There’s something about sparkling glass shower doors that make your bathroom feel brighter and more open. However, perhaps one of the most difficult things to keep clean when doing your bathroom cleaning is your shower door. Water spots, soap scum, and stains, can make your glass shower doors seem dull and dingy and create an unwelcoming space no matter how hard you clean.
Despite the challenge of keeping your shower doors in pristine condition considering how often they get used, you can keep them in good condition with a few household tools and supplies. Check out these glass shower door cleaning tips and our favorite glass cleaner for cleaning shower doors.
Why Is It So Hard To Keep Glass Shower Doors Clean?
Naturally occurring minerals in water, like calcium, create hard water deposits that stay behind after water dries. These deposits react with the paraffin wax, commonly contained in bar soap and other body soaps that leave behind a residue on bathroom surfaces, especially shower doors, in the form of soap scum, that can be very hard to remove to keep the shower door clean.
If soap scum buildup and hard water spots are not removed quickly, before building into several layers, cleaning with a more abrasive formula, that has harsh chemicals and penetrates grime, will be necessary for removing soap scum and hard water spots on your glass shower doors.
How Often Should You Clean Your Shower Door?
Considering your glass shower doors are used on a daily basis and get sprayed from a daily shower spray, you’ll want to use a squeegee after every single use, to prevent hard water spots from forming and prevent soap scum from building up. A basic squeegee costs less than $20, but with frequent use can save your thousands in cleaning and replacement costs.
If you’re able to wipe down your glass shower doors every night using a microfiber cloth and spray bottle filled with your favorite glass shower door cleaners, you’ll save yourself from regular deep cleaning using harsh chemicals to remove baked on hard water deposits, tough stains, and soap scum and prevent buildup.
You can also use a damp sponge or foam cleaning pad, such as a Magic Eraser, and shower cleaner to wipe down the inside of your shower, which will prevent deep cleanings and leave a fresh scent behind, for your next shower. Many cleaners can tackle multiple surfaces, so you won’t need to use many different cleaners to clean glass doors and shower walls.
It’s also best to leave the bathroom door open after a shower, to allow any steam that’s built up to dry out in the room and help prevent hard water deposits. Using a water repellent spray, such as Rain-X which will provide a protective layer against mineral deposits and installing a water softener, which will help remove mineral deposits, will reduce mineral buildup and the reliance on an abrasive cleaner with an overpowering chemical scent to keep glass showers clean.
Recommended Glass Shower Door Cleaning Schedule:
With regular maintenance, you shouldn’t have to deep clean glass shower doors Here’s a good shower cleaning schedule to follow:
Every day: For a streak free finish, you’ll want to squeegee the glass shower door and leave the shower door open to air out. Leave your bathroom door open after every shower to allow the room to dry and prevent rust from forming on light fixtures in the bathroom.
Weekly cleaning: Give your entire shower, including the hard surfaces, a wipe-down once a week, with a sponge or foam cleaning pad and no scrub formula cleaner, to keep the glass clean and dissolve soap scum. These light cleaning jobs will leave behind a clean shower and clean shower doors that will help prevent soap scum and hard water stains from forming, requiring chemicals like chlorine bleach and oxygen bleach with more elbow grease to dissolve these deposits.
Once a month deep clean: Thoroughly scrub your entire shower, making sure to get in any nooks and crannies and remove water stains.
This is when you can use liquid soap or shower cleaner to disinfect. You can also use shower cleaners and other household cleaners in a spray formula, for multiple surfaces, to remove water stains on chrome fixtures and the glass door that may have been missed by daily or weekly cleanings.
To avoid cleaning glass shower doors more often, you can apply a water repellent spray using a spray bottle on shower doors to prevent hard water stains from forming and to leave behind a streak free shine.
Best Glass Cleaner For Shower Doors
Best Overall: Rejuvenate No Scrub Soap Scum Remover
When you need to tackle soap scum and hard water stains on shower glass, Rejuvenate No Scrub is a pick. This cleaner is non-abrasive on shower glass and it can be used with stone tile. It quickly dissolves mineral buildup and water spots, leaving behind a streak-free finish with glass looking clear and shiny.
Rejuvenate No Scrub’s ease of use requires no scrubbing. Just spray it on your shower, leave it for three minutes, and wipe it away. If you have a removable shower head, you can rinse it off. This cleaner can be used on surfaces like ceramic tile, fiberglass, natural stone, plastic, chrome, and porcelain, so you can clean other surfaces in your bathroom as well.
Best Eco-Friendly: Better Life Natural Streak Free Glass Cleaner
Better Life is an eco-friendly shower cleaner, specially formulated to clean your glass shower door and mirrored surfaces. It removes fingerprints, greasy smudges, water spots, and dirt while leaving behind shiny, clean glass. It’s super easy to use. Just spray and wipe it away with a dry cloth or microfiber cloth to clean glass shower doors.
