The Claim
I mentioned this last week; some of you may have caught it, some may not have. All over Pinterest is this suggestion for a Dawn (dish liquid) + white vinegar mixture for cleaning the tub. The claim is that you spray the stuff on, leave it for an hour, and it will just wipe/rinse completely clean, no scrubbing required.
Concerns
Honestly, my biggest concern with this (besides whether it would work) is the cost. It’s a pretty hefty Dawn-to-vinegar ratio, with no water to dilute it, and that can add up in a hurry. There are “greener” options than Dawn dish soap, but Dawn isn’t awful, and vinegar is a natural cleaning option, so no major concerns with chemicals.
How to Do It
The various instructions call for mixing 1 part Dawn (many specify the original blue stuff) with 1 part vinegar in a spray bottle. (If they give quantities, they call for 1/2 cup of each – as best I can tell, this is meant to do the tub/shower once.) Once it’s mixed, you spray the mixture all over the tub (and shower, if you’re doing the shower), let it sit for an hour, and rinse or wipe off (depending on who you’re reading) So…does it work?
Did it Work for Me?
To be fair, most of the folks I’ve seen write about it, rave about it – bloggers and commenters alike. I have seen a few dissenters, though – and I have to say that I’m among them. With caveats. I wanted to see which parts of the mixture did what, so I sprayed my tub in strips: the mixture across the middle, Dawn only at one end (obviously, I had to soap up a rag for this one, as you can’t just spray straight Dawn!), and vinegar at the other. I left some dirty strips between each one for comparison and to divide them.
Now, fair warning – my tub is pretty awful. Nothing seems to get it clean so, frankly, I tend to put it off until I have to clean it. ‘Cause who wants to scrub like crazy for no results? (And I’m short, with a deep tub, so it’s pretty hard for me to reach, making this an exhausting job. Especially once you put a pregnant belly between me and the side of the tub, too.)
After spraying this stuff on, I forgot about it in a scramble to get ready to go to Bible study last week. So it sat for about 2 hours rather than 1. This is what I ended up with:
A few things are evident here (besides that my bathtub is, overall, still pretty gross).
- All of the various substances did something, because the still-dirty strips are clearly evident. (Maybe this is just the result of soaking them, but I suspect that either Dawn or vinegar should have cleaning power alone – the Dawn should be good for cutting body oils and the vinegar for dissolving hard water stains.)
- I think the Dawn + vinegar mixture did more than either substance alone. It’s a little hard to say for sure, just because the ends of the tub and the middle of the tub don’t get exactly the same degree of scum on them, but it appears that the middle section is a bit whiter than the ends.
- There is no way this is going to get my tub clean without scrubbing.
BUT…it very well could be that if I sprayed this on, let it sit for an hour and then scrubbed the tub, that it would do better than anything I’ve used before. That bears exploring.
On the other hand, this does not seem to be a particularly cost-effective method. Half a cup of Dawn is not cheap. So I would also be interested in discovering whether these things might work just as well with a higher dilution. (My homemade all-purpose cleaner has both soap and vinegar in it. Maybe if the soap were one known for cutting grease, it would do the job just as well? Or almost as well?)
I tried it as well,….my recipe called for heating the vinegar prior to mixing it up. lol
I will say it cleaned my bathtub somewhat, but the fixtures were sparkly clean afterwards.
I may not waste it on the tub next time, but keep it to spray on the bathtub,bathroom, and kitchen faucets!
My bathtub is enamel coated cast iron. Yours looks like fiberglass.
wendym at cableone dot net
It’s definitely not enameled or porcelain. I didn’t even try it on the faucets! I’ll have to try that out; thanks!
Try using a Mr. Clean scrubber or a handled sponge scrubber. It works wonders. I haven’t had it wash away I have had to scrub, but it isn’t bad with either of the methods I recommended.
Try cleaning your tub with anything you can get your hands on! Its filthy! Cant believe anyone would bathe in that. Yuck!
