How to Clean and Shower Head and When It’s Time to Buy a New One

Best Of Hometalk
by Best Of Hometalk

When you are standing in a shower, relaxing, or trying to clean your body, the last thing you want is to look up and see a gross shower head. This post will show you the many ways to clean a shower head. You will learn how to clean a shower head with vinegar, baking soda, and other homemade household cleaners. After reading this post you will know the best way to quickly clean a shower head!

How to Clean Your Shower Head (pixabay)

How to Get a Clean Shower Head Quickly

This Hometalker had some hard water buildup on her shower head and it bothered her every time she showered. As she showed, she wondered if any of the gunk was coming down with the water.


Since she is a breast cancer survivor, and now more aware and conscious about what come into her home, she likes to limit the use of strong cleaning chemicals.


To her surprise, she found out that she could easily get a clean shower head using only vinegar! In one easy step, and without using harsh chemicals, she figured out how to quickly and easily clean a showerhead with vinegar.


She always keeps a large bottle of vinegar on hand for household cleaning purposes and it came in handy.


To clean a showerhead with vinegar all you need is a baggie, rubber band, and white vinegar. First, fill a plastic baggie with enough vinegar that will cover the shower head. Then, wrap the baggie around the shower head and use the rubber band to secure it in place.

Clean Shower Head (Rachel Belkin | Cha Ching Queen)

See post: Rachel Belkin | Cha Ching Queen|How to Clean Your Shower Head – DIY With 1 Step and 1 Ingredient


Let the shower head remain covered for several hours. After removing the baggies, you will be amazed at how quickly you got a clean shower head with vinegar. There might be a few particles remaining. If so, use a towel or cloth to wipe down any loose particles.

How to Clean Shower Head (Rachel Belkin | Cha Ching Queen)

See post: Rachel Belkin | Cha Ching Queen|How to Clean Your Shower Head – DIY With 1 Step and 1 Ingredient


How to Clean Shower Head Holes

One of the places that people notice the most buildup is in the shower head holes. I was wondering how to how to clean shower head holes and found that this Hometalker uses a similar method with vinegar to first clean the shower head. Instead of placing a baggie around the showerhead, he placed the shower head in a mug of vinegar. In his post, he recommends leaving it in the mug for 20-25 or as long as overnight depending on the intensity of the buildup. But, he warns, if you have a brass shower head, leave it in the solution for no more than 30 minutes so that you don’t cause damage.


After the vinegar soak, you can then use a toothbrush to take care of the remaining stains and residue and clean the shower head holes. Then, after removing all of the residues, rinse the shower head with cold clean water and dry it with a cloth. This will ensure that you don’t leave any spots that could cause water stains.

Best Way to Clean Shower Head (Dennis Kalvin Nath)

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Alternatively, this Hometalker chooses to use a toothpick to clean the shower head holes and remove the mineral deposits.


How to Keep Your Shower Head Clean

Now that you have a clean shower head, it is important to keep it clean. In this Hometalker’s post, it is recommended to fix irregular flow from a showerhead in order to keep it clean. The disrupted water flow is normally caused by the mineral buildup and can be fixed with the baggie of vinegar cleaning method. This method should be used regularly to keep the shower head free of buildup and maintain functioning.


After each shower use, be sure to wipe the shower head with a cloth to help reduce the buildup.


The Best Way to Clean Shower Head and Alternative Ways to Clean Your Shower Head

There are differing views on the best way to a clean shower head. It really depends on your preferences in terms of cleaning products and ease of use. In addition to using vinegar for cleaning, here are some other ways that people clean their shower heads.


Many people use oven cleaner, not just on the oven. Morning Chores believes that if it cleans the oven, it will clean your shower, although she recommends a few safety tips if you are going to do this. First, make sure to wear gloves since oven cleaner can be hard on your skin. Also, wear a mask if possible to protect your lungs from the fumes. Then, be sure not to leave the oven cleaner on for too long for risk of damaging the shower head. 


After 20 minutes of using oven cleaner, she recommends doing a happy dance because you will no longer be squired in the eye by your shower head.


Oddly enough, many people use Coca Cola for cleaning. This Hometalker uses Coke to clean her toilet and others have used Coke to clean rust and other buildups from their shower heads.

In addition, baking soda combined with vinegar is also a popular cleaning method for many. This Hometalker recommends mixing baking soda in the baggie with the vinegar and then placing the baggie over the shower head. For this method, she mixes ⅓ cup baking soda with 1 cup of vinegar. Then, she leaves the bag on the shower head all day before removing it.

How to Clean Shower Head with Baking Soda (Mother Daughter Projects)

See post: Mother Daughter Projects|How to Clean a Showerhead

When is it Time to Get a New Shower Head?

As much as you clean your showerhead, sometimes is necessary to get a new one. So, when is it time to get a new shower head?

According to this Hometalker, you need to replace your shower head every 6 months since disease-causing bacteria can grow in shower heads and infect the lungs of high-risk individuals. 

It turns out that what most people think is hard water scale are actually biofilm with contaminants. These bacteria on the shower head can break loose into the water stream causing you to inhale them in the shower.

Since the shower head adapter, neck pipe, and connection hose can also have this bacteria contamination, experts recommend to replacing your shower head every six months.


Now that you have learned how to clean a shower head with different homemade cleaners in order to clean shower head holes and remove buildup, which methods do you prefer? When was the last time you bought a new shower head?


Written for the Hometalk community by: Rachel Belkin | Cha Ching Queen

Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • Kathryn Kathryn on Oct 29, 2021

    Can anyone tell me how to replace the shower head?

  • DB DB on Oct 31, 2021

    Where can I find the expert info on this biofilm??

    I would totally disagree with the oven cleaner idea. NO plumber would recommend this on your metal components or joints

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  • DB DB on Oct 29, 2022

    Vinegar is probably acidic enough to kill most bacteria. Change your showerheads if people in your house have legionaries disease or MRSA. I agree that every 6 mo is necessary and excessive - My current one is 6 years old and the previous one was 30 years old --& I'm not dead ( or sick)

  • Ilene Ilene on Sep 17, 2023

    Thank you. I do what I can with Barkeeper’s Friend and call it done😂

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