Better Life’s plant-derived cleaning solution doesn’t contain dyes, sulfates, or synthetic fragrances. The packaging is made from recyclable materials, and their formulas are biodegradable. For these reasons, Better Life’s Natural Glass Cleaner is our top choice for environmentally conscious consumers. This particular formula is also fragrance-free, so whether you’re avoiding fragrances in your home altogether or you just don’t want multiple fragrances competing in a small space like a bathroom, this cleaner has you covered.
Best Streak-Free: HOPE’S Perfect Glass 100% Streak-Free Glass Cleaner
Not every glass cleaner delivers a truly streak-free shine for your glass shower door like Perfect Glass. This no-residue formula removes stains, smudges, and dullness from your shower door without ammonia and is incredibly versatile and can be used on a variety of materials, like windows, mirrors, glass cooktops, light fixtures, and device screens. It is not recommended for non-glass surfaces and isn’t formulated to clean mold or mildew, so you may want to use it as the last step in your cleaning process, after you’ve deep cleaned your shower.
Best for Hard Water: Bio-Clean Hard Water Stain Remover
An industrial-strength cleaner, Bio-Clean is formulated to remove deposits caused by hard water from your shower door. It comes in both an individual bottle and an entire kit which includes three brushes, that can be attached to an electric drill for extra scrubbing, as well as a silicone sealant to protect glass from future staining. It also removes stains like mold, mildew, limescale, and rust.
Bio-Clean’s powerful solution is best used with protective gloves and will require some elbow grease. While the formula is abrasive, it is also biodegradable.
Best for Soap Scum: Clean-X Repel Glass & Surface Cleaner
Repel makes it easy to clean glass shower doors. In addition to quickly dissolving soap scum and grime, it coats the glass to prevent future water stains and buildup, helping to keep clean shower doors between uses. The spray and wipe formula is easy to apply to your glass door with a microfiber cloth, but you will need to wipe it thoroughly to make sure you don’t leave streaks behind.
Best for Daily Use: Clean Shower Daily Shower Cleaner
Clean Shower is designed to prevent the buildup of water spots, soap scum, and limescale when used on a daily basis. The benefit of this product is that it doesn’t need to be wiped away or rinsed after spraying on your glass door and shower surfaces. You can just spray your shower at the end of every day to prevent buildup between bathroom cleanings. It also works on bathtubs, tile, walls, and even shower curtains.
What to Look for in a Cleaner for Glass Shower Doors
Active Ingredients
Ammonia, isopropyl alcohol, oxygen bleach, white vinegar, and citric acid are the most common active ingredients found in cleaners for glass shower doors. Ammonia and isopropyl alcohol are able to cut through grease, kill germs, and achieve a streak-free shine, while oxygen bleach can effectively remove soap scum and other stains and is gentler and more environmentally friendly than regular bleach.
EPA Safer Choice
Products with this EPA-certified logo certified by the environmental protection agency or the safer choice certified logo, contain ingredients that are safer for humans and the environment.
Scent
Glass shower door cleaners come in a variety of scents, either chemically or naturally derived. Naturally derived fragrances come from essential oils and are less harmful. Cleaning products that contain ammonia, bleach, and other harsh chemicals can be overpowering and more toxic.
Natural Shower Door Cleaners
Vinegar
For a natural and inexpensive solution to clean glass shower doors, vinegar offers the best alternative to pricier cleaning products. To create this natural shower door cleaner, combine equal parts of warm distilled white vinegar and liquid dish soap in a spray bottle. Spray the dish soap and vinegar mixture onto the shower door and wipe off with a soft cloth or sponge. The dish soap works to cut through any grease and grime, while the vinegar helps to wash away the residue.
You can also try mixing undiluted white vinegar with a few drops of tea tree oil to help rinse away any soap scum. If you have a sliding glass door, vinegar can help clean out the scum in the tracks.
Baking Soda
Another effective natural glass cleaner is derived by mixing baking soda with just enough water to create a thick paste. Rub this baking soda paste onto the shower with a soft cloth and rinse it off with vinegar. If you have stone or travertine in your shower, vinegar may damage these natural stones, so wash with water, if you have these natural stones.
You can also create a paste of baking soda and vinegar. Rub this onto your glass and wait 20 minutes before removing it. The baking soda acts as an abrasive, while the vinegar dissolves the hard water spots and soap scum.
Lemon Juice
For a more fragrant alternative to vinegar to clean glass shower doors, mix the juice of three lemons with a cup of distilled water in a spray bottle. Spray the shower and wait five minutes before removing with water or a microfiber cloth.
You can also dip the cut side of a lemon half in baking soda and rub the lemon with baking soda on the glass to clean water spots and soap scum.
Borax
Mix borax with just enough water to create a thick paste. Use a damp sponge to rub the paste over your shower door glass and rinse off with distilled water.
Magic Eraser
Use a damp Magic Eraser with warm water immediately after showering to loosen off soap scum and dirt.
