# How do I clean my shower Curtain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032 "2003-02-14T10:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Theom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@Theom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/1 "2003-02-14T10:28:07Z")
I have a shower curtain, Hurrah! Unfortunatly it has this pinkish moldy tinge to it and I was wondering what is the best way to clean it. My plan at the moment is to use a boiling hot bucket of water and some gel bleach stuff. Is this going to work? In the past I believe it has been put through the washing machine but as it is one of the Funky IKEA ones with globules of blue, that didn’t do it a lot of good so I don’t really want to do that again. I await you tips. ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/2 "2003-02-14T10:42:48Z")
Use Lime-Away. We have those cloth shower curtains and they are cool–just throw them in the washer every few months. They’re better than the vinyl. ---
**Author:** ![Theom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@Theom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/3 "2003-02-14T11:01:03Z")
Thankyou for the tip but alas, I don’t think we have Lime Away in this country… We have Flash products, any of them you can recommend? ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/4 "2003-02-14T11:14:58Z")
Bleach will kill the crud. The “Heloise” hint for cleaning a mildew-ey shower curtain is to put it in the washing machine with detergent, a cup of bleach and two large terry-cloth towels. The bleach eats the mildew and the towels rub against the shower curtain too clean it. I’ve had good luck with this method with plain vinyl shower curtains. However, I wrecked a vinyl screen printed shower curtain doing this once – Mickey Mouse started peeling off. So, if it seems that the globules of blue you mention might peel off, I’d stick with the bucket of hot water and bleach method – it’s going to be a lot more work, though. Jess ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/5 "2003-02-14T11:25:22Z")
As an alternate suggestion, this is what we do: throw it away. Really. We have a nice, cloth shower curtain for the outside, and a cheapie, vinyl shower curtain liner on the inside. They hand off the same hooks. The vinyl liner costs $4, which you may consider well worth it every three to four months. Granted, this idea may or may not be cost effective depending how long the mildew forms for you – it takes, like I said, three to four months in my case. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/6 "2003-02-14T11:28:10Z")
Another throw it away suggestion, use the dual curtain cheap-inside-nice-looking-outside method. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/7 "2003-02-14T14:24:00Z")
And you can get a cheap-but-decent nylon liner that you can wash for the inside liner. I have two, and alternate them. ---
**Author:** ![Zap\_Rowsdower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3da27b/32.png) [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/8 "2003-02-14T14:53:16Z")
Bleach always works well for me. I put mine in the washing machine once to see if it would help. It didn’t. The only thing it did was put a couple of inch long tears in it. ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/9 "2003-02-14T14:53:56Z")
Wait… You have to CLEAN shower curtains??? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/10 "2003-02-14T14:58:37Z")
I’ve had luck just throwing them in the washing machine along with some towels and other stuff. Just make sure you pull the curtain out before the final rinse(s). It’ll be wrinkled but big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/11 "2003-02-14T15:08:48Z")
I put mine in the washing machine with laundry dteregent if they are of good quality. Lately I’ve been buying the cheap ones from the Dollar Store and just throwing them away. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/12 "2003-02-14T15:28:28Z")
I’ll third or fourth the inside liner. Between changings, we use daily shower cleaner. As for the outside, we go inexpensive and replace that too. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/13 "2003-02-14T15:42:16Z")
I use only a ~$3.00 translucent vinyl liner that I replace every several months - no nice outside shower curtain. But I’m a poor bachelor. It makes it easy to see when there’s no light directly over the shower. ---
**Author:** ![broccoli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@broccoli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/broccoli)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/14 "2003-02-14T15:49:36Z")
the washing machine works, but where it folds it sticks and doesnt ever clean (for me) I just take the dish soap in the shower with me and a sponge and give it a once over… Dish detergent will clean almost anything. ---
**Author:** ![Copper\_moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@Copper\_moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Copper_moon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/15 "2003-02-14T18:19:14Z")
I use the washer with bleach and a towel usually. But for shower curtains that won’t hold up I put bleach in a spray bottle and really soak the part of the curtain that’s facing the shower. The part with mold on it. I let it sit for a while then I turn on the shower while I stand outside the shower and hold the curtain under the stream to rinse it off. I do this in a pinch because you don’t have to take it down and put it back up again. Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/16 "2003-02-14T18:40:42Z")
For those of us who are REALLY cheap and hate to thrwo things away that are structurally sound, how does one clean one of the cheapo vinyl liners? ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/17 "2003-02-14T19:37:53Z")
I bought a mildew proof shower curtain at Linens 'n Things. It was about $16 and it doesn’t have a spot of mildew on it. I never clean it and had it about 2 months so far. The package recommends you rinse it every so often, but I don’t even do that and it’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-clean-my-shower-curtain/155032/18 "2003-02-14T19:41:41Z")
Cheap vinyl liners go in the washer machine with bleach too.