Housekeeping Tip for Removing Hard Water Stains in Shower Is Brilliant

Hard water stains are the worst - not exactly a groundbreaking take, but it bears repeating. Even though the mineral content in my water isn't as bad where I live now as in places I've lived previously, I'm still all too familiar with the ordeal of scrubbing away those obnoxious calcified water stains, only for them to build up again within a few months.

For decades, folks have traded unconventional hacks and tips for combating hard water stains more effectively, and some have proven better than others. This ingenious tip from "The Amateur Cleaner" shows a lot of promise, and the best part is, you might already have what you need stored under your kitchen sink.

Frankly, up until now, I never thought about the potential use of dishwasher rinse aids beyond their intended purpose, but thanks to @theamateurcleaner 's tip, my eyes are open. Rinse aid is already great for keeping water spots off of dishes; why wouldn't it do the same in the shower?

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Testing This Hack Myself

I will admit, I was skeptical when I saw how instantaneously the hard water stains disappeared under @theamateurcleaner's rinse aid-doused paper towels. I've seen too many viral cleaning hacks that were just too good to be true, as I'm sure a lot of you have. A lot of times, I'm not able to immediately test out cleaning hacks, so I have to rely on research and testimonials to estimate their efficacy. However, this time was different.

My shower is well overdue for a deep clean (publicly airing my shame for a good cause here), and some of the metal fixtures have developed a familiar nasty film of water stains, soap scum, lime, and the usual detritus. I also happened to have a bottle of store-brand rinse aid under my kitchen sink, and so I decided to put this trick to the test.

When I first tried it the OP's way, using a paper towel, I wasn't impressed. The rinse aid immediately took off some of the film, but the heavy residue wasn't budging. After trying it with a couple paper towels, I considered calling this one a wash, but then I decided to try it one more time with a wash rag. That extra bit of abrasion immediately did the trick, and cut through the rest of the residue like nothing. Though this was just a quick and dirty example, and not a true deep clean, I was pretty impressed with the initial results. I've included a before/after side-by-side comparison, so you can see for yourself:

I wouldn't use paper towels as OP did, and I will offer the caveat that I don't have serious hard water issues, so I can't promise you'll find this trick as effective as I did if you have serious mineral buildup. That said, maybe the solution is simply to use a rinse aid designed for use in water with high mineral content, such as Finish Jet Dry Hard Water Rinse Aid . All things considered, I have to admit, the rinse aid hack works like a charm - just make sure you're using a cleaning rag, not a paper towel!

As you can see, my shower fixtures need a deep clean , and I'd been putting off the inevitable scrubdown for my next big house cleaning day. Now that I've already proven how quick and effective rinse aid is at cutting through water stains, though, I might just try to knock it all out later today. Rinse aid is now on my official list of "marvelous multitaskers" when it comes to home cleaning products!

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