Life's Dirty. Clean Easy.

How To Clean A Shower

By Wet & Forget
Discover how to clean a shower without scrubbing using Wet & Forget Shower!

A shower should be a temple to cleanliness. It’s where people go to wash away the dirt and sweat of everyday life and then feel renewed the second their bare foot touches the bathmat.

If the shower itself is dirty, it’s hard to feel refreshed. So, if you need to hold your nose and cover your eyes every time you cross the porcelain threshold to feel clean, then check out our guide below on how to clean your shower.

How Do Showers Become Dirty?

When we’re talking about what makes showers dirty, these are typically the main culprits:

  • Mold stains
  • Mildew stains
  • Soap scum

Soap scum is unsightly but doesn’t necessarily hamper anyone’s hygiene. Mold and mildew, however, can irritate your lungs, throat, and nose — especially if you have a respiratory system condition like asthma or allergies.

With this in mind, let’s break down exactly what causes these common shower issues.

Mildew

While mildew and mold are commonly associated with each other, they are different things with contrasting characteristics. Both, however, thrive in environments that are dark, warm, and damp.

From an appearance standpoint, mildew is most often grayish, powdery, and spreads along the surface it inhabits.

If your shower has a musty smell, the source is likely mildew. And though mildew is not fun to look at or smell, its health effects tend not to be as severe as mold.

Mold

On the other hand, mold tends to offer some depth to its appearance. It doesn’t just grow flat, but it also burrows deep within cracks of surfaces and has some height to it, too.

While most people don’t think of mold and rainbows as similar, mold does offer a bold expression of colors that can range from dark black to lighter shades of blue, green, and red. Mold also typically gives off a much stronger scent than mildew due to its release of spores to help further colonize the nearby area.

Not all mold gives those nearby severe health issues. However, if you’re dealing with black mold or any variety of mold in enough quantities, you may experience a variety of symptoms:

  • Breathing issues
  • Headaches
  • Intense asthma attacks
  • Red eyes
  • Runny nose
  • Skin rashes and other forms of skin irritation
  • Sneezing
Soap Scum

If a chalky white substance covers your shower surfaces, congratulations — you’re a proud parent of soap scum. Here’s to hoping it eventually decides to major in something practical like business or Mandarin. 

Soap scum, as mentioned above, doesn’t typically impact your health by itself, but it can leave you feeling as unclean as our shower walls. It can also mix with bacteria or mold to further their impact.

The ingredients of soap scum are, well, soap and hard water. When the minerals in hard water combine with soap and then dry, you’re left with a grimy film that will start to cover the surfaces of your shower.

The adverse effects of soap scum can multiply if left untouched. The longer it’s present, the more likely it will lead to permanent stains and unfun odors. 

How Do You Clean a Shower?

So, if you’ve now got the willies imagining mold, mildew, and soap scum combining to form a trio of terror, it’s time to learn how to clean your shower. The first step is to gather your supplies.

That’s where Wet & Forget steps in.  Wet & Forget Shower, our weekly cleaner, makes it easier than ever to clean your shower and keep it clean. 

The spray’s formula contains no harmful bleach, ammonia, or harsh fumes. That helps make it safe to use on a variety of surfaces:

  • Acrylic, fiberglass, granite, natural stone, and slate shower or tub floors and walls
  • Brass, bronze, chrome, nickel, and stainless-steel showerheads or fixtures.
  • Ceramic, glass granite, mosaic, porcelain, and slate tiles
  • Fabric, nylon, plastic, and vinyl shower curtains
  • Glass shower doors

Note: The only surface Wet & Forget Shower should not be used is natural marble.

When you use Wet & Forget Shower, you may briefly forget that you’re in a dirty shower and think you’re in a relaxing spa. That’s how well the spray’s soft vanilla or fresh scent works.

No scrub shower cleaner

Once you have a bottle of Wet & Forget at your side, it doesn’t take much effort to get going:

  1. Open the bottle’s flip cap.
  2. Remove the sprayer attachment from its slot in the handle.
  3. Press the hose tip into the bottle’s opening on the cap until it clicks and feels firmly in place.
  4. Stretch out the hose coiled inside the trigger sprayer to three feet long.
  5. Rotate the nozzle on the sprayer to your preferred spray or stream setting.
  6. Spray Wet & Forget on the shower’s surfaces, such as the showerhead, curtain, walls, and floor.
  7. Let the spray work its magic for around 8 to 12 but no more than 24 hours.
  8. The next day, rinse the shower thoroughly, focusing on the shower floor to reduce slickness.

In most cases, you only need one weekly spray Wet & Forget Shower to keep your shower clean. However, if you’re starting with an incredibly scummy or grimy shower, you may need to use the spray daily with rinsing. Then, once the shower meets your approval, you can resume using the spray once a week to maintain the shower’s cleanliness.

While Wet & Forget Shower removes surface mold and mildew stains from your shower’s walls and floor, it won’t remove embedded mold/mildew on grout. Additionally, the spray is designed to remove surface stains caused by mold and mildew, and you may need to use another product to eliminate the source of mold and mildew.

How Can You Keep Your Shower Clean?

A weekly spray of Wet & Forget Shower is typically all you need to keep your shower clean.

Of course, if you’re wondering how to prevent mold and mildew in your shower, you may want to take steps to reduce their presence. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Reduce the humidity in your bathroom by using an exhaust fan during the shower and up to 30 minutes after. Keeping the bathroom door or any bathroom windows open will also help keep the humid air moving.
  2. Keep the surfaces of your shower dry with a squeegee. (And make sure to clean the squeegee in the sink after each use.)
  3. Attack sources of mold and mildew by spraying vinegar wherever you’ve spotted them. You can add essential oils to the vinegar to improve the smell of the spray.
Bleach and Other Things to Consider

After reading about mold and mildew, you may be screaming at this article, “Why don’t you just kill them dead with bleach?” While that’s a little aggressive, we must discuss the problems with bleach.

Bleach is dangerous and could give you a false sense of cleanliness. It can damage bathroom surfaces, severely irritate your skin if you were to touch it, and produce toxic fumes if it’s mixed with cleaners containing ammonia. 

Additionally, bleach can kill mold, but it may also render it invisible. So, the mold is still present even though you can’t see it.

To clean your shower and keep it that way, you’ll need Wet & Forget Shower. Click here to purchase the spray online or head to your nearest store to pick it up in person.