Dawn dish soap and vinegar – Mix equal parts of vinegar and blue Dawn dish soap into a spray bottle. Run the shower for a few minutes on hot to heat up the shower space. Spray to coat the surface of the shower walls evenly with the mixture. Let sit for 5 minutes then use a damp cleaning rag to wipe away.
Heat vinegar in microwave until hot and pour into squirt bottle. Add the Dawn soap. Put the lid on and gently shake to incorporate. You now have a powerful cleaning product that will melt soap scum and tub and shower buildup, clean sinks, appliances and just about anything.
Spray all over the tub and shower and let it sit for a few minutes to a few hours, depending how challenging the job is. Scrub if you need to, but the scum should rub right off. Don't worry about the strong vinegar smell. You will be pleasantly surprised it smells more like Dawn than vinegar!
The toughest jobs call for even tougher cleaning products: disinfecting cleaners, vinegar, sometimes even bleach. But if have persistent stains and want to remove the soap scum, add one more product to your cleaning caddy: Dawn dish soap.
Because dish soap is meant to break up oils and lift grease and grime from your flatware and utensils, there's no reason why it shouldn't work on the oily soap and human grease build-up accumulating in your tub or shower!
Soap. Fill the bucket with about a half gallon of hot water and several drops of a gentle but effective dish soap (we love Dawn). Scrub. Using your scrub brush or sponge (again, depending how dirty your tub is), use the soapy water mixture to give your bathtub an all-over sponge (or scrub!)
You can use baking soda and water, or use washing soda with hydrogen peroxide. Some people find it easier to use a toothbrush to apply solutions on the grout before scrubbing them off. This will allow you to reach all the necessary spots and clean your shower walls thoroughly.
To make the best homemade shower cleaner, just combine equal amounts of Dawn dish soap and white vinegar in a spray bottle and gently shake mix. Spray down your shower with it, wait half an hour, then rinse clean!
“Vinegar is a good cleaner because it's acidic, but when you add dishwashing liquid/dish soap to it (which is a base or neutral) - you neutralise the vinegar. You take away the very thing that makes it work well. “The dishwashing liquid works that well on its own. Adding the vinegar is a pointless step.”
Dawn and Vinegar Grout Cleaner
Heat a cup of 1-to-1 vinegar and water in the microwave for about a minute. Pour it into a spray bottle and add a cup of Dawn dish soap. Carefully spray the mixture on your grout lines. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes longer if you have really dirty grout.
Use Dawn and some hot water and a cloth or sponge to get into those nooks and crannies where grime and scale tend to build up. You can also combine Dawn with vinegar for stronger cleaning power, especially when tackling hard water stains.
(Although if your tub is seriously grimy, I'd recommend adding some vinegar to the dish soap to make my two-ingredient tub and shower cleaner!) But dish soap alone will work just fine for most tubs. I like to use Dawn, because nothing works better at cutting through tough grease and grime in my opinion!
Though dish soap is great as a stain pretreatment option, it's not meant for direct use in a laundry washing machine. That's because dish soaps are uniquely formulated to break up grease and stuck-on food particles with foamy suds—something you don't want to happen in your washing machine.
Many hotels use ammonia-based cleaning solutions because ammonia readily cuts through dirt and soap scum. Because of the way it dries, ammonia also decreases the possibility of streaks on glass.
How do professionals clean showers? Professionals use acid-based cleaning solutions like vinegar for hard water spots and soap scum. For deep-set soap scum, cleaners will use heavy-duty detergents and degreasers. Bleach cleaning solutions are best reserved for cleaning the mold and mildew from grout.
The Rejuvenate No Scrub Soap Scum Remover is our top choice for glass shower doors thanks to its bleach-free, fragrance-free, and non-abrasive formula that leaves a streak-free finish and gets rid of soap scum and hard water stains on contact.
You've likely heard of the Solubility Rule, “like dissolves like,” making dish soap the perfect solution to removing soap scum from your tub and shower. Just squirt your preferred dish soap all over the affected areas and scrub with a clean broom or stiff brush to remove it.
Spray Shower with Cleaner
After removing all shower accessories and bottles, spray the entire area with a commercial shower cleaner ($2.28, Walmart) or a DIY shower cleaning solution of equal parts vinegar and dish soap. Don't forget the hardware as well; soap scum easily builds up on shower faucets.
Start by removing shampoos, conditioners, and the like. Then spray your all-purpose cleaner on all surfaces and let it sit. Wipe down the items you removed from the shower. Once done, begin scrubbing the shower with the microfiber, working your way around until all surfaces are clean.
A natural solution made of equal parts distilled white vinegar and hot water works well on soap scum and grime. White vinegar is safe on ceramic tile and fiberglass, but will not work on marble. Using a soft-bristled brush or sponge, scrub the tiles and grout. Then, rinse the walls completely.
Ways to Use this Homemade Cleaner
This Dawn & vinegar cleaner will cut through soap scum, clean sinks, glass shower doors and also the toilet bowl. Just spritz it on, scrub and rinse. For tough soap scum build-up, spray the mixture on and allow it to sit for about 30 minutes. Scrub and rinse.
Just as natural dish soap helps break down dirt, grease, and food that may be stuck on dishes and utensils, it can help break down what's in your toilet bowl.
The majority of my solutions contain blue Dawn® Ultra because it's concentrated. The regular Dawn is a non-concentrated version, (also called Simply Clean) so more diluted. Platinum Dawn is almost identical to Ultra, but it contains more surfactants.