Dish soap is designed to cut through tough grease and food stains on our delicate dishware, but it will also disintegrate the dirty marks and soap scum lining your tub.
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!
How do I get my bathtub white again? By cleaning your bath with a mixture of white vinegar, water and baking soda, you should be able to rid your bath of most common stains and maintain its white finish.
TUB AND SHOWER CLEANER
Put the lid on and shake well. Spray on your tub and shower walls, allowing it to sit for a few minutes before rinsing away. This will even take care of the bathtub ring. Let it sit on your shower floor overnight and scrub the gunk away in the morning.
Cleaning tips:
Also stay away from scouring powder, white vinegar, and steel wool as they can damage the finish of the bathtub. If you are looking for a cleaner that is gentle on the surface and can be used weekly, then you can choose any of the bathtub cleaners available in the store.
The best cleaner for a stained bathtub: RMR-86 Instant Mold and Mildew Stain Remover Spray. If you have an unsightly mildew problem on your hands, bring in a bathtub cleaner spray made just for this issue. This cleaner is advertised as one of the best bathtub cleaners without scrubbing.
“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.”
This match made in heaven has been a household staple for a long time and I make sure to keep it handy. To make the solution is simple and easy on the wallet! Pour equal parts of vinegar and Dawn into a spray bottle. Gently shake, then spray liberally onto the surface to be cleaned.
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.
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!)
While the complete “recipe” is inaccessible for the masses, a Dawn spokeswoman has pointed the magic to uniquely powerful surfuctants—or, the chemical compounds that reduce the surface tension of a liquid when it's dissolved, aka the stuff that cuts the grease.
As for using Blue Dawn as a body wash, it was great. I felt so clean! I didn't notice any difference from other body washes, other than it required a lot of rinsing, possibly due to the high concentration in the “Ultra” version of Blue Dawn.
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.
First, you want to mix a quarter cup of white vinegar with a litre of hot water and douse the surface of the tub. Grab a handful of baking soda and toss it over the surface of the bathtub. Let it sit for about 30 minutes before scrubbing and rinse your tub clean. Baking soda should help to whiten your tub.
(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!
Because Dawn is formulated to cut through food-related grease and grime, there is no reason why it can't extend those cleaning powers into the bathtub. Cleaning professionals have discovered that Dawn can cut through the soapy residue and other matter in our drains the same way.
Soft scrub — Mix ½ cup baking soda with enough Dawn dish detergent to make a paste. Use to clean sinks, tubs and counters. Rinse and dry. Deep-cleaning scrub — Great for soap scum and mildew.