What does a bathtub look like if you don’t clean it for a year? Hopefully you will never have to find out! Unfortunately for me, I found out.
One day, I decided it was about time to restore order in my bathroom universe, and resolved to tackle the bathtub scum. What is that stuff anyway? A nasty mixture of body oils, dead skin, and soap scum — itself a mysterious substance – ironic that soap itself has to be cleaned. Multi-coloured molds. Yucky.
The real question is how do you get rid of it?
Certainly, the normal person would march off to their local supermarket, where shelves of bathtub cleansers await. No, that would be too easy. In the spirit of not owning too many cleaning supplies, I figured it must be possible to clean a bathtub with something I already owned. I generally try to avoid single-purpose tools or products as much as possible. It’s a principle thing.
So I pulled out my cleaning cart and put on some rubber gloves, and began the grand experiment. It wasn’t long before I had attacked the scum with every product I had in my limited cleaning arsenal, with very limited success.
Here are some things which don’t work that well – to save you the trouble of trying them:
- vinegar – no effect
- baking soda – scrubbing scrubbing scrubbing, it is too much effort
- baby oil – actually, it does dissolve the oily scum, but well, it’s messy
Hmm, a more difficult task than I had anticipated! Off to the Internet where I found a myriad cleaning websites and a dearth of effective bathtub cleaning advice. Sigh! I guess I’m on my own again.
Finally I discovered the one thing which really works, the secret to cleaning your bathtub. It is automatic dishwasher detergent. Very powerful stuff. Works like you would not believe. Here are some tips if you are going to do this yourself. Your mileage may vary. Proceed with caution!
- Wear gloves – this stuff is very strong
- Turn on the ventilation, and try not to breath it
- Rinse your bathtub with hot water
- Sprinkle some powdered detergent – you don’t need much
- Add some more hot water – perhaps 1 litre
- Gently scrub with a scouring pad – you don’t need to scrub very hard
- Rinse thoroughly!
So, how do YOU clean your bathtub?
[…] 2, 2008 by Eugene Now that I’ve shared with you all how I clean my bathtub, I thought it only fair if I share with you how I clean that other bathroom appliance we all hate […]