There's nothing worse than taking a nice hot shower, you're all relaxed and then all of a sudden you're looking at your shower curtain and seeing the nastiest stain right in front of your face. mold, mildew or some kind of extraterrestrial parasitic life form?
Whatever it is, it scares you and ruins your shower! Fortunately, getting rid of these kind of nasty stains isn't that hard and today I'm sharing with you tips on how to clean a shower curtain.
Use a washing machine
It's true, you can actually put a plastic shower curtain in a washing machine! Some of you may be worried that it will melt or break your washing machine, but with the right steps, a washing machine is a perfectly safe place for a shower curtain, just be sure to follow these steps.
Step 1
Don't use your regular laundry detergent and make sure the heat is low, 40 degrees maximum. Standard laundry detergent may be fine as long as it's mild enough. Treat the shower curtain as you would any other item of laundry.
If you really want to make sure the mildew, soap scum, and other nasty stuff on it comes off, mix a little white vinegar and baking soda with your detergent.
If you can add them at different times, add the baking soda during the wash cycle and the white vinegar during the rinse. Of course, not all washing machines will allow you to do this mid-cycle.
2ND STEP
As a shower curtain can be a slippery customer, water and whatever you use to clean it in the washer can have a hard time sticking to it and can slip right off. To counter this, you can place an old towel in the washing machine with the shower curtain. This helps give it a bit more roughage to help remove grime, mud and mold.
STEP 3
After you take the shower curtain out of the washing machine, take a look at it. You'll probably notice that there are still some stubborn bits of mold and soap scum stuck to it, especially at the level of the seams. You can get rid of it with the help of a toothbrush….An old toothbrush!
STEP 4
Make sure you let your shower curtain dry properly, some people just hang it in the bathroom and let it dry that way. Or if the weather is nice you can leave it outside.
Hand washing
Some shower curtains will tell you they can't be machine washed, so pull them out and burn them…wait a minute that's not fair! All is not lost, you can roll up your sleeves and well wash the shower curtain.
Method 1
The first method I have for you is to put your shower curtain in the tub, then get a microfiber cloth and get it nice and wet. Once it's wet, use baking soda and sprinkle -some on the sponge.
Scrub it really well with this and you'll notice all the dirt and mildew start to come off. Once you're done, rinse it off in the shower and if there's still any soap scum, mildew or another, you can repeat the process.
Method 2
Another method you can always use involves washing powder. Fill your tub with lukewarm water and mix in some (organic) washing powder and let the shower curtain soak for about an hour. You can now use a washing brush. scourer or a toothbrush to clean anything on it.
Method 3
Again, like using a washing machine, be sure to let it dry properly, whether in the bathroom or on the clothesline.
How many times a year should I clean my shower curtain?
Don't worry, a once a week cleaning of your shower curtain is not necessary at all. Some people will clean theirs once a month and that's more than enough. If your bathroom is actually pretty well ventilated (which helps keep mold away), you can even clean it every couple of months.
It's also a good idea that once you're done showering, you quickly rinse the curtain to remove any soap that may still be there.
Read more: How to clean your shower head with vinegar
You can pre-treat your shower curtain
While there's no way to completely pre-treat a shower curtain to the point where soap scum and mildew will never be a problem, although it's 2018 you'd think science would have invented a mildew proof shower curtain (that actually works) now!
More seriously, when you get a new shower curtain before you hang it up, you can make sure it's ready for the abuse it's going to take.
You do this by putting it in the washing machine. Not on a real wash, but a rinse cycle with a little white vinegar. While it won't keep soap scum out forever, it will definitely give your new shower curtain that extra protection that simply throwing it directly over the shower hooks provides.
So as you can see it's not as hard to get rid of that dirty three week old soap, horrible grime and mold staring you in the face! Just make sure you let your curtain dry properly shower, because it's the one step that a lot of people seem to forget.
Let your shower curtain dry properly before using it next.Trust me when I tell you that it's much easier to enjoy a shower or bath when you don't have the soap scum. of your other half on the curtain!
Resources
Wikihow, RD and Wikipedia
