How To Clean Your Shower Naturally: 6 Tips

Wondering the best way to clean your shower naturally without resorting to toxic cleaners or bleach? 

It’s not only possible, it’s quick and easy to accomplish.

Whether for everyday cleaning, deep cleaning, or removing mold and mildew we’ve got you covered with these pro tips on how to clean your shower naturally.

What Are the Benefits of Using A Natural Shower Cleaner?

There are numerous health, household, and environmental benefits to using a natural, non-toxic shower cleaner.

Some benefits include:

• You’ll avoid inhaling, absorbing, or ingesting harmful toxins such as bleach, phthalates, synthetic fragrance, pesticides, ammonia, antibacterial agents, synthetic foaming agents, chemical-based surfactants, and more.
• These chemicals have been linked to various health issues including poisoning, fertility and reproductive issues, cancer, respiratory damage, severe skin burns, liver and kidney damage, blindness, life-threatening pulmonary edema, and more.
• You’ll help the environment and wildlife by keeping toxic products out of waterways, the air, and the soil.
• Natural cleaning products cause less wear and tear on plumbing, surfaces, and fixtures.
• You’ll improve indoor air quality due to fewer chemicals.
• You’ll avoid unwanted side effects from chemical fumes such as headaches, coughing, burning eyes, etc.
• You can clean with your kids or pets without worrying about poisoning them!
• By avoiding antibacterial products, you can help reduce the proliferation of superbugs.

These are just a few benefits of using non-toxic cleaning products in the shower and all around your home.

Learn more in: The Most Toxic Cleaning Products To Avoid & Non-Toxic Swaps

Top 6 Tips On How To Clean Your Shower Naturally

Showers can be cumbersome to keep clean because:

1. They get used frequently, and thus require regular cleaning.
2. If they don’t get cleaned regularly, they will likely develop soap scum build-up, mold, and mildew, which usually require multiple cleaning products.

This often scares people away from using natural shower cleaners because of concerns about effectiveness and efficiency.

Here, we’ll share seven tips on how to clean your shower naturally that work as well (if not better) than using chemical-based cleaners.

1. Make It Easy For People To Wipe Down The Shower After Use 

We’ll get into the best natural shower cleaning products next. However, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Things like water marks, soap scrum, mold, and mildew can be avoided by controlling moisture.

How do you control moisture in a shower?!

Make it easy for your family to wipe it down after use.

If you have a stand-alone shower with a glass door, a squeegee is an excellent tool to hang in the shower for your family to use. 

Kids especially love squeegeeing anything, and it’s a quick way to remove moisture and reduce cleaning time.

A squeegee can also work well on tub-shower combos to remove water droplets from shower walls. 

In addition, a quick wipe of sealed areas with a dry cloth will help prevent mold and mildew from forming.

Finally, if you have a shower curtain, have your family leave the curtain drawn to allow it to dry more efficiently. 

We’d also recommend investing in a cloth shower curtain you can wash and laundering it every 1-2 weeks to prevent mold build-up.

2. Put Distilled White Vinegar To Work In Your Shower

Distilled white vinegar, used alone, diluted, or mixed into a DIY natural cleaner, is an excellent tool for cleaning your shower.

Here are some ways to use it:

• To dissolve soap scum: Spray pure distilled vinegar on shower glass and let dwell for 5-10 minutes to dissolve soap scum and remove watermarks. Wipe clean with a microfiber cloth.

Use it to shine faucets.

• Try it as a natural drain cleaner: Loosen clogs using a wire or drain-cleaning contraption. Pour a few tablespoons of baking soda down the drain, followed by a cup of vinegar. Let fizz for 10 minutes. Follow up with a rinse with hot water.
• To clean grout on tile floor or shower tiles: Use vinegar plus baking soda to clean grout on floor or shower tiles. Get the details on how to clean floor tile naturally here.
• As an all-purpose shower cleaner: Spray the entire shower with distilled white vinegar to remove dirt, grime, and germs. Wipe clean.

