8 Ways You Should Use Your Scrub Daddy (but Aren’t)

The Scrub Daddy is a truly viral cleaning tool that people love both online and in real life. The official website bills the scrubber as “America’s favourite sponge” and attributes that to its use of FlexTexture material that is more absorbent in warm water and abrasive in cold. You don’t have to know what FlexTexture is to fall in love with the smiley-face-shaped kitchen tool and its many variants, though. Here are a few ways you should be using your Scrub Daddy — but aren’t.

Easy flatware cleaning

The Scrub Daddy and its smiley pals are all face-shaped, which is not just a marketing ploy: The official website urges you to “quickly clean both sides of serving spoons and utensils in one motion” by dragging them through the mouth. Never cut yourself scrubbing a knife again.

Scrub hard-to-reach spots

The eyes are also a key part of the Daddy’s design: You can stick your fingers in them and push the sponge deep into mugs or other tight spaces you couldn’t normally reach to clean them out efficiently, according to the brand.

Put it in the dishwasher

You can — and should — wash your Scrub Daddy in the dishwasher. It’s top-rack safe, so you can easily run it through the wash to give it its own good cleaning after a particularly messy job.

Clean your BBQ

Clean HQ recommends a Scrub Daddy over any other traditional product for cleaning your barbecue, especially if you use it with cold water, which will keep it stiff. Scrub Daddy’s whole marketing appeal is that it doesn’t scratch most surfaces, so you can really get after baked-on grime. The same goes for your oven or any other surface you usually need to use elbow grease for.

Scrub veggies

Per Clean HQ, a Scrub Daddy is also ideal for getting the waxes, buildup, or grocery store germs off your fruits and vegetables, as it won’t destroy them and buffs them easily.

Wash your car

You can use the Scrub Daddy on more than just dishes: For instance, the brand promises “FlexTexture has been independently lab tested scratch-free on car exterior paint.” Just rinse the car first to be sure there’s no other hard, foreign debris that could scratch it as you drag the sponge along.

Scrub wood with no worries

Again, the whole point of this versatile sponge is that it’s been tested and won’t scratch your stuff, even while scrubbing it. Robert Dyas recommends using it for wood products, which can otherwise be sensitive. Get sticky residue off without worrying about scratches.

Scrub your bathroom

You can use the Scrub Daddy dry to spiff up your grout and corners of your bathroom, per Robert Dyas, and CleanTok influencers swear by the sponge’s ability to shine metal fixtures without damaging them.