Zap Away Stubborn Soap Scum With The Help Of Two Common Kitchen Ingredients

Soap scum is the bane of bathroom-cleaning chores. Whether it's in a shower stall or a bathtub, soap scum happens. Soap bars contribute to the gunky residue that makes the tub, sink, or shower look less than its best. It's more than just the soapy product, however. That scum also contains mineral deposits from hard water, some bacteria and body oils, plus dirt and even skin cells. When all of that combines, crud happens. That stuff gets caked on and isn't always easy to remove — luckily, two items from your kitchen can help.

A combination of abrasion and acid work well together to tackle such tedious tasks, and that doesn't mean you have to reach for a chemical-based cleaner to do the job. Lemon's acid and salt's abrasive power clear the crud quite nicely. Lemon juice excels at cleaning scum from glass shower doors, too. 

Bar soaps are much more of an issue with soap scum than body washes and similar liquids because of the paraffin used in some soap bars. If you're thinking about candles when you see "paraffin," you're correct. Some candles contain paraffin wax. Paraffin in soap could be why soap scum can feel waxy and hard to simply wash away. 

Lemons come in handy for cleaning in this way compared to just lemon juice in a bottle, because the lemon itself acts like a sponge or scrub pad to apply pressure and rub the areas you clean. If you are using lemon juice without the lemon, you'll still need a sponge or a cleaning cloth. 

To get started, cut a couple of lemons in half; there's no exact number because it depends on how large the area is that needs soap-scum removal. Sprinkle at least several tablespoons of salt into a bowl wide enough to hold the cut end of a lemon. Dip the cut side of one of the lemons into the salt, then rub it over an area of the tub, sink, or shower suffering from soap-scum buildup. The goal is for the juice to coat the scum while the salt rubs some of it off. 

Wait about 30 minutes to allow the acid to work, then scrub over the area again with the cut lemon, or even a damp scrubby sponge. Rinse the area afterwards to remove the scummy buildup and the lemon-and-salt residue. Lemons can also be used to remove hard water stains in the shower, and on bathroom and kitchen fixtures. As it turns out, there are numerous ways to clean around the house with lemons. You can even use lemon and salt to remove stains from a toilet.