It looks like that after cleaning; that’s the whole problem! We have such hard water that the grime embeds itself in the hard water deposits and it’s like a whole extra layer of enamel or something. Finally discovered that Norwex descaler would take it off, but no “normal” bathroom cleaner ever would/did.
I have the same problem you have. I know my shower is extremely clean, but it never looks like it is. I always said if I were somewhere and the shower looked like mine. I would not want to use it. I have tried every product I can get my hands on. The heated vinegar and dawn mixture and the bar keepers friend is the only thing that works completely. No kidding, I was so glad to find this out.
So mean my god
Chris – I cannot understand how some people make remarks like you did regarding Rachel’s bathtub/shower. In my opinion insensitive remarks need to be left with the insensitive person making them. You don’t have to use it and if you think you can clean it any better go do it. At least she is trying to find a solution and giving her comments about the mixture. A lot of us out there appreciate the comments other than yours.
Thats what i was thinking we not debating we comparing and informing each other but i found this method helpful the first i used it but i warmed up the vinagar i think its for better mixing but im trying it now and i didn’t warm up the vinagar so i will see if it does the same
I’d love to know what you find! It would be great to know if heating it makes a big difference.
I’ve since discovered that Norwex’s descaler makes a BIG difference on our tub — apparently our water is so hard the dirt gets embedded in hard water deposits — so I wonder if we might just need more vinegar in our mix than most people.
I use the Dawn and vinegar mixture and it last approximately a month or two. I do my cleaning as soon as I have finished my shower. The bathroom is nice and it last approximately a month or two. I do my cleaning as soon as I have finished my shower. The bathroom is steamy and then when I spray everything online I am finished drying I can go back in and do a quick scrub with an extended scrub brush handle rinse out the tub and I’m good to go.
you should try this mixture on stainless steel and on windows and mirrows works great
Have you ever tried Orange TKO? It’s an awesome all-natural product that’s made from orange peels. I’m sure would be worth trying on your bathtub. Good luck and God bless!
I haven’t seen that; I’ll have to check it out. Thanks! I DID discover that Norwex’s descaler works great. Apparently the “crust” from our hard water is trapping the grime, so I have to cut the hard water scale to get the tub to look clean.
This totally worked for me. I’m so happy . I did have to scrub but there was so much build up from not being able to get it cleaned. My tub looks brand new and better than when we first moved in eight years ago. And no strong chemical smell. Faintly smells like Dawn which is nice. I can’t stop peaking in and looking at it because I thought it would always remain stained from the hard water.
Yay for cleaning successes!
Lime Away works great on tubs the hard water stains. Scrubbing bubbles is great too for fiberglass tubs.
So I don’t believe I got a ratio for this mix. I used 1 cup of dawn 3X strength and a cup of Heinz cleaning Vinegar warmed up on the stove. It works well but the suds it makes is really bad and getting it cleaned up takes forever!
That should be the right ratio, but I don’t know if the 3x might have sudsier suds? Personally, I’d try it again with less Dawn and see what happens.
I use cheap shampoo. It really gets the stuff. I like it better than dawn and it is cheaper. I read about it years ago. It works cause shampoo is designed to cut grease in hair
I NEVER scrub my tub! Well, ok, once a year, and we have rusty well water.
A few years ago, I took a plastic sports drink bottle (hole in the bottom)and put it on my faucet, to get the rust causing water away from the side of my beautiful garden tub. Something magical happened. All the rust stays in the swirling water flowing thru the silly looking bottle or on the sides of the bottle~. At the end of my soak, I take a tablespoon of cheap shampoo, baby shampoo is ok-and while sitting in the water, gently swipe all around the water line and under the water—pull the plug. Stand up and rinse yourself (shampoo?), and when the water goes down–so does the scum created by skin oils and dead skin–it cannot grab onto your tub. The tub is now clean. Go enjoy your extra time ( oh, teach the kids and hubs also).
Ooh; that’s fascinating about the bottle! We usually do showers, not baths, so I’m not sure if the second part of your method will be as effective for us, but I’ll definitely give it a try. Thank you!