The Best Way to Clean Your Dorm Shower (Step By Step)

When I was a freshman in college, I lived in a suite style dorm so I was one of the people responsible for cleaning my bathroom. I’ve been cleaning showers even before I got to college, so it wasn’t anything new to me. I’ll tell you the best way to tackle the chore.

To clean a dorm room shower, you should spray the walls and fixtures with a bathroom disinfectant, scrub it with a microfiber cloth, rinse the disinfectant off the shower and down the drain, dry the shower to prevent water marks and unclog the drain. 

You can properly clean your dorm shower with just four cleaning supplies in total!

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Choose The Right Cleaning Product For Your Floor (And You)

When it comes to choosing the right supplies to clean your shower, there are plenty of different products to choose from. Not every shower is built the same and each could benefit from different formulas. For example, some come with curtains while others have built-in doors. You don’t clean those the same way. Other’s come with tubs while some have floors and a few have flexible shower heads while others are stationary.

1. All Purpose Cleaner

One of the products that tidies up every type of shower well is an all purpose cleaner. If you’re looking to save money by purchasing less supplies, then this will get the job done:

When tidying up on a budget without doing a deep spring cleaning, this disinfectant can clean 80% of your entire bathroom. All you’ll need to take care of your shower is this and a cloth.

2. Scrubbing Bubbles

This is the kind of product that’s built specifically for cleaning bathrooms. Even though we’re talking about your shower, it works just as well on any other bathroom surface except your mirror (that needs windex). This product is called ‘scrubbing’ bubbles, but that’s because it basically does the dirty work for you. All you have to do is spray it on your tub surfaces, leave it there for three minutes and rinse it off! It’s such an energy and time saver!:

3. Bleach Or No Bleach?

The thing about this product is that it’s more likely to damage and discolor your surfaces if it’s applied to the wrong material. It is also a product that you should never mix with any other cleaning chemicals or else it becomes dangerous. Clorox bleach claims that it’s safe to use their product on many bathroom surfaces, so if you want to go this route, I would opt for their bleach. If you have laminate, stone, marble, granite, quartz, aluminum, silver, copper or enamel in your shower, then don’t use bleach. Use lysol or scrubbing bubbles.

Choose A Product That Fits Your Tastes

Each of these products have slightly different cleaning abilities, but that’s not the only thing you should take into account when choosing which to buy. They all have different smells, textures, looks, etc. If you can’t stand the smell of lemons, then the lysol I recommended isn’t the one you should go for. Luckily there are plenty of cleaning products with other lovely scents listed on the Huffington Post.

Maybe you can’t stand the look of foam and aren’t a fan of the scrubbing bubbles’ texture. I personally find the chemicals to be too harsh on my nose and eyes, so I don’t use it anymore. If you can relate, check out these products that are great for people with sensitivities. Maybe bleach is too finicky of a product for you to bother trying to use properly. Take your time and choose a product that can both get the job done and fit your personal tastes.

Use The Right Cleaning Supplies

You don’t need a lot of supplies to clean a dorm shower. In some cases all you need is the product itself and you’re good to go.

1. Two Microfiber Cloths

The first two supplies you might need are microfiber cloths. These are better to use than regular rags because they pick up more dirt and grime than others do. That’s because they have tiny little ‘micro’ fibers that cling to muck more easily. Off topic, but that’s why they also make great makeup removers. I bought a separate pack to use for skincare and they eliminated my need to buy more makeup wipes.

Gotta love saving money. Anyways, you should buy two of these when getting ready to clean your shower because you’ll scrub with one and dry the tub with the other. Of course, if you don’t plan on drying the shower, then you’ll only need one cloth. If you buy scrubbing bubbles, then honestly, you won’t even need a microfiber rag at all because you won’t have to put in any elbow grease.

2. A Bucket

Before you buy this, check to see if your shower head is flexible. Most colleges don’t give their students this luxury, but you might be one of the lucky few. If you are, then all you need to do is take it off of the dock and spray the tiles to wash off the disinfectant.

If you don’t have a flexible shower head, then you’ll want to pick up a bucket. This will allow you to slowly pour water on the tiles to wash off the product after you’re done scrubbing. It doesn’t have to be a big one, just make sure you’re strong enough to carry it when it’s full of water. If you’re down for a more creative approach to rinsing off the shower, grab a balloon, yes a balloon, fill it with water and use it like a hose to spray down the tiles. 

3. Rubber Gloves

The next items you should have on hand (literally) are rubber gloves. Cleaning chemicals are not built to be gentle on the skin. They’re made to break down dirt and grime as well as kill bacteria. Keep your hands looking healthy by donning some rubber cleaning gloves before getting to work. This is especially important if you plan to work with bleach because, according to VeryWell Health,  it can irritate or even burn your skin.

