The Blue Soap That Finally Cleaned My Shower
I’m always looking for new cleaning tips, tricks and “recipes,” and this recipe is based on one I keep seeing on Pinterest.
Our master shower has an ivory, textured floor that seems to collect every bit of dirt available and is practically impossible to clean. I have tried many different cleaners, both DIY and commercial, nontoxic and toxic, and many different scrubbers, from scrappy sponges to hard-bristle brushes. My shower was clean, but the textured floor still looked dirty, no matter what I used.
When I saw this pin floating all over Pinterest, with so many rave reviews, I decided to give it a go. My first attempt, with the recipe as written, was moderately successful, but still not as clean as I wanted it (I want it to look new, darn it!) The textured floor is much harder to get “white” again than a flat surface. I played with the recipe a bit, and stumbled upon this concoction that cleaned every bit of dirt and gunk from the floor texturing, plus all the soap scum residue that was hanging on the bottom walls. I’ve just been calling it “blue soap.”
Blue Soap
2 parts Dawn dish soap, the original classic formula
1 part white vinegar
1 part water
Mix it all together in a spray bottle and spritz it all over the tub/shower/sink/whatever. The mixture should be pretty thick and gooey — you want the stuff to stay where you spray it, not run down the drain. Once everything is coated thoroughly, leave it. Just walk away. Let it soak for several hours, even overnight. When you’re ready to clean it off, wet a scrub brush and go to town on the dried blue soap. Add more water as needed until you’ve given all the surfaces a good once-over. Rinse well, and bask in the glow of the super-clean results.
I have tried this recipe with a variety of eco-friendly dish soaps, but none of them came close to the results I got with original Dawn.
If you’ve got a spot that’s tough to clean, give this mix a go. It’s best to make a fresh batch each time, and it can stink pretty bad (thanks to the vinegar). But it works! Happy cleaning!
