plastic, and using a firm toothbrush or small scrubbing brush, scrub into every nook and cranny to remove the calcified build-up. If there is still some residue, repeat the process and use soap, such as Dawn dish soap, to help loosen and scrub away any debris, rinsing off any residue.
To clean the rest of the shower head, simply remove debris with a wet Buff™ Microfiber Towel, and polish it off with a dry Microfiber Glass Cleaning Cloth.
The shower glass can be a pain to keep clean, and it’s the first place in a shower to appear dirty. Keep glass spotless by using the scouring side of the Microfiber Scrubbing Sponge and a small amount of dish detergent.
If the surface is still caked on with hard water, mildew, or soap scum, spray with vinegar, allow it to sit for a few minutes, and use a scraper to scrape the buildup layer off.
Be sure to rinse well, follow with a wet Buff™ Microfiber Towel, and finish it off with a Microfiber Glass Cleaning Cloth for a spot-free finish.
If your shower curtain liner is made from plastic, it can get visibly dirty and be difficult to keep clean. But it’s a haven for bacteria and germs, so it’s critical to regularly clean your shower curtain liner.
To clean a plastic shower curtain liner, you’ll want to remove it from the shower and toss it into the washing machine with some detergent and vinegar on a hot cycle. You can also add in some softener.
If it still has some stains that haven’t budged after using this method, place it on a large workable space. Outside is preferable so you can hose it down after cleaning.
Using a detergent and the scouring side of the Microfiber Scrubbing Sponge, work in batches and scrub in a circular motion to remove the buildup. Once clean, rinse off and dry with a Buff™ Microfiber Towel.
Efficiency is crucial in the home cleaning industry to save customers money and get the job done as quickly as possible. Keeping the hard work to a minimum is essential, so the cleaning technicians don’t get worn out.
Screenshot from video
Always keep citric acid, white vinegar, and baking soda in your cleaning arsenal on hand. It dissolves scum and hard water stains cleanly and safely.
Also, invest in high-quality Buff™ Microfiber Towels, Microfiber Scrubbing Sponges, Microfiber Glass Cleaning Cloths, a grout cleaning brush, and a scraper to clean your shower like a pro.
When cleaning your shower, be sure to:
These steps will ensure you know the best way to clean and maintain your shower.
The ultimate clean starts with an ultimate cleaning kit.
Supplies mentioned in this article:
