One of the clever bathroom cleaning products that I’ve really grown to like over the years are the daily shower cleaner sprays. After you shower you simply mist some of the spray around on the shower walls and it helps to keep your shower clean with less mold or mineral buildup in between more thorough cleanings.
I started out with the name brands like Tilex. . .
then used the store brand . . .
then bought the dollar store stuff . . .
and now – I finally know how to make my own!
My homemade daily shower cleaner spray is actually doing an even better job than the store bought stuff was and that’s because the homemade version includes a dishwasher rinse aid product in the recipe. This has done an awesome job of leaving the shower surfaces cleaner and smoother after a shower.
When it’s cleaning day, I just give my shower tile a little scrubbing with my homemade lemon soft scrub and it looks great. No heavy duty scrubbing is needed because the daily spray keeps things from getting too bad during the week.
In one of my previous posts about how to clean a shower head I shared that I also have some annoying glass block windows in one of my showers. Those glass block windows get covered in water spots – and they are soooo hard to clean off. I was super happy when I discovered that vinegar worked really great on the water spots.
But guess what?
This homemade daily shower cleaner spray keeps the water spots from ever forming on the glass windows in the first place! Oh happy day! Those windows finally look cleaner than they ever have before. I’m sure it’s the rinse aid in the mix that’s working the magic.
If you’re a person that likes to use the daily shower sprays, I think you’ll really love this shower cleaner recipe too.
I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the store bought stuff again. It really is that good.
My recipe makes a 32 oz batch, which is the same size as the commercial brands of daily shower cleaner sprays that are being sold. Just save the bottle from a store bought brand once you’ve used it up, and simply refill it with your own homemade version.
To make my DIY version, I begin by pouring a ½ cup hydrogen peroxide, ½ cup rubbing alcohol, 1 teaspoon of dish soap and 1 tablespoon of rinse aid (like Finish Jet Dry) into a spray bottle of at least a 32 oz size. I always use my funnel to make things easier!
Next, slowly add 3 cups of water (the mixture might bubble a little bit because of the dish soap). If you are re-using a 32 oz bottle from a store bought daily shower cleaner spray, you really don’t even need to measure for this step . . . simply top off the bottle with water.
Put the top back on the spray bottle and then slowly tip the bottle back and forth to mix the ingredients.
To use: After showering, mist the spray on the walls of the shower and you’re done. There’s no need to wipe.
Update: I’ve discovered this daily shower cleaner makes a great window cleaner! You can read more here: My Unexpected Window Cleaner
Update #2: I’ve been asked by readers if they should be concerned if there is overspray that lands on the bottles of shampoo, or the shower curtain, etc. I’ve been spraying this around my shower for several years and I’m sure I’ve hit some of the other stuff too, but I have never seen any problem so I think it’s OK to spray away!
Update #3: There have been many questions about whether this mixture is safe on a variety of tub/shower surfaces such as fiberglass, plastic, glass, marble, etc. After doing some research, I believe that because there is nothing acidic in this mixture (no vinegar or lemon juice), that it is indeed safe for all the common bathroom tub and shower surfaces that are non-porous surfaces. For porous surfaces (such as slate) you will not see much benefit as it will just be absorbed. More discussion on this topic can be found in the comments below.
An additional thing to be mindful of is that hydrogen peroxide can slowly break down in the light. That’s why hydrogen peroxide is always sold in those dark brown bottles. If possible, keep this mixture in a cupboard or some other place where it will be dark to keep the hydrogen peroxide at optimum performance. A couple other ideas are to use a dark bottle, or to just add a little more peroxide from time to time. A reader told me she just put a sock over the bottle, and another wraps her bottle with dark duct tape. {Two ways to just make your own dark bottle! 🙂 }
You might also see that this mixture is a light color when you first mix it (because of the rinse aid or colored dish soap that may have been used) but over time the mixture seems to look more clear. Once again, I think it’s the peroxide in the mixture that causes the colors to slowly fade away.
Homemade Daily Shower Spray
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Hydrogen Peroxide
- 1/2 cup Rubbing Alcohol
- 1 teaspoon Liquid Dish Soap
- 1 tablespoon Dishwasher Rinse Aid
- 3 cups Water
Instructions:
- Begin by pouring the hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, liquid dish soap, and the dishwasher rinse aid into a spray bottle of at least a 32 oz size. A funnel is very helpful for this step.
