4 out of 5 leaves

Most any faucet or water spigot tends to build up limescale over time, especially where there is “hard water”.  Over time this buildup can lead to blockage which impedes the flow of water.  Shower heads are no exception, and may be even more prone to build-up and blockage due to their many small holes.  There are a number of commercially available chemical concoctions that can be used to break up and remove the calcification.  Unfortunately, many of these come with dire warning to keep the cleaning solution off the skin, or to be careful not to inhale the fumes.  Vinegar is a low cost, natural, and safe product that has been proven to easily remove limescale.  Can one also clean a super-blocked shower head just by soaking it in a dangling baggie of vinegar? 

The Good

• Better for you – white vinegar is safe to use around kids and pets – you can’t say the same about some of the commercial limescale removers out there.
• Better for the environment – the commercial corrosive liquids are not something we need in our waste stream
• Saves time – you soak the shower head overnight – no scrubbing or disassembly required
• Saves money – white vinegar is super cheap

The Bad

• Securing a bag of vinegar to your shower head can be a little tricky
• It’s easy to forget to remove the bag the next day before you shower…

My Experience

Did you see this one go by on Pinterest?  I did, and was intrigued.  You’re supposed to wrap a baggie of vinegar around a shower head, let it soak overnight, and in the morning the shower is as good as new!  My shower head is old and our water is hard.  If I were to stop and pay attention during my get-clean-as-fast-as-possible-before-the-kids-get-into-trouble showers, I would note the flow of water from our head is a mess.  This was definitely worth a try.

I found a plastic baggie and filled it with vinegar.  Then I carefully secured it over the shower head with an elastic hair tie.  I left it overnight as instructed by the folks who recommend.  I promised myself that I wouldn’t forget to take it off before I showered the next morning…

Very early the next morning, I stepped into the shower and turned on the water.  The bag filled with water and fell from the shower head, covering me with cold vinegar.  WOW – what a wake-up!  The water warmed quickly and rinsed away the vinegar, but it took my heart several minutes to slow back to a normal pace.  Then I remembered to check out the shower to see if it was any cleaner/smoother/better.

The flow of water was beautiful!  All the clogs were gone and there were no “stray” streams.  The metal of the shower head was also bright and shiny again.  I have to note though, that even though everything looked better, I didn’t notice any improvement in the quality of my shower.  Not that there was a problem – just no noticeable improvement.  Perhaps it would have been a noticeably better spray if it had been significantly more clogged.

Overall, the overnight baggie of vinegar worked!  I like that I didn’t have to remove the shower head or do any scrubbing.  I didn’t like getting sprayed with the cold vinegar the next morning, but you could easily remedy this by leaving a step stool or something else in the shower to remind you to remove it. Vinegar wins again!

Have you ever tried the vinegar baggie shower head trick?  What’s your favorite non-food use of vinegar?