Everyone knows the best way to clean your bathtub is with a good liquid dish soap, like Dawn. This is optimal in fighting stubborn grease, grime and soap scum effectively. But, how do you clean a bathtub with dawn? It’s rather simple, really.
We’ll take you through the six steps associated in how to clean a bathtub with dawn, or any dish soap for that matter. It’s not difficult, but you want to make sure you do it right so there won’t be any detergent left in the tub. Plus, you want to ensure you don’t ruin, discolor or wreck the material that comprises the tub.
Consider the following information and steps to devise your own plan of action. These are merely suggestions and everyone will have a different situation depending on the tub’s materials and other cleaning equipment. Regardless, using dish soap makes cleaning the bathroom tub a cinch.
Why Use Dish Soap for Cleaning a Bathtub?
Dish soap, especially Dawn, intends to cut through grease and stuck-on grime from utensils, flatware, plates, pots, pans and etc. The same kind of funky buildup that happens on dishes is very similar to what occurs in a bathtub. Therefore, dish soap will work just as well at cleaning it with a specialized cleaner.
It’s very ideal for when people use body and hair oils during showering as well as those who get messy when they work. Mechanics, farmers, construction workers and other such occupations will require a good, strong cleaner for their bathtubs. Regardless, dish soap is great for most situations.
1. Select a Scrubbing Implement
You can use several things to clean your bathtub with dish soap effectively. These include things like a broom, scrub brush, grout brush or sponge. However, pay attention to the surface of your tub. Some can suffer scratch marks very easily, so select your implement with care.
You may want to do a test on a small, inconspicuous place on the tub to check how your implement affects the material. In the case of any damage showing up, find another implement until you get the most desirable results. If you want to avoid damage altogether, check the tub’s manufacturer recommendations.
Brooms, Sponges; Scrub Brushes
When using a broom to clean your tub, make sure it’s one you use specifically for cleaning big basins like this. Do not use one you actually use to sweep the floor. This is because you’ll create a bigger mess than you intend to create, complete with hair, dust particles and other schmaltz picked up by the bristles.
If you opt for a sponge, ensure your bathtub can handle ones that have a scrub pad attached. Otherwise, using a plain sponge will be better. However, if you have an old tub, a plain sponge may not clean as efficiently as you’d like.
When in doubt about using a sponge or broom, you can always go with a trusty scrub brush designed for cleaning bathtubs. Manufacturers often engineer these to be gentle yet powerful against dirt, grime and grease that builds up around the circumference of the bathtub.
3. Remove Items from the Tub
But, if all is good to go, then you can move onto the next step, which is removing all items from around the bathtub. This includes children’s toys, shampoo/conditioner bottles, facial washes, back scrubbers, soap bars, razors and anything else you keep there.
Doing such a thing allows you to reach every nook and cranny of the tub. Plus you’ll be able to wash away bottle marks, spilt soaps and other such mishaps that occur while showering or bathing. The point is that you want to make sure you see every part of the tub requiring a scrub.
4. Slather the Dish Soap
Next, slather the dish soap all inside the tub. Simply take the bottle and squeeze it over the tub’s surface. Pay special attention to particularly nasty spots and anything that looks caked on. At this point you can let the solution sit, but it’s often not necessary.
5. Scrub the Bathtub
With a broom or scrubbing brush, clean the soap scum, grease, mildew and other tub funk you see until it disappears. Do a light rinse of water to see that you got all the affected areas you cleaned. If there’s anything leftover, put on a little more dish soap and then scrub again.
Make sure you put some firm pressure behind the scrubbing. This will be particularly important when you have some serious grime and soap scum plastered to the bathtub’s surface.
6. Rinse Everything Well
Finally, turn on the showerhead and ensure you rinse the tub and any other areas you scrubbed well. The best way to know you got every inch of soap is by using hot water and watching the drain. There shouldn’t be any bubbles once the water runs clear.
Run your fingers over the surface of the tub and all areas you scrubbed. It should feel smooth and clean. If you feel anything slippery or slick, continue rinsing until it goes away completely. Any leftover residue will appear once the tub dries and it may end up being more difficult to clean next time.