How to clean your shower head

Cleaning your shower head is an often forgotten and much put-off aspect of regular bathroom cleaning and maintenance. While it is easy to neglect this task, it is even easier to enjoy a beautiful and clean shower once you have taken care of this vital need.

Shower heads should be cleaned on a regular and ongoing basis. The longer you leave it, the worse your task will be and the greater the risk that your shower is coating you in nasty bacteria.

Start by scrubbing all surfaces of the shower head. A sponge, some cleaning product, and a bit of elbow grease is all you need to leave the surfaces in sparkling clean condition. This is the easy part. However, it is the smaller and more intricate parts of your shower head which can be difficult to clean. Where there is water, there is potential for bacteria to grow and take hold. Each hole or nozzle in your shower head is potentially a reservoir of bacteria.

To clean the small holes or nozzles, a time worn trick is to use an old toothbrush with some cleaning product. Just as a toothbrush gets into the small areas of your teeth using its flexible bristles, a toothbrush can also go some way to mechanically dislodging bacteria from the small holes in your shower head. The toothbrush trick is the easiest option for cleaning your shower head, but it is not the most effective.

Another trick for dislodging deposits from your shower head is to soak it in vinegar. White vinegar is prized as a safe and natural cleaning product that is incredibly effective, cleaning with the power of acid. There are two ways to soak the shower head. You can either remove it from the wall and soak it in a bucket, or you can leave the shower head as is, and securely affix a bag filled with vinegar around the shower head. The shower head sits inside the bag, which is attached to the base using a rubber band. Whether you use the bucket or bag technique, you will need to leave your shower head to soak for several hours, then rinse with water to remove the vinegar.

The final step to cleaning your shower head is cleaning out the filter. The filter screen will need to be removed and cleaned in accordance with the instructions provided in your shower head’s manual.

These at home cleaning techniques should tide you over, but every few years, you will want to do a more complete and thorough clean by dismantling the shower head and getting inside all the nooks and crannies. You may be able to do this yourself with a bit of household DIY know-how. However, the difficult part is actually putting the shower head back together in good working order. As this task can be quite fiddly, you may prefer to call in a plumber to dissemble, clean, and re-assemble your shower head with no headaches to you.

At Sydney Blocked Drains, we can assist with any and all plumbing requirements. Whether you are dealing with a blocked drain, a high-pressure leak, or a dissembled shower head that you cannot figure out how to put back together, we are here to help. Simply call us on 1300 403 201 or contact us via our website. We are also available for call outs 24/7 to provide emergency plumbing needs which cannot wait until business hours.