Does Adding Salt To Your Toilet Overnight Help Reduce Odors?

There's nothing worse than opening the bathroom door and walking into a wall of bad odor. You've tried everything — scrubs, chemical cleaners, and more air fresheners than you'd like to admit — but the toilet still constantly smells bad. Lucky for you, rumor has it that there's a DIY remedy that'll leave your bathroom smelling fresh as can be overnight and it's already in your kitchen: Salt.

Salt, also known as sodium chloride, is most popular for seasoning, but this unassuming white mineral can counteract, tackle, and even disinfect odor-causing bacteria, thanks to its antibacterial abilities. And being readily available, nontoxic, and relatively inexpensive, it makes the perfect solution to reducing toilet odors. But does pouring salt into your toilet bowl and leaving it overnight really cut down on bathroom odors? Experts say yes, but there's some things to keep in mind before you empty that salt container into the toilet on the way to bed.

The process itself is fairly straightforward. Simply pour a half a cup of salt — regular table salt is fine, but for a little extra cleaning power, use coarse salt — into the toilet bowl before you go to bed. Let it sit overnight (or at least 6 hours). The next morning, use your toilet brush to give the bowl a light scrub, then flush to rinse completely. For a fresh scent without chemical air fresheners, add a few drops of essential oils along with the salt at night.

How often should you complete this task? That's where the expert opinions start to vary. Some say once a week, while others say you can do it nightly. Why the difference? It likely comes down to salt's potential to corrode metal in your plumbing over time. Plus, the salt could create issues not only in your toilet, but your entire plumbing system.

While salt has been shown to reduce those bathroom odors, we suggest using it in moderation. It may be worth spacing out the process to once a week (maybe after your weekly bathroom clean) or even as needed when the odors creep back up. If the odor won't give up, consider deep cleaning your bath towels — they're often the unexpected culprit of bathroom odor.