If it weren’t for my homemade soap scum remover, we’d have to remodel the bathroom. I mean it.
See, I hate our glass shower door! Some things a girl just wants to keep hidden…like how her flabby bits wobble when she bends to shave her legs. Or how much soap scum collects on the shower doors between serious cleanings.
Well, I haven’t had much luck doing anything about the flabby bits, but this mix sure got rid of the soap scum fast!
Homemade Soap Scum Remover
Why does soap scum form?
If you use soap, it’s almost impossible to avoid the formation of soap scum on your shower walls, shower curtains, and tub floor. It’s the result of calcium and magnesium particles in your water combining with the oils and other ingredients in soap. The harder your water is, the more likely soap scum will occur.
Not sure if you have hard water? If you have soap scum, you probably do have it. Other signs that you have hard water include spots on your glasses or dishes after they’ve been through the dishwasher, stains that look like rust in your toilet bowl, and faucets or shower heads that get clogged and dirty. With very hard water, you might even notice a strong metallic odor.
Is soap scum harmful?
Every time you use soap and water, a new layer of soap scum forms over the existing one, creating multiple layers. These layers trap skin flakes, among other organic substances, and produce a microbial biofilm which includes harmful bacteria.
When water hits the soap scum on your shower walls or shower curtain, this bacteria bounces onto your skin and becomes airborne in steam.
So, yes, it can be harmful. Fortunately, this homemade soap scum remover easily gets rid of it and treats the bacteria, too.
Tips for dealing with soap scum
• Switch to body wash. Synthetic soaps like body wash don’t contain the organic fats that bar soap does. As a result, they’re less likely to create soap scum.
• Soften your water. In areas with very hard water, installing a water softener can not only reduce soap scum but also get your clothes and bodies cleaner, and prolong the life of your other appliances. A water softener system removes the calcium and magnesium ions in water. The result is more effective cleaning with less buildup and scale clogging your pipes.
• Keep it clean with this spray. A quick once-over with this daily homemade shower spray will keep soap scum from returning. It also prevents mold and mildew, too.
• Help with cloudy glass shower doors. If your shower doors look like they’re etched with hard water spots, you need to scrub them with a stainless steel pad and a homemade soft scrub mixture. Rinse well afterward and then use this Homemade Soap Scum Remover on the tub walls and floor for a sparkling shower that looks like new.
Homemade Soap Scum Remover Recipe
Do not use this on granite or natural stone! If your shower is made of granite, marble, travertine, or other natural stone, this is not the solution for you. Instead, try my homemade granite cleaner recipe.
You will need:
- Dawn original dish soap
- White vinegar heated until VERY hot
- An empty spray bottle
Steps:
1. Using a measuring cup, add equal parts VERY hot vinegar and Dawn dish soap to the spray bottle. To do my shower, I need 1 cup of each.
2. Heavily spray the shower door or surface that you want to clean. The solution will cling. That’s good.
3. Let sit at least 30 minutes. Overnight is even better.
4. Rinse while wiping with a microfiber cloth.
5. Scrubbing hard probably won’t be necessary, but if there are particularly stubborn spots go at them with a stiff-bristled brush.
More How-Tos:
Weekly Bathroom Cleaning Checklist
How to Remove Hairspray from Walls
Pin Homemade Soap Scum Remover
Katie, Thank you thank you thank you! I just finished rinsing my glass shower doors. No scrubbing needed thanks to your DIY. Not only is my shower sparkling clean again, this also worked on the scum build up on the porous floor to the shower. My 20yr old nephew uses all types of body washes and doesnt have the “time” to squeege the door or the tile walls etc. I did have to scrub the floor but I used a teflon safe sponge scrubby and used my feet to scrub! At 65 yrs old I don’t bend over in Any shower lol.
Debbie
Hi Debra,
I’m glad to hear about your success! Enjoy your sparkling shower.
I just used this to clean my shower curtains—perfect—no scrubbing!
Hi Cindy,
So glad you liked it!
Would this be safe to use in a natural stone shower?
Hi Satta,
Sorry, but as I’d noted in the blog entry, it’s not safe for natural stone or granite. Try this recipe instead.
This is amazing!!!!! Moved into a rental home, and nasty, nasty, nasty. Oh, can I say that one more time, NASTY! This recipe took it right off. I used a majic eraser to scrub. The results where, simply amazing.
Hi Mary,
I’m so glad you found the Soap Scum Remover recipe helpful!
Will this work on tub surrounds?
Hi Tracey! It works on any kind of tile and fiberglass but you don’t want to get it on wood because the dish detergent might leave a stain.
I have used your vinegar + dawn mix for my shower doors only and it is a wonderful cleaner! However, the rest of the shower is natural stone. I don’t spray any of the mix on the natural stone, but of course, it washes over the floor as it goes down the drain. What are your thoughts about this? Would you use something else on my shower doors to avoid the vinegar washing over the stone floor?