- Next, slowly add the 3 cups of water (the mixture might bubble a little bit because of the dish soap). If you are re-using a 32 oz bottle from a store bought daily shower cleaner spray, you really don’t even need to measure for this step . . . simply top off the bottle with water.
- Put the top back on the spray bottle and then slowly tip the bottle back and forth to mix the ingredients.
- To use: After showering, mist the spray on the walls of the shower and you’re done. There’s no need to wipe.
More Easy Homemade Cleaners:
Is there something that can be added to this same recipe that will also prevent hard water stains/spots/accumulation?
The rinse aid that is already in the recipe helps greatly with preventing water spots and I think it will help even with hard water too.
Hi Beverly, You just spray on the walls of the shower and you leave it like that? it doesn’t make a backdrop on the wall?
Thank you, Lynn.
Yes, you just spray it on and leave it. I use it on my ceramic tile shower area and have not had any problems with streaks or drops.
Hi Beverly, I love this contains alcohol and peroxide which are both disinfectants, but will the alcohol eventually dry out the shower tile? Thanks
No, I don’t think that will happen. I have glazed ceramic tile in my shower and have not had that problems like that.
I love this stuff! Making another 3 bottles (one for each shower, and one for my whirlpool tub). I also tried this on our balcony sliding glass windows to combat the salt (live by the ocean). Works better than anything we have tried (Windex and Rain X). I have shared this with my friends in our condominium buildings.
Very interesting to know about the results of this DIY spray for salt spray with ocean living. Thanks for sharing that idea and how it’s been working for you!
This disinfects as well? Thank you.
I like the recipe but for the cost of making this it cost almost the same to buy a bottle from the store. Walmart sell it for $2.
Thanks for this recipe! I was unable (due to the pandemic) to get the shower cleaner that I liked, so I tried this. I will not go back. This mixture works significantly better than what I was using and cost so much less.
Hydrogen peroxide comes in different strengths. What percentage did you use?
I use the 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Hello Beverly ,
I would like to make my own daily shower cleaner. Since I am in Germany…
Do you use hydrogen peroxide 3%? Here are different solutions available’.
Thank you. Have a nice day
Hanne-Lore
Yes, I use the 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Love this!! I use an old 32 oz hydrogen peroxide bottle and just put a spray bottle on it. Works for the dark bottle and 32oz. Thank you for this my shower is so clean.
My husband decided to re-use our peroxide bottle too for the shower spray he is using in our downstairs bath. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner!
You go to a lot more trouble than I do, with the same results. Equal amounts of vinegar (that has been microwaved for a couple of minutes to get rid of the smell) and blue Dawn. Fill the remainder of the spray bottle with water and shake. My friends make it a strength according to their individual likes. A spray after SOME showers, leave for a while, or a day, and rinse. Voila. Shines like crazy.
The vinegar and blue Dawn mixture is good for an intensive cleaning from time to time. I still like this daily spray mixture for day-to-day maintenance that makes the intensive cleaning less often and necessary.
This is a miracle solution. Good for the shower, for the kitchen, and even for stains on clothes (and poopy baby clothes too!). Smells nice, is gentle, and it works! Been using it for a while now. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you for this. Apparently they no longer make the stuff I used to use.
Trying yours today
Wow, this sounds great and exactly what I need! But I can’t seem to find any rinse aid, unless I buy online. It’s not really something used where I live. I looked around and an alternative is white vinegar, but I don’t know if that would work with your formula? Would it still be fine without it? Thanks for sharing this anyway!
Have been using this DIY spray going on 2 yrs and just made up another batch. Best cleaning aid, ever! I use it everywhere in the bathrooms – shower, tub, inside & outside of glass doors, countertops, mirrors! Thank you for sharing your formula with us.
My son told me about this theyuh use it
in there shower.And am going to use it in
my shower.
Since the pandemic for some reason the daily shower spray has been impossible to get. I started making this and I’ll never go back! It works so much better.
I’ve been using this mixture for several years. It’s very easy to mix up and works great. I only do a really good cleaning with a scrub brush about once every other month.
Many dish soaps have lime, lemon or another citric acid ingredient. Do you recommend finding one that doesn’t have any citric acid, or does the amount in a standard dish soap with it not make a enough of a caustic difference on standard tile and grout?
Thanks!
I should add that i have Method dish soap now, lime/mint version, and it lists “citric acid” as an ingredient.
I think the dish soap is watered down and in a small enough amount that it should not make a difference.
Made this and was AMAZED at the results! So great! Thanks for sharing!
