The Bathroom Cleaning Product Hoax

I think I want my five minutes back, because I just read an article talking about some blogger whose fantastic social media videos have caused a sensation with their amazing cleaning tips. I stupidly read the article hoping to learn something, but no. What I learned instead is that there are people out there still grabbing whatever random expensive new product the supermarket stocks, and thinking they suddenly need this wonder product. And worse, that there are so many of these sheeple, that certain staple household products are selling out because some random on the internet has decided you should clean your curtains using curry powder.

(Please don't. I made that up. But I guarantee that if a social media star was pictured doing that, the local Sainsbury's might well run out of Garam Masala.)

A stroll down any Household Cleaning aisle would make it seem like a home needs eleventy bajillion sprays, soaps, bleaches, cleaners, cloths, polishes and fresheners.

But guess what... tomorrow morning, well before dawn, I will be teaching a new employee about the wide range of chemicals used in the process of cleaning a lavatory, and as we perform our transformation in the loos, changing them from grubby to pristine, the reality is we'll be using two whole products. Two whole products for the toilets of a busy, dirty factory. A factory loo only needs two, just like homes, but companies like to bamboozle us with scare-words to make people believe certain things...

Myth: Everyone uses special anti-bacterial cleaning products and it's normal. You need to kill the flu virus.
The number-one way to limit the spread of disease is WASHING YOUR HANDS with ordinary soap. Even hospitals know this and they've known it for many years. It was true when your grandmother was a child and it's still true now.

The second is to basically: clean things. Just clean them, not perform a science experiment on them with ridiculous fancy products.

If I told you it's normal to waste money because everyone does it, would you automatically do the same? If you wish to waste money and believe in these advertisements that are designed to scare you into wasting your cash, then please put your money in an envelope and post it to me instead. Thank you.

Myth: Surely my bathroom needs specialist products for each special, er, thing. Like, you can't use toilet cleaner on a shower.
Who told you this and why do you believe it? Oh, it was the ads on tv? Well now it makes sense. Except that it doesn't. There's also a terrible scare campaign against ordinary household bleach. Repeat after me: Bleach is not bad. Bleach is not bad. BLEACH IS NOT BAD.

Look. Me, as a professional who works and trains in the cleaning industry, I have to tell my new recruits that we don't use bleach. The reason we don't use it at work is that there is the potential for some idiot to mix it with something else dangerous, which can cause serious reactions, fumes and real danger.

But just like you would not drink washing-up liquid or squirt it up your nose (because that is not how you should use it) you can also use bleach safely if you take care with how you use it.

The only two things you should ever mix bleach with are water and plain soap. Nothing else. Ever. Do not mix it with drain crystals and think it'll do a better job. Do not put it in shampoo to shift stains. No. Do not mix bleach with anything except plain water or plain soap. Open the window first and be careful not to sniff or splash - this means beware of your eyes and face.

Grab a spray bottle. Fill it 3/4 full with warm water first. Add a couple of capfuls full of plain, cheap bleach. Add about ten pumps of ordinary hand soap. This is your bathroom cleaner and it will take care of anything you throw at it.

You don't need toilet cleaner (you've just made one). You don't need special tile cleaner, or sink cleaner (clean them with your spray, and for any rings, grab that creme cleanser). Spray, wait a few minutes, brush the loo. Spray and use a sponge scourer on your sinks, bath, shower and door handles. Done. Keep in mind, like any soap product this stuff needs to be wiped off these surfaces afterwards with a wet cloth.

Your bathroom floor? Half a bucket of hot water, two squirts of hand soap and a capful of bleach in the water. If you have grout that is stained, grab your handy spray and go to it with an old toothbrush.

So what special "cleaning chemicals" have we used?
Bleach

Plus something we're likely to have already...
Hand Soap

And if things get tough around bathroom taps or drains?
Creme Cleanser on an old kitchen scourer

Wow. That's not very shiny, expensive or scientific and mysterious, is it?