Many people don’t enjoy household chores. Rather, they take pleasure in washed floors, sparkling dishes, and freshly-laundered clothes after the work is done. However, some people do enjoy the cleaning itself. They find something calming in wiping windows or organizing a closet. However, very few people will say that cleaning a bathroom is their favorite chore. In fact, many would agree it’s the worst and would prefer to skip forward in time when the bathroom is all clean and fresh. Fortunately, there’s a bizarre but effective bathroom-cleaning hack to remove the smell of urine off the floor. No scrubbing on your hands and knees is required!
Remove the Urine Smell in a Bathroom With Shaving Cream
This trend became popular in Australia, especially on the Facebook group, Mums Who Clean. Fed up with the lingering urine smell from not-fully toilet-trained boys, they found a messy but easy way to remove it for good. And it all comes down to shaving cream. They believed that it actually removes the smell, instead of just masking it. [1]
One mom in the group wrote, “I’d just like to say a huge thank you to the beautiful mum who said to use shaving cream in the toilet to get rid of urine smell. I sprayed it everywhere and rubbed it in went back a few hours later to wipe it down and the smell has gone. It worked for me and yes I only paid a couple of bucks for the stuff best tip ever! Thank you once again.”
Another wrote, “Anyone who has a house full of young boys will understand why it’s spread far and wide and to all of the grout and corners. I’m leaving it on overnight. I hope it does well!”
Additionally, hundreds of group members shared photos of their bathrooms covered in shaving cream, praising the method. It’s unclear what is so effective about shaving cream removing urine smells, but many claim the products destroys the uric acid crystals instead of just layering another smell on top of them. Plus, traditional shaving cream is really just pre-lathered soap with a higher potassium hydroxide content, which makes it more water-soluble and easier to clean.
The application is simple. As one mother wrote, “Shaving cream! Cheap can, empty it all over the floor and lower wall tiles, rub it in, leave for a few hours, wash it off. Smell gone.”
Read: People On TikTok Are Cleaning Their Dishwasher Filters And The Results Will Horrify You
“This has 100% worked”
Another Scottish mom went viral using the shaving cream method and posted the results on the Mrs. Hinch Cleaning Tip Facebook group. Her weapon of choice was Gillette’s £1.50 sensitive skin shaving gel. “Shaving foam is meant to get rid of the smell of pee and I have two young boys who think nothing of turning around mid-flow because they simply can’t wait to get back to what they are doing.”
To her delight, the shaving cream removed the urine smell after she rinsed the shaving cream off with water. “I don’t know if it’s just psychological or not but I left the house for a few hours, came back and straight upstairs to have a sniff and it seems to have worked,” the mum continued. “This has 100% worked. Not a whiff of pee this morning!” [2]
Read: 10 Things That May Be Better To Not Use While Cleaning. Check to See If You Have Them at Home
More Viral Cleaning Hacks
Restore burnt pans
It’s easy to burn pans, creating a thick brown or black layer of the once shiny and silver bottom. If you have unsuccessfully tried to remove this grime, a TikTok went viral with the solution. The video begins with sprinkling salt on the base of the post, then adding baking soda and washing up liquid, and gently scrubbing the whole mix. Then you covered the pan with paper towels, pour white vinegar over them, and let it rest for five minutes. And finally, you can wipe off the stains that had once been un-scrubbable.
In the video, the woman wrote, “Some of my pots needed a little extra elbow grease as it has four years of built-up c**p so I scrubbed more after removing the paper towel. Happy days. Yes, there are plenty of products down cleaning aisles that can do the same. This is just using basic household products. Happy cleaning everyone.” [3]
Clean first, clutter second
Auri Katariina Kananen is a manager of a cleaning company. She advises people to clear the clutter by putting it in a box or bag and then cleaning. Sometimes people get distracted trying to organize so that the cleaning doesn’t happen. So clean first, then return the clutter to where it should go.
Duvet cover hack
Professional cleaner and organizer Lisa Jacobs offers tips for covering a duvet, a tricky task. Here’s how: Place the duvet cover inside out on the bed, the open end at the top. Put the duvet on top of the cover, lining up the sides and corners. Start from the bottom end of the bed, and roll the cover and duvet toward the top of the bed. Once it’s all rolled up, invert the opening of the cover over the ends of the bundle, fold the rest of the duvet in, then close the opening. Unroll the blanket and fluff it out. [4] Check out her video tutorial here:
Keep Reading: 27 of the most effective housekeeping hacks for naturally cleaning your home
Sources
- “The cleaning trick all parents need to know: Why mothers are lathering their bathrooms in SHAVING CREAM to remove the ‘urine smell’ for good.” Daily Mail. Claudia Poposki. February 18, 2019
- “Mum uses £1.50 Gillette shaving cream to get rid of pee stains after her sons use the loo.” The Sun. Lydia Hawken. October 1, 2019
- “Woman shares ‘magic’ cleaning hack to restore burnt pans and leave them looking new.” Mirror. Luke Matthews. May 30, 2021
- “An easy way to put on a duvet cover, and other housekeeping tips worthy of going viral.” The Washington Post. Elizabeth Mayhew. July 29, 2021