Well, since the solution is supposed to remain in place overnight and there’s no way to prevent it from running onto the natural stone floor, I don’t think this is a good cleaner for your shower. Sorry!
Why Dawn? Can other dish soaps be used?
I recommend Dawn because it’s the best grease-cutting dish soap I’ve ever used. You’re welcome to try whatever brand you prefer, but if you’re disappointed in the results you might want to give Dawn a try before deciding the recipe doesn’t work for you.
I am calling bull shit, tried this formula and it didn’ wofk at all
Mark, it can’t NOT work on soap scum. The hot vinegar dissolves the bond between the surface and the soap. The soap helps dissolve the soap scum based on the principle of “like dissolves like.” And, as you can see in previous comments as well as elsewhere via social shares, it’s worked for many, many other people.
So, I’m calling your comment rude and suggesting that what you’re looking at is probably hard water spots, not soap scum.
I don’t get it, but I have tried your soft scrub with steel wool, every store-available product I can think of, and a steam cleaner, and nothing as worked in the slightest.
Sounds like it’s probably not soap scum that’s causing the problem. Maybe hard water spots or mineral deposits?
Obviously years after you originally posted this. But I came across this recipe today and tried it immediately! I have tried SO many things before and I can honestly say this stuff is the BOMB!!! It worked so well! I left in on for around an hour.
I’m glad you found the recipe — no more scrubbing for you!
Wow amazing result. Only issue is it’s so cleanbi really don’t want to use it and make a mess of it.
Note to self… if you get the mixture on the floor use boiling water to wipe it up otherwise it’s A over T.
My shower head doesn’t reach the glass enough to spray it clean. Will it matter if I just towel it off or wipe with a wet cloth or something?
Mine doesn’t reach, either. I wipe with a wet cloth and rinse it repeatedly while I work. 🙂
I forgot to heat the vinegar…..I hope it still works….I’m desperate…..it’s disgusting and nothing works….sure hope it works cold…lol
Just wondering if you have a cleaner for soap scum that is safe for natural stone tile showers? I would love to use your recipe for my shower or, but it would etch my travertine floor tiles & slate deco pieces. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I’m sorry, Pam, but I don’t have an easy one to remove soap scum from natural stone showers. The granite-safe version of my DIY Cleaning Spray will help, but you’ll most likely have to do a bit of scrubbing.
Love the site. Brilliant. I copied all the flowcharts to Evernote and use em on my iPad. No paper no ink.
I just had to comment though after reading all the issues with soap scum. My solution is so brain dead simple. Stop using soap. We use liquid body wash. I shop the sales and just make sure I get stuff free of parabens and BHT. Burts Bees is one favorite. We put in a solid surface material in our tub shower to replace tile that had water leaking past the grout due to my over zealous attempts to keep mold and bacteria at bay. Since bar soap is made from fat which comes from tallow or lard it is food for pink slime bacteria. After ceasing the use of bar soap and putting in the fake marble surround my enclosure looks exactly the same as it did the day the installation was done. That was in 1996. I think I waxed it with a good quality car wax one time. We squeegee it after every shower. I also found that lady’s shave cream leaves scum in the tub so I started using bath gel instead. Works fine. Now I just need to figure out how to fix the flabby bits. Going try the recipe for the shower curtain liner. Usually I just buy a new one at Target every year or so. I was it in the washer using hot and buy the thinnest vinyl possible since its hidden. We have horrible nasty water that actually etches glass. What I though were water spots on our clear glass door are actually little pits. It happens to our windows too. I had a window washer tell me to not let water dry on the front window (sprinkler overspray blown by wind). Yeah right. So got rid of glass door and got curtain.
This was a miracle for my shower…I thought the staining (dirt and black mildew) in there was permanent, I’ve tried all types of cleaners on it. We are in a rental and the bathtub surround is super cheapo. The walls and tub are now white again. Thanks so much for providing such great tips on your site. I also used the hydrogen peroxide mix for the mildew and that helped a lot too. Planning to mix up the daily shower spray too 🙂
Thank you for this!! I tried it today on my shower doors and was amazed at how easy it cleaned them!
Glad to have helped, Amy!
I’ve just discovered this site and I’m finding it really helpful to become better organised. Thanks so much Katie for taking the time to set it up and maintain it. I have a question about your Soap Scum Remover. You say to use very hot vinegar when making it. Do you need to put it on the shower glass and tiles while it’s hot or does it work when cold also?
Hi Sandra! I’m glad you’ve discovered my site. Come join us on the Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/housewifehowtos) for even more tips!
As far as the soap scum cleaner, yes, it needs to be applied when the vinegar is hot. That helps break down the soap scum so the rest of the ingredients can do their work.
