How to clean your Shower for that professional clean
1. Empty it out. Remove your shampoo bottles, loofahs, razor, and other items. You don’t want to get cleaning products on these things. Dump them into a bucket or just put them on your counter for now. Be sure to grab the bath mat and no-slip floor stickers, if you use them. Take this opportunity to throw out any empty containers and wash or discard anything moldy or unused.
2. Begin with a rinse. Using some type of bucket, cup, watering can, or pitcher, rinse the walls and floor of your shower with hot water. If you have a hand held shower head, they work very well. You don’t need to be perfect with this step, you just want to get all the hair, dirt, and other particles down the drain and out of your way.
3. Remove mildew. You can pick up a mildew spray at any dollar store or department store. Spray the walls of your shower with it, let it sit, and wipe or rinse. Follow the directions on the spray bottle carefully.
- A homemade shower-cleaning mixture: You’ll need 1 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 cup ammonia, and a gallon and a half of hot water. Put rubber gloves on and apply to the walls of your shower. Use a sponge to scrub well and rinse with hot water. Be sure to wipe the walls dry to prevent new mildew from forming.
4. Remove hard water spots. Mix equal parts hot water and vinegar together in a bucket. Scrub the hard-water spots well. This works great for shining the lever and knobs in your shower.
5. Clean your shower door or curtain. Glass shower doors are usually cleaned best with white vinegar, but there are many other options.
6. Scrub shower tiles. Run very hot shower water to create steam. This will help loosen the dirt clinging to the tiles. Scrub well with a mixture of ammonia, vinegar, and baking soda (try the above recipe). Use an old toothbrush for between the tiles.
7. Rinse the shower head. It’s hard to get clean if your shower head is spewing nastiness at you or failing to spray much at all. If your shower head is malfunctioning, remove it from the wall. Fill a bowl with straight vinegar and let the shower head soak in it for a few hours. Leave overnight if it’s especially bad. Then scrub the holes with an old toothbrush.
- The pipe leading to the shower head and even the pipe leading to its faucet may not be anchored securely in the wall, and the hole through which it passes may have a lot of wiggle room. Don’t risk breaking something off in the wall. Hold the supply pipe securely as you unscrew the shower head
8. Clean out the drain. This is quite possibly the worst part of the process, especially if you have long hair. Grab a garbage can or a plastic bag. Then unscrew the cap on your drain or just reach in, depending on the style of your drain. Using a large crochet hook or clip clothespin or (if you must) your fingers, yank the hair out and quickly throw it away. Yuck! Keep pulling the hair out until the drain is clear. Better yet buy a Zip-It drain cleaning tool. Zip-It is a long plastic strip with teeth that get hairs stuck deep in the drain out. You may want to wear rubber gloves for this part, particularly if you share the shower with other people. There are just some hairs you don’t want to touch!
9. Tough water build up. If you’ve neglected your shower for a long time and it has heavy buildup consider using a paint scraper gently to loosen it, or an acid-based cleaner to dissolve it (follow all instructions and warnings; avoid hard scrubbing with dangerous chemicals because it tends to spatter them).
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