4. Squeegee (Optional)

The only reason you’d buy one of these is to thoroughly clean the buildup off of your shower door. If you have the kind that comes with curtains for privacy instead, then this is unnecessary; unless you want to squeegee your tiles. You can throw the curtains in the washer and replace the curtain liner. If you have a door, however, then this tool would give it a nice shine that would make it look extra clean.   

Don’t Buy Too Many Cleaning Products or Supplies

This is probably your first time living alone and, when you do, it can be very tempting to go on a shopping spree to make the place feel like your own. This doesn’t just apply to decor, but a lot of people also buy too many cleaning supplies in preparation to make their place look and smell the nicest it can. There’s nothing wrong with wanting your place to look amazing, but you don’t need a lot of products and supplies to get you there. Here are a few that you shouldn’t put in your shopping cart:

1. Non-Abrasive Scrub Brush or Sponge

If you chose to buy a microfiber cloth or two, then these tools are unnecessary. You’re not deep cleaning the place, so the amount of grime and dirt that the fibers on this rag pick up are enough to keep your shower clean for the year. As for the sponge, it’s not as effective as the cloth anyways, so to use that instead would be a downgrade. Save your money by avoiding these extra supplies. 

2. Grout Brush

Like I said before, you’re not deep cleaning your shower, so a grout brush is definitely unnecessary. Some schools don’t even have built in tiles that have grouts, so that’s two reasons as to why you won’t need one. Scrubbing the section in between each tile is something you’d only really do during yearly spring cleaning. That is a job for the school’s hired staff to take care of after you move out (or before you move in).  

3. Scraper

When cleaning a shower, this is mainly used to help remove stubborn soap scum or mineral deposits from glass shower doors. If your school has the kind of showers where you use curtains instead, then this tool isn’t needed at all. Even if you do have a door, you won’t be responsible for getting rid of stubborn scum and mineral deposits. That’s the staff’s job to do while they deep clean it. 

4. Small Brush (Toothbrush)

You might be wondering, “why would I even use my toothbrush to clean a shower?! I care about my hygiene!”. You might also be wondering “why would I clean a bathroom with a toothbrush like I’m in the military?”. These are both valid questions. Typically, people use such small tools to take care of hard-to-reach areas, such as corners and fixtures. You don’t have to worry about these spaces when living in a dorm and, if you are, you’re obsessing too much. The cleaning staff will take care of those spots at the end of the year. 

5. Shower Door Cleaner

When I talked about how many people like to buy too many cleaning products, I didn’t explain one of the main reasons why. It’s because a lot of people like to have a specific product and tool for every little piece of their home. You don’t need a separate product to take care of your shower door, no matter how badly you want it to shine. Whatever you used to disinfect the rest of your tub is all you need to disinfect the door. It’s not a mirror, so it doesn’t have to be polished to look good.

How To Clean Your Dorm Room Shower

1. Apply Shower Cleaner

The first thing you should do is spray the product that you chose all over your shower. Coat it in the disinfectant and let it sit for at least three minutes. The directions on the bottle might indicate a different amount of time, so be sure to check the directions. Letting the product sit gives it time to break down the scum and grime. 

2. Start Scrubbing

After the product had enough time to eat away at the dirt and grime, it’s time to scrub the shower down. Note that if you used scrubbing bubbles then you don’t have to do this; you can just skip to the next step. 

3. Rinse Thoroughly

The next step is to rinse the cleaning product off of your shower surfaces with water. This is easy to do if you have a flexible shower head. If you don’t then you can fill a small bucket with water and slowly pour it on the walls and over the fixtures. When I say slowly, I mean slowly because a fast pour can result in backsplash more easily. If you don’t mind wet clothes, then pour a little faster.

4. Polish Fixtures

After rinsing the space, you can grab a dry microfiber cloth and give the shower head and tub faucet a quick scrub to make them nice and shiny. This will also help prevent water spots that might form after the rinsing water dries. 

5. Use a Squeegee

If you have a glass shower door and you want it to make it look shiny, then you can scrape off the extra water and product residue with this tool. You can also use it on the shower walls if you want to. This will make them look extra clean. Start at the top of the door and slowly pull the squeegee vertically downward until you reach the floor. Alternatively, you could start at the top corner of the door and pull the squeegee horizontally across it. If you don’t have a shower door and you have curtains instead, don’t worry about this step.

6. Dry the Shower

This step is only necessary if you don’t want to see water spots in the shower after you just cleaned it. It’s not something you’d really notice unless you like your bath to look flawless after a hard cleaning day. To do this, grab the microfiber cloth you used to polish your fixtures and wipe down the walls with it. 

7. Unclog The Drain

This step is only necessary if your shower is draining slowly. I shared a suite bathroom with three other girls, so the drain would get filled with hair and make the water drain unbearably slow every once in a while. To quickly remove some of the hair that’s in the way, use a drain snake:

While holding the handle, guide the snake down the drain, twist it around a few times, push it up and down a couple times, then pull it back up. It should be covered in hair so either clean the hair off and throw it in the trash, or throw the whole snake away and use a different one next time.