Make easiest £1.42 shower cleaning spray at home to get squeaky clean glass

Having a squeaky clean shower glass screen is one of those underrated pleasures in life we don’t talk about enough.

Shower screens are one of those things in households that start looking dirty every few days, no matter how much or how often you clean. This can be boiled down to one culprit: limescale.

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Shower screens are constantly exposed to moisture and come in direct contact with water, which can lead to the buildup of unsightly grime and mineral deposits, particularly if there is hard water in your region. This is especially true of South, South East, East, and parts of the Midlands and Central England.

While cleaning the shower screen can feel like a daunting task on most days, one simple and cost-effective homemade spray can make the chore a lot easier, all without breaking the bank or taking up too much of your time and energy.

The basic DIY shower cleaning spray will set you back all of £1.42 and give you a squeaky clean and sparkling shower screen, without the use of strong and costly chemicals.

To make this super simple shower cleaner, all you need are a few basic items that are easily found in the supermarket, namely, distilled or white vinegar, and grease-cutting dish soap.

A 568ml bottle of distilled vinegar is sold at Tesco for 35p, while the grease-cutting dish soap, Elbow Grease, can be purchased from the supermarket for £1.07, although any brand will do.

Apart from these two items, you will need water, and Better Homes & Gardens optionally suggest adding lemon, baking soda, lemon oil and 10 to 20 drops of any other fresh-smelling essential oil if you wish to, for that added cleaning boost.

Making your own homemade shower cleaning spray couldn't be easier. All you have to do is heat your distilled white vinegar and then combine it with equal parts of the grease-cutting dish soap. If you are opting for lemon, baking soda, lemon oil and an essential oil, add that to the mixture at this point as well.

Next, you pour the combined solution into a spray bottle. The spray bottle will help effectively apply the solution evenly on your shower screen’s glass surface, while the warm vinegar will help dissolve limescale and soap scum more effectively.

Now, spray your homemade DIY shower cleaning solution on the front and back of your shower screen and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, or till you can see it cutting through the accumulated grime.

Once enough time has passed, rinse off the solution using fresh water and a damp sponge, after which all you would need to do is dry your shower screen with a soft microfibre cloth.

It’s worth noting that if your shower is made of stone, then vinegar could damage and stain it. In this case, it’s better to mix liquid soap with baking soda instead, until you achieve the consistency of frosting, as per Natura Clean CEO Kris Koenig.

She tells the publication: “Scrub this eco-friendly cleaner onto the glass shower door with a nonscratch sponge, then rinse with warm water.”

While most of us tend to focus on the shower screen glass, we often forget that the shower’s edges and door tracks need attention too. These are the hotspots for mould growth and trapped soap scum, and they need a regular and thorough clean as well.

To clean your shower screen edges and door tracks, experts at Better Homes & Gardens recommend using a toothbrush or small handheld brush and scrubbing the metal frame around the shower screen or door. They also suggest taking a paint scraper and removing the gunk where the metal joins the shower or shower door.

Another technique is to use a razor blade scraper and gently and carefully scraping away mineral buildup spots off the flat glass.

They advise: “Be sure to use a clean, sharp blade and hold it at a 45-degree angle to the surface to avoid scratching the glass.”