If the water from your shower head trickles out instead of the powerful stream of water that you’re used to, your shower head or its nozzle is most likely clogged from mineral deposits that build up over time. This not only affects the way water runs out from your shower head but also makes the shower head an ideal place for mould and bacteria to grow, where it’s warm, dark and wet. Learning how to clean a shower is a segmented process, but this article will focus specifically on the shower head. Just as it seems when learning how to clean shower tiles, cleaning a shower head can seem difficult, but doesn’t have to be. Read the steps below and get your shower head clean and back to working as it should.
How Often Should You Clean A Shower Head
You should clean your shower head straight away if you haven’t cleaned it before, or if the water pressure has decreased. To save yourself time, clean it when you clean your shower doors or the actual tiles of the shower itself. However, once a month is enough to maintain your shower head, and to keep it from growing bacteria, mildew, or mould.
What You Will Need:
- White vinegar
- Baking soda
- A paperclip
- A plastic food storage bag
- A rubber band
- A microfibre cloth
- A bucket
- An old toothbrush
- A wrench
- Needle nose pliers
How To Clean A Shower Head With Vinegar
- Start by filling a plastic food storage bag halfway with white vinegar. Try not to overfill the plastic bag.
- Put the plastic bag with the vinegar inside, over your shower head. Make sure the entire head is covered in white vinegar. You can see if you need to add more vinegar to the bag.
- With a rubber band, fasten the plastic bag to the shower head. Make sure the rubber band is tied tightly, and the plastic bag secured.
- Leave the shower head to soak in the vinegar for as many hours as necessary, it may need to soak overnight if it is very dirty. If you have a brass shower head, don’t let it soak in vinegar for longer than 30 minutes, the vinegar can damage the shower head.
- Take the bag off the shower head after some hours. You can pour the vinegar down the drain of your shower and add some baking soda to the drain if there is a build-up of soap scum.
- Turn the hot water on full blast and let it run through the shower head to get rid of any mineral deposits stuck inside.
- Use a paperclip to unclog all the clogged nozzles, then scrub the shower head. If build-up remains, dip an old wet toothbrush into baking soda, then scrub the shower head. Focus on scrubbing where the water comes out. Then let hot water run from the shower again to flush out as much as possible. Repeat this step until the water runs out at its original pressure.
- Lastly, dry and buff the shower head so that there are no watermarks and your shower head looks as good as new.
If you have a removable shower head, you can still use these same steps for cleaning it, all you have to do is remove the shower head with a wrench, place it in a bucket full of white vinegar, and then follow the steps above. Don’t forget to reattach your shower head once cleaning is complete.
How To Clean A Shower Head Without Vinegar
If you don’t have white vinegar, you can use lemon juice or apple cider vinegar with water for your shower head to soak in. Both lemon juice and apple cider vinegar have strong enough acids to break down and dissolve mineral deposits. You can follow the same cleaning steps as above with a substitute.
If you don’t have time to wait for your shower head to soak, proceed by scrubbing it with a baking soda paste or salt and some lemon juice using an old toothbrush. After scrubbing, run the hot tap through the shower head. If you know how to take your shower head off and disassemble it, you should, so that the inside and outside of the shower head can be cleaned separately. Clean the inner and outer shower head in the same way as the steps above, then rinse and reassemble the shower head.
After using these steps for cleaning your shower head, your water pressure should be back in working order and you shouldn’t be able to see any more soap scum. Regular cleaning of your shower head will lessen the chances of a clogged, trickling shower head. You might want to read up on how to clean shower glass or how to clean shower doors for tips on cleaning those areas of your shower.
