Is It Best To Clean The Shower While You're In It? Here's The Truth

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It feels amazing to have a sparkling, fresh, clean shower, but many people are too busy to keep the shower glistening and squeaky clean every single day. For the multi-taskers among us (go ahead; raise your hand while doing two other things simultaneously), you might be thinking, "Why can't I just clean the shower while I'm in it? I'm already wet, and it's already steamy." It seems logical, so we're going to dive in to find out if you can really make a difference with washroom goo and if tackling it from the inside causes any harm to you. And since the multi-taskers may want to know now, there are pros and cons on both sides, but we're all about finding that almost-ideal middle ground where you can have your clean shower stall and bathe in it, too.

There are hacks for getting your shower clean more easily, particularly if you have shower doors, which seem to be notoriously difficult to keep clean. You may have considered a half-glass shower door as a low-maintenance shower option for people who hate cleaning glass, but this will only be helpful if you're looking at remodeling. Plus, you may have noticed that your shower still has soap-streaked tiles or shower walls, whether it has a glass wall or a shower curtain. Nonetheless, there's a time-saving temptation to try to clean and shower simultaneously, so the first step is to explore whether there are cleaning products that can do the job without injury to you.

The main risk of cleaning a shower while you're in it is the exposure to hazardous chemicals in a confined space, which could cause issues like headaches. Additionally, you might increase the risk of slipping and injuring yourself. One way to limit these risks while getting your shower clean is to use natural products. Try simply running a squeegee over everything after every shower, then using a melamine sponge to wipe everything once a week without any products at all. If you're sharing a shower with other family members, though, the task might be a lot bigger than a little squeegee and swipe dance.

This housekeeper-approved TikTok hack will keep your shower spotless, and it doesn't take much time, so it shouldn't be a problem to incorporate it into your routine toward the end of your shower. All you need to do is mix equal parts of dish soap and white vinegar in a refillable dish scrubber wand like the Scotch-Brite Non-Scratch Dishwand (non-scratch makes it useful on a wider variety of surfaces; they also make one that isn't non-scratch). Give the entire shower a quick once-over right before you finish your bathing, taking extra care since the dish soap could make the shower tray extra slippery. Scrub your feet and get out right away so that you don't have any of the lingering vinegar solution on your tender skin.

It seems you'll be able to multitask in the shower, but there's the little nagging voice that continues to wonder if exposure to cleaning products, even if it's "just" dish soap and white vinegar, could be harmful in the enclosed space of the shower. The American Lung Association and the Environmental Protection Agency indicate that using the two products is generally safe, though neither lists them in combination with the other.

Product safety isn't the only concern, however. The more we discovered, the more we needed a high school chemistry refresher. Some people claim that mixing an acid (vinegar) and a base (the dish soap) neutralizes the acid, thus zapping its cleaning superpowers. If that's the case or if you want to test a DIY recipe that is making the rounds, try this shower cleaner: Combine a half cup of rubbing alcohol, 1 tablespoon of a rinse aid (like Finish Jet-Dry), and 1 teaspoon of dish soap in a 32-ounce spray bottle, filling the remainder of the bottle with water. Give it a gentle roll-around (so it doesn't froth) to mix it before spraying after each shower.

For one final idea, don't forget there are clever ways to use Epsom salt to refresh your bathroom. An Epsom salt mixture, incorporating the salt with dish soap until it has a thick consistency, can be used wherever you have some serious cleaning to do. Since hands are regularly exposed to dish soap, and Epsom salt has long been an additive for soaking achy bodies, there isn't anything in the mixture that's very harmful to your skin.