Soap Scum Remover
Used this the on Wed this week 20 nov2013, Got a cheap spray bottle from wall-mart and went to town. Here is the good an bad.
Environment: My shower, standard shower/bathtub with shower curtain, nothing to note here.
Last Clean: One month, two month THREE months, (in the voice of the Count) I cant really remember, 2 months I think. Been a big and I am in Central Texas, where the water is HARD people, and has enough fluoride I had yellow stains on my teeth as a kid. Again I digress
Typical Cleaner Used: I live in a Apartment, middle High to High end, so while I clean and what my deposit back I don’t over do it. Usually as I take a shower I grab a Mr Clean Magic Eraser and scrub away, it has worked good but I always wondered if it disinfected or not, plus they cost a bit of cash, and I’m a Iraq Vet in college so money ain’t falling off of trees.
Setup: So while I was using another item from this site (furniture polish and wax remover, I recommend that U try it at least once) I mixed the cleaner per instructions, and doubled the recipe to fill the whole spray bottle. I used White Vinegar, Walmart brand, water from the tap, and Palmolive Dish soap, (it had oxy clean in it, the only one I had at the house)more on that later.
Heated Vinegar in Microwave for 5 mins, in Pyrex bowl, (filled bowl with regular water later and threw it in the Microwave to get the smell out. Worked good.)
Mixed it all up and gave it a shake and prepped the bathroom
Bathroom Area: We have (my wife and I ) a removable shower head which came in super awesome when cleaning time comes. So I removed all items and razors, brushes etc. And I took off my suction cup shave mirror, and two suction cups plastic corner shelves by OXO, (they are great shelves) but are covered in soap scum. I sprayed the mix all over and on the shelves inside everywhere.
Here is where the Oxy in the soap I think came in, cause it was rough, and I have burned human poop in Iraq before. But It was fast spray.
A hour later when back in with a Teflon safe old scrub pad. You know the type you can use on Calphalon Pans, and has a sponge side. So I took that and used water and that to clean it up.
I will say it WORKS BETTER than anything else I have ever used, and I used all types of stuff. Even the plastic shelves which I had no hope for, were cleaned like brand new. Washed the excess off and let it all air dry.
Now The not so good.
You will need a funnel of some type, or you will have hot vinegar allover the place. Also get the good spray bottle at wall mart, the $1 is not worth it at all.
The smell is hard to take, but that could of been the Oxy getting airborne, use any soap just don’t use that.
Lastly get some surgery gloves or some protection, I work on cars all day but I did notice I have cracked knuckles when I finished, vinegar is strong stuff man
I will say my show is a place of awesome now and I will do this over and over,
Thank you this stuff is the best
I’m trying this right now. I found out that some spray bottle deform/melt if the vinegar is too hot. Who knew!
I just want to say that I just tried this recipe with Ivory diswashing soap because I don’t use Dawn and it worked just the same. If you really want to firm up the wobbly bits try a BarMethod Body class or DVD
What, actually exercise?! *sigh* Yes, I definitely need to start doing that. Thanks for letting me know Ivory worked just as well. I love that stuff, too!
And to keep that shower door clean after you get the soap scum off, use a squeegee after every shower. We use one in ours and it only takes a couple of seconds to get ‘er done right after you turn off the tap!
I really need to get better about using the squeegee. My husband refuses to use it, but since my showers follow his it doesn’t really matter. The question is always: have I had my coffee yet? If not, then my brain just can’t wrap around cleaning.
Thank God for Merry Maids. 🙂
LOL, you lady of leisure!
Definitely going to have to try this- we have a curtain, not doors, but we get lots of soap scum on the tiles in the shower itself. Thanks!
Shell, it should work just as well on tiles, but be careful about it getting on the floor of the tub. It’ll be slippery as all get out when you climb in to wipe those tiles!
I shall give this a try. I’ve got some on our shower door that I keep looking at… Luckily it’s just a film and the door doesn’t have a metal surround where black gook builds up. When I work up the energy to do it, I’ll let ya know how it goes 😉
Please, do! Mine does have that metal surround, so I sprayed this stuff in the nooks and crannies then got out an old “spin brush” toothbrush and whirled it clean.
It works so well! Our shower door was naaaaaaasty when we first moved in. (Naturally, it was sparkling clean when we bought the place. Go figure.) I fought with and fussed about the soap scum for ages before trying this. Best part, we were homeschooling back when I first tried this, and I got distracted by our school day after spraying it on. When I came back that evening and saw my shower door still goopy, I was certain I’d just made more work for myself, but it was just the opposite! The stuff wiped right away, and took the soap scum with it. Hooray!
I have a glass shower enclosure and I am so going to try this! http://oldmarriedlady.com