Best Shower Cleaner: Easy Homemade Shower Cleaner Recipe
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Showers and tubs need constant care. Left unattended they quickly gain hard water stains, mildew, and mold. And there are a TON of chemical filled products that we are bombarded with to solve all our shower problems.
The problem is oftentimes you have no idea what toxins are in the products you’re buying and then washing down the drain. Not only can cleaning products cause irritation and hazardous conditions for humans but once washed down the drain they can pose risks to aquatic life as well (1).
The other issue with common grocery store bathroom cleaners is that they can be expensive. So to address these issues with common bathroom cleaners we have developed an easy homemade shower cleaner that can be made with ingredients you likely already have around the house.
Easy Homemade Shower Cleaner Recipe: Step By Step Guide
First gather your supplies. You will need:
A clean spray bottle, either glass or plastic, whatever you have on hand
A mixing bowl, ideally one that makes it easy to pour
A funnel
1.5 Cups of water
1 Cup of distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon (or two pumps) liquid dish soap
16 drops of Tea Tree essential oil
16 drops of Lemongrass essential oil*
½ Cup rubbing alcohol/isopropyl alcohol
* If you don’t have lemongrass essential oil simply replace it with essential oils you do have and enjoy. Other combinations with Tea Tree essential oil that work well are lemon, rosemary, and/or eucalyptus.
2. Add 1.5 Cups of water to your mixing bowl.
3. Add 1 Cup of distilled white vinegar to the mixing bowl.
4. Add two pumps of liquid dish soap or one teaspoon to the mixing bowl.
5. Add 16 drops of tea tree essential oil and 16 drops of lemongrass essential oil to the mixing bowl.
6. Add ½ Cup isopropyl alcohol to the mixing bowl and stir everything together well until you see bubbles form.
7. Using your funnel pour the liquid from your mixing bowl into your clean spray bottle.
8. Screw on the spray bottle lid and you are good to go spray down your shower after each use.
This easy handmade shower cleaner has worked wonders and smells AMAZING! I personally really dislike the smells of most chemical cleaners, they often give me a headache so this was a game changer. Simple, easy, cost effective, and smells fresh and clean without the dreaded chemical headache.
Where Should You Get the Ingredients and Tools?
Start with what you already have. Living more sustainably means working with what you have before going to get more.
For the tools (spray bottle, mixing bowl, and funnel) if you don’t have these in your home try second hand shopping for them first. You may be surprised how much your local second hand shop has. For the spray bottle if you have a choice glass is always better than plastic.
For the ingredients if you don’t have them all in your kitchen your local store is likely to have them. Be mindful when buying dish soap that your dish soap does not contain any problematic ingredients. Our blog post, The Myths and Realities of 5 Harmful Ingredients in Soap and Cosmetic Products, dives into some problematic ingredients should you like more information. We have been loving the plastic free dish soap made from Grove.com.
Grove.com is a certified B Corp working to get more sustainable products into the hands of those who want them. They have a plastic neutral goal of 2025 and offer a range of products from kitchen, personal care, and bathroom that they’ll ship right to your door. If you’re new to Grove and want to check them out be sure to use our referral link to get a free gift set with your first purchase!
For the essential oils, if you do not have any on hand we would recommend you use a bit of caution when purchasing. Look for 100% pure essential oils. Fragrance oils can have lots of potentially problematic ingredients in them whereas 100% pure essential oils are what they say they are. For a great USA based small female owned business that sells 100% pure essential oils check out AroMed Essentials.
If you are still looking for ingredients or tools, I have included Amazon links to each item for convenience.
What If You Don’t Like the Smell of Tea Tree or Lemongrass?
Don’t fret! There are so many great essential oil blends you can make. A citrus shower cleaner could work really well, simply add sweet orange and lemon together or do a lemon lime combination. Lavender could also be a good substitute on its own or coupled with rose or sage.
Pick an essential oil combination that you enjoy and use that combination instead of tea tree and lemongrass if that’s what you prefer. There are no hard and fast rules here.
How Do You Use This Cleaner?
After every shower use your homemade shower cleaner to spray down your shower. This will help you manage hard water and mildew build up over time. Once a week wipe down your shower after spraying with a cloth or paper towel.
If you live in an extremely humid environment, wipe down your shower after each spray to prevent mold from forming in the humidity.