If disinfecting is necessary, you can use distilled white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide separately and stored them in separate bottles as a bleach alternative.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE USING VINEGAR AND PEROXIDE:

Even though they’re non-toxic, vinegar and peroxide can create harmful and irritating fumes when mixed and stored together. Thus, they must be stored and used in separate bottles. We like to attach a trigger sprayer directly to our hydrogen peroxide bottles (3% in the brown bottle), then designate a spray bottle for vinegar.

1. Clean the surface first with Branch Basics All-Purpose to remove germs.
2. To disinfect, spray the surface liberally with vinegar or peroxide (the order doesn’t matter). Let it dwell for 5-30 minutes. Wipe with a microfiber cloth.
3. Repeat the same step with the other bottle.

Disinfecting note: It is recommended that sanitizers and disinfectants be used sparingly to avoid the spread of superbugs. Disinfect only after first removing the germs with a soap like Branch Basics. 

See Why Over-Sanitizing Is Harmful To Our Health to learn more.

Learn more about DIY vinegar uses in: 12 Ways to Use Vinegar in Your Home.

3. Use Baking Soda To Clean Your Shower Naturally

Baking soda is a leading ingredient in most DIY natural shower cleaners because:

• It acts as a mild abrasive
• It has bleaching properties
• It deodorizes
• It fights stains
• And (as you just learned) it can help clean your drains

Here are some ways to use Baking Soda to clean your shower naturally:

• Make a DIY baking soda-based shower scrub. You can find several DIY recipes for this. However, a simple strategy is to combine baking soda, liquid castile soap, and water to form a thick scouring paste. You can then use this to clean your shower, shine faucets, clean tile, etc.

• For shower grout: A paste of baking soda and water can be applied to shower grout with an old toothbrush to scrub away stains.

• For mold and mildew in showers and tubs: Combine baking soda with hydrogen peroxide and brush onto mold or mildew spots. Let sit a few minutes, and remove with a stiff toothbrush or grout cleaning brush.

• To unclog shower drains: See the previous section on how to use baking soda with vinegar on drains.

Discover more clever uses for baking soda in 12 Uses for Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) Around The House

4. Invest In Non-Toxic Cleaning Products For Your Shower

There are many excellent non-toxic shower cleaners to choose from.

When shopping for natural shower cleaners, we recommend using sites like the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which rate the toxicity level of specific products.

Just plug in the product name or scan the barcode to see how the product rates from 1 (least toxic) to 10 (most toxic).

But wait, why would a non-toxic cleaning product need to be rated for toxicity?

Unfortunately, many cleaning products that claim to be “green,” “organic,” “all-natural,” “plant-based, “made with natural ingredients,” “fragrance-free,” or “non-toxic” may still contain harmful ingredients and chemicals.

By using tools like the EWG database or app, you can avoid being duped by these greenwashing claims.

We formulated Branch Basics Concentrate as an all-in-one, non-toxic product capable of replacing all types of chemical cleaners…including shower and bathroom cleaners.

• Branch Basics Bathroom dilution is designed to work alone or in concert with Oxygen Boost to clean and remove germs from sinks, toilets, countertops, bathtubs, showers, tub toys, showerheads, and more.
• Mineral-based Oxygen Boost is an excellent bleach alternative for cleaning shower grout, mold, mildew, watermarks, and stains. It’s also a fantastic laundry booster.
• Branch Basics Streak-Free (which takes just one drop of Branch Basics Concentrate to make) works wonders on shower doors, shining faucets, mirrors, and other metals.
• Branch Basics All-Purpose works excellent on shower tile or for a quick clean up.

Branch Basics products are all-natural and completely non-toxic, making them ideal for a healthy, low-tox lifestyle.

What’s In Branch Basics Concentrate?

This Certified Made Safe, EWG-verified product contains:

• Purified Water: Reverse osmosis…because the details matter!
• Decyl Glucoside: A mild, natural, vegan, plant-derived, biodegradable, non-toxic, and sustainable surfactant suitable for the most delicate skin.

• Organic Chamomile Flower Extract: Considered our star ingredient, this organic flower extract has Allergen (IFRA) Certifications as a nonallergenic non-fragrance. Chamomile flower extract possesses anti-irritant, antiseptic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory properties and is nourishing and soothing to the skin.