Could you add a couple drops of essential oil to the mixture in order to give your shower a fresh/pleasant scent (i.e. lemon or eucalyptus)? I wasn’t sure if the spray will leave your shower smelling subtly of rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide.
Got this recipe from a friend and loves it. Just made this recipe and applied it to my shower. Now my husband asks if it is safe since we live rural and have a septic system??
Thanks for sharing these articles, Keep publishing your content and publish new content for good readers.
Useful information. Keep sharing!!!
It’s more expensive to buy, but I always keep on hand cherry almond scented cleansing alcohol (70% by volume) for my nails, so I’m going to try it for this recipe. I get this alcohol at Sally Beauty supply.
Has anyone tried adding some essential oil to make it smell nice?
Hi where do I buy the hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol from?
Thanks
In the U.S., you should be able to buy hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol at any drug store or larger grocery store. It is usually sold in the pharmacy area of stores, near other first aid items like bandaids. Sometimes you can find these at dollar stores too.
Dollar tree has everything but the rinse agent. Very cheap and can make several batches. Going to try with a drop or 2 or orange essential oil.
Do you have a specific dish soap that you use? I’m excited to try this as I have looked all over for the daily spray but cannot find it! Found it on Amazon but it was very expensive. Thank you!
I usually use Dawn dish soap although there have been many times I have just used the store brand from my local grocery store (Meijer True Goodness brand). I think almost any dish soap would be OK.
I have hard water and I found adding another tablespoon of rinse aid really helps.
I have been using your recipe for several years now, and I just love it! I’ve seen zero mold or pre-mold in my showers with it, and it’s especially helping our vinyl shower curtain liners. No issues with it harming any surfaces. I have two little suggestions to add: 1. Do keep it in an opaque bottle, in the dark, since light can make hydrogen p. ineffective… and 2. when mixing, I pour the water into the spray bottle first, then mix the other ingredients in a measuring cup and add them to the water – no bubbles! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe – it’s so much less expensive than the commercial stuff I was using, much easier to find the ingredients, and I feel it’s probably a little more healthy since I know what’s in it!
I was super excited to find this and I’ve been using it for a little over a week. My husband is finding that the solution is eating away at the caulk around the tub. Any solution to this?
I love this! I also now use it as a light cleaner for quick cleans of my bathroom and kitchen surfaces. Thank you so much!
We just had our bathroom remolded and I used my half water half vinegar solution on my new pebble stone and grout because I hate the pink that seems to start to show up so quickly. Well… I now have a white haze on the areas that I sprayed this mixture. After some research it appears the vinegar caused the sealer to become cloudy, I could cry! Do you think your solution will be safer?
Well, there is nothing in this mixture that is acidic which is a plus for it being safe for many surfaces.
Love this stuff. Works well. I used wintergreen alcohol and it smells great. Thank you.
Can I use vinegar instead of the rinse aid?
The rinse aid is very helpful in not leaving streaks so I think it’s a good ingredient to leave in if you can find this ingredient. You can substitute vinegar, but vinegar is acidic so it should not be used on any soft stones like granite or quartz.
I know it isn’t but from the picture this could have been my post. I have the same funnel and measuring spoons, the same Meijer brand peroxide and rubbing alcohol. I will have to give it a try.
well I’m so excited that i ran upon your blog, very informational! can’t wait to get the ingredients, have to find the dish washer rinse…
I’d like to offer you an idea/hack I use when I spray my shower. I cannot continually pump a normal spray bottle (at least to spray my large shower) so I put my shower spray into one of those (small) lawn/garden air pressure pumps, pump the air out then hit the button and get a nice mist/flow to do the shower & floor. After spraying I release the pressure of the container (it busted on me once, lesson learned) and put away.
after reading all the other comments, I’m happy I learned about keeping this product in the dark (so hiding behind the toilet with the light out isn’t good enough? 🙂 ) Thanks again for your recipe, I’ll report back my findings when applicable.
i have never seen rinse aid in our south african shops
any thing else i can use instead
We have rinse aid in South Africa. Look in the cleaning isles at the dishwasher stuff. Dark blue bottles….
Hello, when I added the alcohol to the peroxide it went cloudy. Is this normal???
I am in the UK, so isopropyl alcohol isn’t easy to find so I used surgical spirit which is apparently the equivalent.
Mine has never gone cloudy when mixing.
It does seem to work, but just more concerned it has reacted and created something toxic :/