Easy Homemade Shower Cleaner

Make your own natural homemade shower cleaner in minutes with this easy recipe.

 

I have used (and tweaked) this Homemade Shower Cleaner for years. It started with a simple combination of dish soap and vinegar. Over time, I learned about essential oils and decided to add a couple drops into the recipe for added cleaning power. Then, a couple years ago, I learned about Sal Suds: a natural cleaner created by Dr. Bronner’s. I use it in my both my homemade floor cleaner and DIY dish soap, and I love it! Eventually I switched out the dish soap for Sal Suds, which made for a more natural cleaner.

What You Need to Make Homemade Shower Cleaner

 

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Ingredients Needed for DIY Shower Cleaner

• Vinegar– Vinegar has natural antibacterial/antifungual properties which makes it great for use in homemade cleaners.
• Dawn Dish Soap or Sal Suds– I found Sal Suds just a couple years ago, and fell in love with it. Sal Suds is created by Dr. Bonner’s, but unlike Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap (which is used for personal care), Sal Suds is an actual cleaner “made with plant-based surfactants and natural fir needle and spruce essential oils”
• Essential Oil (Optional)- If you are unsure where to buy essential oils, check out this post so you can find a brand that works for you!

Supplies Needed for Homemade Shower Cleaner

• Glass Liquid Measuring Cup
• Non-Scratch Dish Wand

How to Make Homemade Shower Cleaner

IMPORTANT: This Homemade Shower Cleaner cannot be used on stone due to the acidic nature of the vinegar.

Start by adding 3 Tablespoons Dawn Dish Soap or Sal Suds to a glass liquid measuring cup.

 

Then add 3 Tablespoons of vinegar and give it a gentle stir.

 

Once mixed, add up to 6 drops of essential oil if desired.

 

Here are a few essential oils that are great in the cleaning department and add a pleasant scent.

Lemon | Orange | Pine | Any Immune Supporting Blend

Tea Tree essential oil is also great for cleaning, but it doesn’t smell great.

Stir in the essential oils and then pour the shower cleaner into a dish wand.

When adding solution to the dish wand, you may need to remove the scour sponge and plug the hole with your finger while pouring it in. Once you replace the cap at the end, turn it upright and replace the sponge. If you chose to use Sal Suds for this DIY shower cleaner, it is thinner in consistency, whereas Dawn creates quite a thick mixture.

How to Use DIY Shower Cleaner

Prior to trying any cleaning product, it is strongly recommended that you test the product on a small, inconspicuous area to make sure there is no change to your finish (other than getting it cleaner). Please see our disclaimer statement for more details.

When ready to use, simply wet the shower walls, doors and floor with warm water, then scrub everything down with the solution-filled dish wand.

Once everything is well scrubbed, rinse down the shower with warm water.

 

IMPORTANT: If you choose to use essential oil in this recipe, you should pour any remaining solution out of the dish wand as some essential oils (like tea tree and citrus oils) can break down plastic. Make sure to thoroughly rinse the sponge/brush used for scrubbing as well. You can store any unused solution in a glass mason jar for future use. If you did not choose to use essential oils, simply store the dish wand upright in a cup or jar. This will keep the solution from leaking out of the sponge portion of the dish wand.

While you’re cleaning your shower, take a look at your shower head. Does it need cleaning as well? If so, check out our post on how to clean a shower head!

 

Common Homemade Shower Cleaner Questions

What is the Difference Between Using Dawn Dish Soap and Sal Suds?

I have tried this homemade shower cleaner using both Dawn Dish Soap and Sal Suds. Let me share a little information, as well as my experience, so you can decide which one is best for you.

EWG Rating– The Environmental Working Group rates various cleaning and personal care products based on the transparency of their ingredient list as well as the safety of the disclosed ingredients. Sal Suds blows Dawn out of the water: Sal Suds gets a A, while Dawn gets a D.

Cleaning Power– Both Dawn and Sal Suds do a great job of cleaning the shower, but when it came to the textured shower floor, Sal Suds did a much better job. But there’s an issue, the images of the floors using both Sal Suds and Dawn were sprayed on and allowed to sit for 30 minutes, and I cannot recommend using a spray bottle for this homemade shower cleaner (more on that below).

 

You can definitely see the difference between the unclean and cleaned sections of the floor, right?!

 

With Dawn, I can barely tell where I cleaned the floor. I actually had to mark it in the picture so you would know. Definitely not as good as the Sal Suds. But don’t count Dawn out entirely; it did a great job on other areas of the shower, like this area under our shower door.

 

I heard Sal Suds contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. Doesn’t that cause cancer?

I actually looked into this claim because I am trying to use the safest, most effective ingredients in my homemade cleaners; I certainly don’t want to add a known carcinogen! First, Lisa Bronner wrote an entire post on SLS used in Sal Suds, addressing the claims about it being cancer-causing, which you can read about here. Okay, but Lisa Bronner probably wants her products to look good, so how do we know SLS is really okay to use? I found an article titled “Human and Environmental Toxicity of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS): Evidence for Safe Use in Household Cleaning Products”. It addresses everything from ocular and dermal irritations to carcinogenicity. After doing my research, I feel completely comfortable using products containing Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.

Can I Use A Spray Bottle Instead of the Dish Wand?

There are many similar homemade shower cleaner recipes that tell you to make this solution and use a spray bottle to spray it onto the shower and let it sit for 30-60 minutes. While this idea works well in theory, I have done this with both the Sal Suds and Dawn versions of this recipe and I cannot recommend using a spray bottle. The mist from the spray creates fumes that make it difficult to breathe and you feel like your choking. Not fun. If you really want to use a spray bottle, I would strongly recommend opening up the windows, turning on the ventilation, and wearing a mask. I will also say Sal Suds in the spray bottle produces much stronger fumes than the Dawn version.

Can I Use a Natural Dish Soap in This Shower Cleaner Recipe?

Maybe… Some “natural” dish soaps contain sodium carbonate (washing soda) or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). You remember 4th grade science class, right? Mixing baking soda and vinegar is going to cause problems, so make sure you check the ingredients on your dish soap before mixing it with vinegar.

Do I Have to Add Essential Oils?

Nope. That is totally up to you. Sal Suds actually has a very pleasant scent with the added fir needle and spruce essential oils, so you certainly don’t have to add additional essential oils. They do, however, add a little more cleaning power and scent to the mix.

Does This Homemade Shower Cleaner Work on Rust Stains in the Shower?

Honestly… not really. But I do have a solution for getting rid of rust stains in the shower. Check out these results!

 

Does This Shower Cleaner Remove Soap Scum?

It depends. This DIY Shower cleaner recipe seems to do well with removing soap scum on the walls of our shower, but when it came to the fiberglass door, it didn’t work as well. I tested a whole lot of hacks for removing soap scum on a shower door. You can find what worked best (and what didn’t) in this post.

 

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