• Coco-Glucoside: A naturally-derived surfactant derived from coconut. Coco glucoside is one of the most gentle cleansing agents available and is a natural alternative to the harsher cocamidopropyl betaine and sulfates. Its chemical nature and production process result in a surfactant free of impurities like ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane, making it suitable for baby and pet products.

• Sodium Citrate: A plant-derived, biodegradable sodium salt that acts as a water softener. It’s also an acidity regulator and emulsifier in foods and drinks.

• Sodium Bicarbonate: Also known as baking soda. 

• Sodium Phytate: A natural chelator, phytic acid is found in plant seeds and is often used commercially as a preservative due to its antioxidant properties.

What’s In Oxygen Boost?

This Certified Made Safe, EWG-verified mineral-based brightener contains just two ingredients:

• Sodium Percarbonate: A mineral-based brightener, deodorizer, and stain lifter. Rated “1” on EWG’s Skin Deep Database.*

• Sodium Bicarbonate: Once again, we’re harnessing the cleaning, whitening, brightening, and water-softening power of pure baking soda for powerful cleaning, stain-fighting, mold/mildew removal, hard water stains, and more. Rated “1” on EWG Skin Deep.

Note: Even though the ingredients in Oxygen Boost are rated a “1” on EWG Skin Deep, some usage caveats exist. 

Since it is a powder, care should always be taken to avoid breathing in the particulates to avoid nose and eye irritation. 

Also, prolonged skin contact with sodium percarbonate is not recommended.

Gloves may be needed for some cleaning applications. 

To learn more about Branch Basics for bleach-free bathroom cleaning, check out: Non-Toxic Bathroom Cleaning With Branch Basics.

5. Learn How to Clean How To Clean Mold In Shower Grout Naturally 

Reaching for that bottle of bleach-based cleaner at the first sign of mold or mildew can be oh-so-tempting.

However, did you know the EPA and OSHA no longer recommend bleach for cleaning mold? ^{1 2}

That’s because bleach only kills surface mold while introducing water, which feeds hidden mold spores.

Plus, bleach is one of the most toxic household cleaners everyone should avoid.

Instead, follow the tips above to naturally clean mold and mildew using Branch Basics, vinegar, peroxide, baking soda, or Oxygen Boost.

Get the detailed tutorial in: How to Remove Mold From Shower Grout Naturally

6. Get To Know The Best Bleach Alternatives

Bleach isn’t just beloved for killing mold. It’s also a popular ingredient in bathroom cleaners for killing germs and removing stains.

The good news is you don’t need to subject yourself to the harms of bleach to reap its benefits.

Here are some great bleach alternatives for cleaning your shower:

For removing tough stains:

• Oxygen Boost
• Baking Soda
• Lemon Juice
• Hydrogen peroxide

For natural disinfecting:

• Follow the vinegar and peroxide method listed previously
• Natural steam machines, like The Lady Bug, are excellent for killing germs in the shower, bathroom, and around the home without harmful chemicals

Learn more in: 

• 5 Best Bathroom Cleaners Without Bleach
• 7 Non-Toxic Laundry Bleach Alternatives

Toss the Toxins: Clean Your Shower Naturally with Branch Basics

Isn’t it empowering to know you can clean your shower quickly and thoroughly without using toxic chemicals?

Plus, when you switch to natural shower cleaners, you’ll likely clean more often, knowing you’re not exposing yourself to harmful fumes.

Are you interested in trying out Branch Basics to clean your shower? You have options.

If you’re ready to go all-in, check out our Premium Starter Kit, which has everything you need to make your own All-Purpose, Bathroom, Streak-Free, Foaming Wash, and Laundry Soap, plus a full-size Oxygen Boost.

For those who want to test us out, check out our $5.00 Trial Kit to experience the power of pure for minimal investment.

Finally, if the information in this article has inspired you to get rid of your chemical-based cleaning products, please see How to Dispose Cleaning Products Safely (And Legally) for instructions on proper disposal.