Use These Two Ingredients To Ensure Your Chrome Surfaces Always Shine

As one of the most common materials for fixtures in homes, chrome is often used for faucets and bathroom accessories. There are also many other ways to add this metallic silver trend throughout your home, but bathroom fixtures are a definite favorite amongst homeowners. These fixtures are constructed with a chromium coating, which gives the metal its famous shine. The goal, of course, is to maintain this shine on all of your chrome surfaces, but this can be easier said than done. Sometimes, chrome may need a little extra cleaning or polishing to get rid of dirt build-up and messes. For regular maintenance, though, dish soap and water are the two key ingredients that can help chrome maintain its shine.

Instead of using commercial cleaners, dish soap and water can go a long way to keep your chrome surfaces clean and shiny. Dish soap itself is a type of surfactant. Like other types of surfactants, dish soap must be combined with water to activate. Together, the soap and water create a reaction to help lift dirt and oil from surfaces. While seemingly simple, these two ingredients can go a long way in keeping chrome surfaces throughout your home clean without the need for harsh chemicals.

The cleaning ability of dish soap and water has long been established, and there are even some unexpected things you can clean with dish soap, too. Cleaning experts typically recommend this duo for chrome fixtures because of their simplicity. Why go for harsh chemicals that can damage the chromium plating when regular cleaning with these common ingredients is enough to keep the shine? Dish soap is unabrasive, lifts dirt effectively, and leaves no residue. The water also helps rinse off any streaks. So why spoil a good thing?

To keep your chrome gleaming, you need to clean it with these items at least once a week. Simply combine a few drops of the soap with a gallon of distilled water in a bucket. Dip a clean microfiber cloth into the solution and wring out any excess water. Then, apply the soapy cloth to the chrome surface. Wipe away any excess soapy water with a different dry microfiber cloth and buff the surface. In between cleanings, you can also use a dry microfiber cloth to wipe chrome fixtures daily to keep spots and streaks at bay.

Sometimes you might need other solutions for tougher messes. One solution is a baking soda cleaning paste, which is abrasive enough to get rid of caked-on dirt and grime without being too harsh to damage the metal. It also makes for a good chrome polisher, too. Another option is to combine equal parts white vinegar and water, particularly if you need to get rid of hard water stains. Overall, these are key natural cleaning ingredients that you'll want to have for chrome, and possibly other surfaces in your home.