Use white vinegar in your dishwasher's rinse dispenser.

giuseppe

And for a second I thought it involved cleaning my own head with vinegar.

Nabeel

This is the same advice as cleaning many other items. For example, you can run a white vinegar-water mixture in your automatic coffee maker as a cleaning cycle.

For other white vinegar uses, simply Google "white vinegar clean."

mpantone

Since when is vinegar not a chemical?

scott johnson

We do this all the time for getting rid of chalk on taps and such, I thought everyone knew this :)

Greet

@scott johnson:
Since Lifehacker said so!

/end Lifehacker Fanboy rant>

Nabeel

@Greet: Eh, I didn't know. There's always going to be a few people!

lacrimaeveneris

@scott johnson: I think since everyone started thinking Organic meant healthy.

I've got some purely organic non-chemical hemlock if anyone wants some. No? How about some suspicious mushrooms, never treated with chemicals!

Zadaz

Exactly.

EVERYTHING IS A CHEMICAL!!!!!!! The "organic" food you eat, just a special mix of chemicals.

People are ignorant.

Chemicals bad

aka_bigred

I've done this for ages. I just let the shower head sit in vinegar overnight, along with the kitchen faucet aerator.

nsv

@Zadaz: If you and Scott Johnson have an anti organic agenda, you should probably take it to an organic gardening or farming forum where someone knows what you're talking about. This Lifehacker entry is for people who have somehow missed Hints from Heloise since the 1950s.

dchall8

Aw, I wanted to be the one to point out that everything is made of chemicals, including us. *sigh* Oh well. Maybe next time.

Bruce_A

@Bruce_A: Bruce_A: Aw, I wanted to be the one to point out that everything is made of chemicals, including us. *sigh* Oh well. Maybe next time.

Are photons made out of chemicals, what about electrons, bozons.

:D

lordargent

this is the same principle as those volcanoes that every grade school kid has made. hard water deposits are primarily calcium carbonate and similar salts (baking soda). mix with vinegar (acetic acid), and a reaction occurs, making bubbly carbon dioxide, water, and some other fun stuff.

anybody who has ever studied chemistry knew this at one point. i guess most people decided to replace that information with something useful, like some a memory of watching the season finale of Dallas, or the location of the nearest Starbucks...

garbanzo-bean

White vinegar is just a solution of (around) 5% acetic acid and 95% water. It's more-or-less harmless unless you stick it in your eyes or do something like that.

Abby_Normal

Remember the old line, "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible"?

davearonson

I got a cheap showerhead which has rubber nozzles. You just rub your hand/finger along them, and they unclog. It's pretty cool.

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->

@giuseppe: This is a great idea and I don't know why I didn't think of it. Since I moved last year, everything here has a nasty white film on it. Everyone in town just responds with, "yeah, that's the water. Get a filter from Culligan." Unfortunately, I rent, and my landlord won't allow a filter.

About 8 months ago, we put away all our silverware because of the water. Our shower head came clean using vinegar, but I never thought to put it in the dishwasher. It sure will be nice to use proper silverware again and get rid of the plastic.

rantingnewyorker

Vinigar is fine, just be cautious if whatever your cleaning is chrome plated. If you leave it to sit in the vinigar for too long, the chrome might start to chip after a while.

mvtt

Isn't vinegar a chemical?

CarverSisyphus

Hey I didn't know about this. I recently tried cleaning my shower head and what I did was just wash it with soap and then poked all the holes with a small needle. (I know, sad right?) But I am going to try this tomorrow, and hoping it will work better.

nerwin

Vinegar is also the best thing for cleaning stainless steel sinks. Vinegar to take off all the gunk, then use a bit of lemon oil to shine it up. It smells nice, and the oil content keeps things from sticking.

HeffeD