Everything You Can Clean in a Shower With Hydrogen Peroxide (Plus How to Do It)

Main Points Important Points
Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful and natural cleaner and disinfectant.
It kills bacteria and fungi and gets rid of stains, mildew, and soap scum, just like bleach, but it doesn’t use harsh chemicals.
You can make it work better in a lot of ways, such as by adding baking soda or letting it sit in the dark longer.

No one wants a shower that is dirty or moldy. Hydrogen peroxide is a natural disinfectant that will not only get rid of these annoying residues, but it will also help keep your bathroom free of mold, bacteria, and other annoying residues.

Professional cleaners have given us tips on how to use hydrogen peroxide to clean your bathroom and keep it looking shiny and new.

Learn More About the Expert
Michael Williams is the owner and CEO of Michael’s Cleaning, a company in Melbourne, Australia that cleans homes after leases end. He is also a professional cleaner.
Scott Schrader knows a lot about how to clean for CottageCare.

How to Clean a Shower with Hydrogen Peroxide

Follow these simple steps to clean your shower with this powerful natural disinfectant.

Start with a bottle of spray. Michael Williams is a professional cleaner and the owner of Michael’s Cleaning. He begins with a spray bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution that doesn’t need to be mixed with water. Spray the glass, floor, and walls of the shower to start cleaning. Let the mixture sit for at least ten minutes so that it can kill bacteria and break down dirt.
brush. Williams says to clean the surfaces next with a microfiber cloth or a non-abrasive scrub brush. Pay special attention to the edges and grout lines. To get rid of bacteria and break up any chalky residue, use the brush to make circles on the surfaces.
Use water to wash it off. Lastly, rinse the whole shower with warm water and use a new towel to dry the surfaces. This will stop water spots from forming.
What makes hydrogen peroxide work so well?

Hydrogen peroxide is a great cleaner because it kills bacteria, viruses, and fungi by breaking down their cells. It’s also very versatile and can be used for many different cleaning tasks, which is why it’s one of the best shower cleaners you can get for a low price.

Want more advice on how to clean and organize? Sign up for our free daily newsletter to get the latest tips, hacks, and more!

How to Get Rid of Soap Scum and Mold in the Shower with Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide can make it a little harder to get rid of soap scum and mildew. Williams sprays peroxide right on the soap scum and then puts a thin layer of baking soda on top of it.

He says, “The fizzing makes the film come off, so scrubbing is pretty easy.”

He soaks a cotton pad or paper towel in hydrogen peroxide to get rid of the mold. After that, he puts it on the dirty grout or silicone caulk and lets it sit for 30 to 60 minutes. He then takes off the pad and scrubs the surfaces with a brush with stiff bristles. This gets rid of the mildew in the shower.

“It’s a more focused, planned way to attack tough spots without using bleach,” he says.

How to Clean a Shower with Hydrogen Peroxide

Here are some of the best tips that experts don’t always share.

Hydrogen peroxide works better when it’s dark.

People think that cleaning in the warm light of the sun kills bacteria and other tiny organisms. Williams says that hydrogen peroxide breaks down faster in light, which is why it comes in brown bottles. He says that the best way to clean your shower is to spray it before bed and leave it there all night with the bathroom light off. After that, scrub the cleaner and wash it off.

“It only makes a small difference in time, but it makes a big difference in how well hydrogen peroxide works on mold, mildew, and soap scum,” he says.

Always use warm water to wash.

Bleach can be harsh and damage your grout, but hydrogen peroxide is a great way to clean stains because it lifts them without hurting them. Cleaning shower grout with hydrogen peroxide is the right thing to do. Scott Schrader, a cleaning expert at CottageCare, says that you should always rinse well with warm water after using hydrogen peroxide.

The warm water helps the cleaner work better against the things it’s cleaning, like bacteria, which you want to kill even more with the warm water.

Keep the hydrogen peroxide around for a while.

Don’t rush through cleaning by quickly wiping away the hydrogen peroxide. It needs time to clean and bleach.

Williams says, “If you use it like a hit-and-run spray-and-wipe cleaner, you’ll miss out on everything it can do.”

Schrader agrees. He says to wait at least 10 minutes before rinsing off the cleaner. This will keep new growth and water spots from showing up the next time you take a shower.

Put in some baking soda to make it work better.

Another way to make hydrogen peroxide work better as a cleaner is to add baking soda.

If you have a lot of soap scum and scrubbing doesn’t seem to help, Schrader says you can also try making a paste by mixing hydrogen peroxide with a little baking soda. Apply the paste to the areas that need it, wait an hour, and then scrub and rinse.