Soap Scum Prevention
Soap Scum Buildup on a Shower Door
This soap scum build up happened in a rental property, over the course of a year. It took me over an hour and a half to restore the door and small shower, with special training, equipment, and expensive chemicals.
Soap scum is a major issue for many families. After all, who has time to fight invading residue while raising a family and advancing a career? You could easily spend a whole Saturday a month restoring the shower doors, surrounds, tubs, and faucets in your home. The good news is, there are some simple ways to reduce soap scum in your shower that don’t take up all of your time.
1) Replace bar soap with body wash
Soap scum happens when chemical bonds in the soap break down. Body wash leaves less soap scum than bar soap because the bonds in body wash are stronger and fewer of these molecules break down.
2) Dry shower walls after each use
The most beautiful shower door I’ve ever seen had been in a home for seventeen years. It looked brand new. The homeowner was a shrewd and industrious businesswoman, and I asked her “how do you ever have time to run a business and keep this little detail so perfect?” She pointed to her towel rack, where there were two fluffy, matching towels and one ugly old towel. She told me, “you have to have three towels: one for you, one for your husband, and one for your shower.” She dried the glass every day after she dried herself.
While squeegees have become exceedingly popular lately, I am hesitant to recommend them. The showers that I see them in do not compare to that seventeen-year-old towel-dried shower.
3) Spritz with a general purpose spray after each use
Drying is a very effective method. Adding a general purpose spray to your regimen will also help. You can keep your spray bottle neatly out of sight under the bathroom sink. Be careful to avoid acidic cleaners in tubs that have grout or natural stone as these chemicals can degrade the surface. There are “automatic” sprayers on the market now, where you push a button and it sprays a cleaning solution over the shower. At over $200 a pop— and cheaply made, not aesthetically pleasing plastic, at that— I’m not sure it’s time to invest in one. Spritz and walk away.
4) Invest in a water softener
If you think the mineral build up in your shower is bad, imagine what your pipes and water heater looks like! Water softeners can be massively expensive, but they are a great asset when you decide to sell your home and they are an investment in the whole health of your plumbing system— as well as a great way to reduce soap scum.
Restored Shower Door
Here’s the same shower door, fully restored.
Amber Starling, Author
Founder and President of
Good Witch Cleaning Services, LLC
IICRC Journeyman Textile Cleaner