What do you use for this? I've been using Scrub Free :eek: and I need to break the convienence addiction...it's just so EASY! lol! But the fact that I have to lock our bedroom door to keep the kids out (I use it in on our private bathroom...dh has a grimey job), open two windows and turn on the fan to keep from getting a headache from the fumes tells me I need to find a better option. Elbow grease here I come. lol! Is this a baking soda job, vinegar job or buy a natural product job??? :confused: TIA!

I think vinegar works just OK. We have really hard water, so that's a problem too.

DH just got a sample of stuff from Home Depot, it's called "Citrus cleaner and degreaser" by Zep commercial. Not all natural, but it worked very well.

I have really good luck with baking soda. Sometimes it isn't quite enough, but 9 out of 10 times it works just great.

If it's just soap scum it should come up really easily by sprinkling baking soda on it and then spraying vinegar out of a spray bottle. We had mineral deposits as well from really hard water and we had to use some harsh stuff as even scrub free wouldn't work.

Baking soda works well, esp with lemon juice or vinegar. I also sometimes use Simple Green (which is non-toxic but smells horrible). It works fabulously.

I agree with the baking soda and vinegar. Wet the tub / shower sprinkle baking soda and spray vinegar - leave it to sit 30 mins or so then scrub with a brush. I have found that the only way to not have to scrub to get the tub and shower clean is to throw water around the tub and shower after you finish bathing, AND to clean the bathtub and shower at least ONCE a week - I wash it every week with a few squirts of dishwashing liquid, a brush to scrub and water - and there's no soap scum to remove..... We have hard water too.....

I wish I had before and after pics of the effects of baking soda and vinegar - in the apartment DH used to use a separate bathroom cos he used to leave such a mess, and it got so dirty with the soap scum and hard water lol (I refused to clean his mess). He cleaned it with baking soda and vinegar before we moved out and it got really clean - though he needed to do 2 or 3 rounds cos he hadn't cleaned it in 6 mths :eek: He made me delete the photos from our computer.....


Monica

Originally posted by mnemonics
I agree with the baking soda and vinegar. Wet the tub / shower sprinkle baking soda and spray vinegar - leave it to sit 30 mins or so then scrub with a brush. I have found that the only way to not have to scrub to get the tub and shower clean is to throw water around the tub and shower after you finish bathing, AND to clean the bathtub and shower at least ONCE a week - I wash it every week with a few squirts of dishwashing liquid, a brush to scrub and water - and there's no soap scum to remove..... We have hard water too.....

I wish I had before and after pics of the effects of baking soda and vinegar - in the apartment DH used to use a separate bathroom cos he used to leave such a mess, and it got so dirty with the soap scum and hard water lol (I refused to clean his mess). He cleaned it with baking soda and vinegar before we moved out and it got really clean - though he needed to do 2 or 3 rounds cos he hadn't cleaned it in 6 mths :eek: He made me delete the photos from our computer.....


Monica

Too funny about his bathroom. lol! We only have 2 bathrooms so I have to share with dh. Blech! I scrub mine once every 2 weeks (dh has to wipe all of his yuckies off daily though) but I gotta admit I don't scrub until all the soap scum comes off. :o I get a lot of it then I throw in the towel (literally...lol!) and say forget it til next tub scrubbing day. lol!
I will definitely try this baking soda and vinegar idea. Sounds great! Thanks everyone! ;cool:

I have had smashing success with baking soda and lemon juice. We bought the IL's house when we were in CA and there was YEARS of soap scum and hard water stains in thier bath. I made a paste of the lemon juice and baking soda and let it sit over night then rewetted it the next day and scrubbed I was shocked at how clean it came. After that I didn't need to leave it sit just mix it in the tub till it was like soft scrub and wipe and rinse

I'm going to try this too. Thanks!!!


Since starting to use only WAHM soaps, I swear the soap scum is waaay worse.

Michelle

Seventh Generation makes a product that is the natural equivalent of Soft Scrub w/bleach; it works just as well as soft scrub; and smells yummy! Gets all the scum off very easily, I don't have to scrub hard at all.

Kristi

The best thing for soap scum is to use a degreaser of some sort. Mixing it with baking soda for scrubbing power helps too. You can use Simple Green, orange oil cleaners or simply Dawn dish liquid. I have glass to clean and this cuts the scum, then I buff to a sparkle with vinegar.

Gonna have to try the lemon and baking soda soak for the hard water. Zud works but it's sooooo pricey.

I use one of those scrubbies from the dollar store with a good sprinkle of baking soda and a squirt of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint. (You can throw the scrubbies in the washer and use them again and again) I have never had a cleaner tub in my life!! This concoction works better than anything I've bought in the stores.

Crazy but true -- soap removes soap scum really well!

I wash the walls down with some castile soap, dr. bronners, or even some natural light shampoo -- soap scum comes immediately off.

The trick is that when you're done you HAVE TO rinse with a vinegar rinse -- like one part vinegar to three parts water, or half and half, with a couple of drops of EO's in it to mask the vinegar smell. This rinses the fresh soap off too and leaves perfect, squeakly walls. (I keep my vinegar rinse in a spray bottle and just amply spray it on the walls of the shower and then rinse that with the shower spray.)

Astoria

Originally posted by Astoria
Crazy but true -- soap removes soap scum really well!

I wash the walls down with some castile soap, dr. bronners, or even some natural light shampoo -- soap scum comes immediately off.

The trick is that when you're done you HAVE TO rinse with a vinegar rinse -- like one part vinegar to three parts water, or half and half, with a couple of drops of EO's in it to mask the vinegar smell. This rinses the fresh soap off too and leaves perfect, squeakly walls. (I keep my vinegar rinse in a spray bottle and just amply spray it on the walls of the shower and then rinse that with the shower spray.)

Astoria

Could you use that vinegar spray on a daily basis? I'm thinking it might be a good alterntive to those daily shower sprays. ??

I wouldn't. It doesn't smell great.

The smell disperses fairly quickly, and is somewhat masked by essential oils. But it still smells like vinegar for a while -- which I don't mind twice a month when I scrub down the shower, but I would not enjoy experiencing daily.

I have no idea what those daily sprays have in them.

Astoria