This is a quickie. Recipe first, then I’ll chit-chat for a minute.
- Shower spray and the facial scrub I made her for Christmas. So happy to see that there. 🙂
Daily Sparkly Shower Spray
- 1/2 c. rubbing alcohol
- 1/2 c. hydrogen peroxide
- 25 drops (1/4 tsp.) peppermint essential oil
- 2 tsp liquid castille soap (optional)
- spray bottle
Mix everything together in your spray bottle. Shake well. Shake well before spraying all over your shower, daily, after you’ve finished bathing.
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My sister asked me to make her some bathroom cleaner, but somehow we ended up doing a daily shower spray. After doing some research and trying one (highly failed) recipe*, we ended up with this.
It’s fresh, easy, and you don’t even have to use the castille if you don’t have any (I just wanted a little extra clear cleaning power).
Her caveats: She did not want it to smell like vinegar. She had tried a straight vinegar shower spray, and felt like it left her bathroom smelling all vinegar funky. She wanted something clean and freshly scented, and peppermint oil adds the fresh smell, extra antibacterial support, and sparkly cleaning power.
She’s used it twice now, and claims to love it. As I was making it, the peppermint smell was pretty pungent, but apparently it has mellowed a LOT. You could add more, if you really like the minty fresh scent.
Interestingly, this morning when I woke up (and I still have yet to have coffee, which is why I’m dull, boring, and probably about to snap at you, so don’t talk back, missy), I read this article at Care2: Do Household Cleaners Cause Breast Cancer?
A little prescient, no?
Now you know why you should do this.
I should go get coffee now. See you when I’m fun to be around.
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*Don’t mix hydrogen peroxide and vinegar, unless you want your end result to be a weak, unstable concoction called peracetic acid. It sounds as if it’s not TERRIBLY dangerous, but it was questionable enough for me to scrap my first recipe and kick the vinegar out of the mix. Healthy and happy is what I’m going for here. Not unstable solutions that are prone to explode.
I’m unstable and explosive enough.
In craving coffee crunch!
10 Foods You Have In Your Kitchen That Could Be On Your Face
Would this likely work with vinegar in place of peroxide? I know you aren’t supposed to combine the two, and I use vinegar for so many other things already.
Would this be as effective without the EO? Just wondering if you added that solely for your sister’s scent sensitivity, or if it really makes a significant difference to the cleaning power. Thanks!
I’ll have to try this! Thanks!
Lesley byporchlight.blogspot.com
I love the smell of mint so it is a nice refreshing scent to start the day with. Although hydrogen peroxide degrades quickly when
exposed to light I think that the bottle should be a light block bottle. And I found that the smell of the alcohol was to strong for me so I think that my next bottle I make might use vodka. You can also use this recipe to spray toothbrushes and the toilet to kill those yucking germs. …thanks so much
TFS!
Here is my recipie (very similar to yours) that I have been using for a few years. I just may go look for some peppermint extract to put in it:
1/2 c rubbing alcohol
1/2 c hydrogen peroxide
6 drops of liquid dish soap
2 tsp of Jet Dry
water to fill the bottle
I love this spray! It seems to help keep the shower clean between the regular cleanings. Plus – it makes a great bathroom air freshener. I also sprayed a little into a pair of stinky shoes and it killed the odor.
I have been looking for an easy homemade shower spray, this is perfect! Thanks.. can’t wait to throw this recipe together this weekend – Thanks!
~ GGG
Loooove this recipe and as soon as I get more castille soap, I will be doing this. I also don’t like the funkiness of vinegar even though it’s a great natural cleaner (I clean everything with it, though I usually add some lemon essential oil.)
My shower can really use some freshening too. Again, thankful I found your blog. I also love the name…why is the word “crunchy” so awesome??
I also shared this on my Facebook page!
Oh I am SO GLAD I FOUND YOU! tee hee. Beginner blogger here and lagging behind in the 31 Days to a Better Blog challenge. This place is wonderful… adding you to my list. Off to emulate your awesome style… oh, and make a batch of this cleaner too. YAHOOOOOOO!
Your site is awesome….so many great ideas. I’ve bookmarked it and going to go snoop around a little more! Can’t wait to try out your shower spray! :):)
Yay! Can’t wait to see you here more.
Don’t forget to put food on your face, and take pictures!
Perfect! Just what I’ve been needing… I love the “spray it on and walk away” type of cleaning and this has no chemicals, hooray! (And I think I’d better buy spray bottles by the case now thanks to all your concoctions!)…
I do have to admit, the one thing I was worried about was the leaching of oils because of the plastic. Go glass if you can. Otherwise, it’s really just cleaning spray, so I guess it doesn’t matter as much if you lose a little bit of the oil in the plastic.
See if you can’t find a BPA free bottle, though. Not sure how hard those are to find …
I’ve done the neat vinegar and I agree. It works well but my bathroom smells like a fish and chips take away afterwards. I
Love peppermint oil. It’s really good for nausea. A happy smell. A clean shower. I’m going to try this one…!
I often get nauseous while I’m in the shower (has something to do with sagging where I never used to). So there you go: Double whammy with this one. Mwah!
YAY!! Very cool!! Now for your own line of crunchy products…
I don’t know why, but that made me feel REALLY tired.
Heh.
Hi Betty,
You have an awesome ideas on DIY recipes!
I’m a fellow blogger, found you through #31DBBB challenge. How can I get in tough with you, can you give me your email?
Keep up the good work,
Victoria
Hi, Victoria! I actually just swung by your place yesterday and loved it! There’s a couple of email addresses to get a hold of me (ideas@crunchybetty.com is probably the best).
If I don’t hear from you soon, I’ll get in touch with you when I get home (on Sunday).
Betty, thank you for your contact detailed. I send you an email a while ago, did you receive it?
I’ll bet that smells great! Your sister is so lucky to have your hands on expertise! 🙂
Maybe if people emailed my sister and told her how lucky she is, she’d believe it!
Actually, she might start doing some stuff for me for Crunchy Kids (since she’s the one with two little ones), so I’d better say really nice things about her right now!
She has good hair. (There.)
I was wondering if you have any idea’s for the smell in diaper pail’s.. Yes i did say diaper pail’s…We love those cloth diaper’s.. And they do go along way….
Good for you for sticking with the cloth diapers! My sister tried that, and couldn’t make it stick. (My guess is she just hates laundry … heh.)
Anyway, I would sprinkle some baking soda in with them a time or two, but probably the best thing you could do is get some tea tree oil and drip a few drops onto a cloth and then toss it in the pail. I do that for the hamper, and it really helps.
Hope it works!
The diaper pail shouldn’t stink if you replace your lid with a towel/baby blanket/any cloth. I know it’s a weird idea, but we’ve been doing it for several months and it’s amazing.