Figuring out how to keep your bathroom smelling fresh is both mundane and important, right? It's so basic and boring, but the moment your bathroom starts to smell a little, you wish you'd kept a little more on top of it! In this article, we'll give you some basic checkpoints to keep odors at bay, but then take your scent landscape to spa level with fragrance oils, essential oils, and some good aromatherapy.
Let's start with the main problems:
Humidity
This is a basic problem of cold outside, hot inside. Combine this with poor ventilation, because windows tend not to be opened as much as in summer, and the dampness leads to problems with mold and mildew.
Drains, Pipes and Toilets
High humidity can also cause condensation in waste pipes and a stronger-than-normal odor. Drain buildup can also be a problem, and the heavier the products you're using and disposing of, the more this buildup will accumulate. Personally, I find I need to use more oil-based, thicker products in the winter to keep my skin looking good. Similarly, I use colloidal oatmeal to combat winter scaling. All of these things contribute to the increasing buildup in water pipes and drains.
Toilet tanks can smell bad at any time of year, which means the water in them can also smell a little off.
Start with a deep cleaning and odor removal
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to keep the bathroom smelling fresh with lovely scents, we need to get rid of the underlying stench.
Fixing Moldy Smells in the Fountain
Take a good look around the bathroom... and sniff around. Not all smelly problems are immediately noticeable, so use your nose and your eyes.
Check your entire bathroom bin for the following:
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- Is there any sign of mold on your shower curtain?
- What does your grout look like? Any signs of dirt or mold buildup there that need addressing?
- Look around the bathroom sink area, including behind and underneath it, to spot hidden areas of mold or water deposits that attract dirt.
- Can you see the corners starting to get moldy, especially near the ceiling?
- Does your bath mat harbor mold underneath?
If you can stay on top of problems like these, it will help reduce odors in your bathroom.
Begin with:
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- Have a very good deep cleaning of dirt and grime caused by the accumulation of hard water.
- Eliminate unpleasant odors from drains with baking soda (or bleach if it's really bad).
- Clean fixtures, surfaces, walls, and ceiling with white vinegar, baking soda, or mild detergent, or a mixture of all three!
- Replace damp, musty-smelling sponges, washcloths, towels, and bath mats.
- Keep up with simple daily bathroom cleaning/ Do the daily basics with natural ingredients and essential oils for a spa-like effect.
- For particularly damp and moldy bathrooms, consider a dehumidifier.
Effectively Combats Toilet Odors
When you're stuck with a stinky toilet, you might be left scratching your head, wondering how to make it smell nice again. There are some really simple DIY solutions.
My best advice for getting to the bottom of how to get rid of toilet bowl odors and toilet tank smells?
Look no further than baking soda!
It not only deodorizes, but also neutralizes aroma molecules to get rid of them completely.
Simply drop a couple of tablespoons into your clean toilet tank .
A great way to get rid of bad smells in the bathroom is to give it a good cleaning with white vinegar and/or baking soda. Both are fantastic natural cleaning solutions. Give the entire toilet bowl a good scrub, then wipe it clean.
Use bleach to deep clean really dirty or smelly toilets, but whenever possible, I try to be environmentally conscious and stick to natural solutions. Simple solutions like white vinegar mixed with essential oils containing antibacterial components, such as lemon eucalyptus and tea tree, are excellent as a gentler, regular toilet cleaning solution. When using these more natural products, obviously, getting rid of toilet odor means applying them frequently and infrequently. Don't leave too much time between applications.
If your toilet water still smells after treatment, you could pay to have the original water source checked. This is especially true if your water comes from a rainwater tank.
Eliminate odors from drains and pipes
Bathroom pipes and drains handle all sorts of fluffy pongs we'd probably rather not think about! Carrying waste from sinks, showers, baths, and the toilet, I suppose it's no wonder drains sometimes smell, too.
Simply flushing with hot water can be helpful for drains that have had to process a lot of oil-based shower and bath products. I tend to use water that has been off the boil for about five minutes.
If that doesn't work, try combining the neutralizing properties of baking soda with the deodorizing nature of white vinegar. The chemical process that occurs when you mix them is like a fizzing burst of energy that's really great for loosening grime. Ideally, you'll want it to sit in the pipes for a few minutes, giving it time to work before rinsing it out with a good blast of warm water.
By the way, do you know all those essential oils you didn't use before they expired? They're absolutely fantastic for this. Oxidized citrus oils, in particular. You won't want to use them on your skin anymore because of the risk of skin sensitization, but they're absolutely brilliant for cleaning the sink, etc.
Just be careful when putting them directly into the toilet water. Oil and water don't mix, and you'll have a lovely oil stain to deal with next time!
Good ventilation is essential for a cool bathroom
Ventilation is your best friend in warm, damp, and humid bathrooms. You want as much ventilation as possible, especially during the cold winter months.
Make the Fan Work
If you have a fan in the bathroom, turn it on during and for about 10 minutes after your shower. When you run a bath, turn it on a few minutes before turning on the water and turn it on once the bath has drained.
Open a Window
Open the windows wherever you can. This is especially important in winter when steam builds up, leading to condensation and even mold. However, I'm the first to understand that you might not want to take a cold bath, so open the window afterward for an hour.
Fragrance In The Place
If you want to know how to make your bathroom smell great with essential oils, look no further! I have a whole range of simple ideas on how to make your bathroom smell amazing.
Diffusers and Reed Diffusers
Rod Diffusers
Reed diffusers provide a long-lasting fragrance and are easy to refresh; simply flip the reeds occasionally. You can refill the bottle many times and simply replace the reeds when they become a little gummy!
Don't forget, we have fragrance diffusers available, as well as aromatic oils. Just add one to your cart!