Shower heads and faucets are a breeding ground for bacteria. Many times, we don’t even often look at the end of the spout to realize how dirty and the amount of build-up that has accumulated.
And then, once we look at it, we realize how gross it is! Well, it is the type of cleaning job that needs a good deep cleaning…like a good long soak in a good cleaning solution.
But… we also want as natural as possible, while being effective cleaning. Deep cleaning with harsh chemicals is bothersome to me for my family as we shower and use the water coming from those faucets.
And, like every case of homemade natural cleaning, it is actually cheaper to make the homemade version, so it is a total win-win.
When it comes to cleaning my faucets and shower heads, this is not a daily task and so only I only make the solution for the immediate time of use and don’t make it to store. There really isn’t much to it to justify needing to make it before like many of our other homemade cleaner recipes.
The supplies you need are:
- Baking Soda
- Vinegar
- Original Blue Dawn (this is the only dish soap I have tried for this and original blue dawn has many non-dish cleaning wonders)
- Toothbrush for scrubbing
- Ziploc – for thriftier ideas, reuse the same ziploc for all the faucets/showerheads that day. We have even recycled bread bags for this purpose too! They are nice and long for long faucets.
- Rubberband
It is really, really simple to make the solution.
- In the ziploc bag, add 2 TBSP of Baking Soda and add 4-5 drops of blue dawn dish soap.
- Place the bag around the faucet/showerhead.
- Then add enough vinegar to the ziploc to cover the surface you wish to soak (about 1/2 cup). It will foam up!
- Secure the ziploc in place with a rubberband.
- Let soak for at least 30 minutes, but 1+ hours is great too!
- Then remove the baggie and rubber band (and then place on the next faucet if it didn’t get too dirty or make a new solution and the same bag for the next faucet).
- Then, using an old toothbrush, scrub away!
- To rinse, I just pour cups of hot water over it until the soap residue is gone.
The GREAT thing about this type of faucet or shower head cleaning process is that no matter how many crevices, nooks and crannies there are or the type of faucet, this works super well! It is also not very time consuming, although very effective. It can sometimes be a lot of work to scrub and scrub and scrub the faucets and shower heads, but by giving them this presoak, the gunk really breaks down nicely.
Find many more cleaning tips, recipes, shortcuts, hacks and tricks in
Voinevier
Very useful tips. I have problem with my faucet cleaning. Due to hard water it has white patches which are very difficult to clean. It may look neat and clean just after cleaning, but the white patches will remain there.
g hill
Use CLR. This will dissolve the calcium build up. It can be purchased just about anywhere. CLR stands for calcium lime and rust remover. Powerful stuff
Mark Murphy
I really appreciate your tip to avoid cleaning with harsh chemicals since that can cause some problems with the water coming out. My wife has complained to me recently that the water pressure coming out of our shower head is very weak. I will be sure to tell her that we should avoid using harsh chemicals when we clean it!