How to Clean a Shower to Sparkle

One of the absolute worst places to be dirty or grimy is a shower. All too often it is one of the most difficult places to keep clean. Especially when you're dealing with hard water stains and soap scum; it just naturally builds up over time. In order to combat this, I have 5 specific tips on how to a clean a shower to sparkle.

Cleaning Your Shower With Natural Products

Each of the tips that I share with you is going to focus in on a particular part of the shower.  All of the ways to clean will be an all natural approach so that you can feel comfortable knowing there are no harmful chemicals in a highly vulnerable area.

Tip 1: Get Those Shower Floors Sparkling!

Let's start with cleaning the shower floor. For some people this might be easier than for others depending upon the type of floor surface that you have. Our shower floor is textured so it's easy for things to stick to it.
Regardless of floor type, you'll need:

• 1 cup white vinegar
• 8 TBS baking soda
• 1 cup Dawn dish detergent
• 5 - 6 drops of tea tree essential oils

We use Young Living Essential Oils in our house because they are therapeutic grade and of the highest quality.  We routinely use our oils to help us clean and tea tree is one of my favorites because it's known for it's cleaning properties.  

Pro Tip: Please be sure to combine the ingredients in a measuring cup in the shower!  I cannot stress this enough because you will have a volcano like affect when you put the baking powder into the white vinegar.  Combine the vinegar and dish detergent in the measuring cup and add in the baking soda.  Finally, add in the 5 -6 drops of tea tree essential oil.  

Spread the concoction around the surface of the shower and let it sit.  The longer that you let it sit, the less scrubbing that you'll have to do.  Mine was on the surface for about 3 hours and I would have left it longer if I wasn't afraid to use the light for the pictures.

After 3 hours or so, simply rinse off and wipe away the concoction with a wet sponge.  You can definitely see the difference in my before and after.  Since taking these photos I have done the "experiment" again and I let it sit longer and it is even cleaner.

Tip 2: Don't Forget About The Drain

I always despise thinking about what lies beneath the surface of our showers and sinks. I think I've seen too many movies where snakes jump out of the drains.
Consequently, I'm always a little hesitant but I'm happy to report that there were no snakes. In order to clean the drain, you need to pop it off so that you can clean the underneath crevices. I had to pop ours up with knife but I've done it before using my fingers. I used a q-tip to get inside of those holes that you see.

Tip 3: Cleaning The Shower Door

If you have shower doors, then you're going to want to be sure to get the water off of them. We use a Squeegee that is suction cupped to the shower wall when it's not in use. It's so much easier than using a towel every time to dry the doors off. Plus, who has time for all that laundry?!

To make your glass shower doors sparkle, in a microwave-safe bowl combine one part distilled white vinegar with three parts distilled water. Microwave for 60 seconds and let the mixture cool down. Once it cools down, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and transfer this mixture to a spray bottle. Spray your glass shower doors with this mixture and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. Then dry the doors using a microfiber cloth working from top to bottom. Leave the door open for a while after it dries down to get rid of residual moisture. Your glass shower doors will start sparkling again!

Tip 4: Cleaning The Shower Door Frame

For cleaning the shower door frame, I recommend that you brush it. I used the word brush for a reason. You literally want to use an old toothbrush to get down deep into that frame. The water just sits in there and it is highly likely that mildew is building up in there.

Tip 5: Best Tools For Cleaning Your Shower

Do you have the right tools to get down and dirty?

My absolute favorite shower cleaner is Method Daily Shower in ylang ylang. Not only does it get the job done, but it smells amazing. Plus, it's all natural! If you're an essential oil user then you probably recognize the smell. So good!

For sponges, I used to use dobe sponges to clean the shower, but the tile always ripped them apart. Not anymore! I'm in love with this Full Circle Tile Scrub Brush. Soap scum and water spots don't stand a chance against this brush.

That's a Wrap on Shower Cleaning

FAQs

What is the best store-bought cleaner for shower walls?

We recommend Method Daily Shower Spray for cleaning your shower walls. It is highly effective, quick and best cleaner for tile and grout.

What is the best homemade Shower Cleaner?

Mixture of Dawn soap and white vinegar makes the best homemade shower cleaner. Combine 1 cup white vinegar and 1 cup Dawn dish soap in a measuring cup and add 8 tbsp. baking soda to the mixture. Finally add 5-6 drops of tea tree essential oil and your homemade shower cleaner is ready!