When you take a shower, have you ever found yourself huddled against the wall, avoiding your shower curtain that has become stained with mildew? Having a mildew covered shower curtain liner can be an unsightly eyesore for any bathroom. It becomes an even greater inconvenience when you avoid 50% of your bathtub space just to avoid touching it!
Shower time is supposed to be a happy, relaxing time! Don’t let mildew and scum ruin it!
Unfortunately, many people think that the best way to handle the situation is to just wait until it gets so unbearable you have to throw it away and then toss it. There are actually some really easy ways to keep your shower curtain clean and fresh so you don’t have to worry about its ugly appearance.
Let’s say your shower curtain is already a bit nasty. We’ll start with how to properly clean it today, and then we’ll go over some really simple steps to help you maintain the health and appearance of your shower curtain.
How to Wash Your Shower Curtain and Liner
Step 1. Take down the curtain! Remove the curtain from the shower rod and get the liner separated from the outer curtain. Wear gloves if your curtain grosses you out too much already. Hopefully this is not the case.
Step 2. Wash the curtain. So this is apparently a big secret that many people haven’t yet realized. You can wash your shower curtain and liner in your washing machine just like anything else. There are a couple tips to keep in mind to optimize this process.
- Tip #1. Wash your curtain and liner with white towels. The towels act as buffers so that your curtain and liner don’t get torn apart in the washer.
- Tip #2. To get the best effect, wash your curtain and liner at warm temperatures.
- Tip #3. Toss in a cup of baking soda OR distilled white vinegar. Either one will work.
Step 3. Dry your curtain and liner. The next step is to just hang them back up. This is how they dry in their natural habitat, so let them do their thing. No need to use a dryer.
That’s it to bring your shower curtain and liner back to new. Now let’s talk about maintenance in between washes.
Keeping your Shower Curtain and Liner Clean in between Washes
Here are two quick and easy tips to keep your shower curtain and liner clean consistently.
- Bar soaps are a big time contributor to soap scum. But they are totally replaceable by using body washes or non-soap cleansing bars.
- Keep a mixture of water and distilled vinegar in a spray bottle nearby. It’s really simple if you keep a spray bottle near the bathtub to just grab the bottle after you shower and spray down your shower curtain. You can use a mixture of 50% water and 50% vinegar. If the vinegar smell is too strong, use some lemon oil to taper the smell.
Once you have the knowledge, it’s really not that difficult to keep your shower curtain and liner mildew free. Go ahead and give it a good wash in your washing machine to get it back to good as new. While it is washing, go ahead and prep a spray bottle with your water and vinegar solution to keep it clean. Remember to spray after every use! And you can always give it another refresher wash in the washing machine every couple of weeks as needed.
