Not All Soap Scum Is Created Equal
I remember when I first started cleaning houses. It was over a decade ago, and I had a lot to learn yet. One thing I noticed was that some bathrooms were surprisingly easy to clean, while others seemed to take all of my energy to get sparkling. We all notice differences in each other’s homes. Some people just have more stuff everywhere, some have bare shelves and sparse artwork or decor. Certain people somehow manage to keep their homes immaculately clean, others seem not to care much about the status of their baseboards or stainless steel, and then there are college houses. I’m only mostly kidding.
What I want to address here has nothing to do with lifestyle, whether people can afford to hire a cleaning service, whether they have children, their age, or the length of their pets’ fur. What I’m talking about is one thing that MILLIONS of people are using that makes the difference between a breezy bathroom clean and a nightmare, one of the most commonly used products on the market. Soap!
Peer into any bathroom and you’ll find some sort of soap product used for washing hands and bodies at the sink and in the tub or shower. Well, at least I hope so. Anyhow, the type of soap you use in your sinks, tubs, and showers, determines the rate at which scum will build up, as well as how much you’ll see.
Now, any bathroom that is used frequently will have some level of buildup, whether it be from your products or your dead skin cells, but the bathrooms of folks who use liquid soap are drastically easier to clean.
It took me some time and comparison to discover just how evil bar soap is. I didn’t grow up using bar soap, so when I first started cleaning homes, I was astonished and perplexed when I came across those scummy shower doors with the thick, whitish haze. You know what I mean if you have them and you’re a bar soap user. It’s a buildup that’s not quite waxy. It’s more brittle. But stubborn!
When I started house cleaning, the company that employed me didn’t have a product that was appropriate to tackle the stuff. We had a couple things that were helpful, but not really great. So I relied mostly on my own elbow grease, and let me tell you; it was not fun. There is a reason there are probably hundreds of videos on YouTube about soap scum and how to get rid of it.
HINT: It isn’t vinegar! It isn’t dish soap! I have tried them all.
If you think about the differences between bar soap and liquid, it makes sense. If you scratch your fingernail on a bar of soap, it will come away with a grossness that is just like the stuff that builds up all over your bathroom. It dissolves in water, but dries similar to its previous state. Now, squirt some liquid soap on your countertop and leave it there for a few days so it’s nice and dry. If you scratch that away with your finger, it’s more slimy and forgiving than the bar of soap, right? It is formulated differently and not designed to hold a rigid shape like bar soap needs to be in order to keep its shape and remain in its neat little package. Another thing I’ve noticed when I’ve been forced to use bar soap (boyfriends are particularly guilty of buying the stuff), is that it leaves a disturbing feeling film on my skin. Ew.
It wasn’t until I had been cleaning for a few years, long after I started my own business, that I found a way to minimize the need for so much muscle to remove the gunk. You can check it out on our YouTube channel if you’re interested.
But the point of this rant is not to sell you on our services or buy a product. It’s to inform you that life doesn’t have to be so hard! Cleaning a sink, scrubbing a tub, or shining sliding glass shower doors doesn’t have to consume and entire afternoon. Save your house cleaning team and yourself so much grief, and BAN THE BAR!