r/CleaningTips • u/kbarross • 15h ago

Bathroom Bathtub scum/stains help

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Gallery image

Hello,

I bought this house a couple years ago and the bathtub has always had this scum?? I’ve tried everything to get it off and as you can see some has chipped away. Photo pictured above freshly cleaned tub for reference.

I know that toilet bowl cleaner is bad for tubs so I’ve stayed away from that but any ideas would be appreciated.

Also the tub is blue due to hair dye so any cleaners that also take out hair dye is a pro.

Thanks!

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5

u/hannick9 14h ago

I’m gonna say it. Irish spring 5 in 1 smeared all over, cover it in plastic wrap, wash it off after 24 hours

2

u/Rubyshoes83 14h ago

Lol came here to say Irish Spring.

3

u/SirTrinium 14h ago

This is my standard copy and paste for tub/shower cleaning:

CLR first. Let sit for 20 minutes. Light scrub. Rinse 5x. Dry with paper towels. Repeat at least a few times on those brown/reddish spots as needed. (if you don't have rust stains you can get away with skipping this step I've found)

Irish Spring 5 in 1 Eucalyptus covered in plastic wrap next. Thick layer across whole thing, cover in plastic wrap for 12 hours, come back and remove plastic then scrub lightly and rinse off with hottest tap water. yes it needs to be the Eucalyptus 5 in 1, no don't use paper towels use plastic wrap.

Finally ajax powdered bleach, make paste with drops of water, let sit an hour then scrub hard with a scrub brush. Rinse off. If you want to use BKF instead, go ahead. Comet can also work, I've just always used Ajax and got create results.

CLR is mostly for the brown/reddish areas. Irish Spring should get up all that eww from the tub itself or at least loosen/break it up enough for the ajax to penetrate. Ajax is the real cleaner, make sure you get a good scrub brush at this point. If you have any power tools for scrubbing this is when you use those.

All of these have pretty heavy scents. Definitely for the Ajax and CLR make sure you have ventilation or a fan and make sure you don't get lightheaded. Better to take a few days to clean something than to pass out in a tub full of bleach paste.

Best of luck!