Eww shower mold is gross (Make tea tree shower spray)
Don't take a shower with mold. It's not sexy.
The bathroom is kind of a filthy environment all round.
For me, my shower sometimes gets overlooked in the looming shadow of my toilet, which is constantly demanding to be cleaned, lest it spew grotesque airborne germs throughout my bathroom with every flush.
I don’t think about the shower floor or walls that much.
But bacteria, fungi, and mold all like to hang out in the warm, damp nooks and crannies of the shower.
A lot of these retch-inducing microbes don’t really pose an active threat to your health. I mean, yes it’s disgusting that gram-negative bacteria (the type that cause a lot of infections) hang out on your shower curtain and stuff… but it’s probably not going to make you sick.
Unless you lick your shower curtain.
But then you’ve got other problems than a dirty bathroom.
Mold is a bigger deal, though.
Mold spores like to get airborne. And that can cause serious health problems, especially if you have mold allergies.
So let’s make a mold & fungi prevention spray. This is one of those products you spray on your tile and in the corners of the shower after you turn off the water.
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Tea tree is a good choice for this. As one group of researchers put it, “Data now show that a range of yeasts, dermatophytes, and other filamentous fungi are susceptible to TTO [tea tree oil].”
In another study, tea tree oil inhibited more fungi than industrial agents. Researchers were like “The results indicate that tea tree oil was the most effective antifungal agent tested, and may have industrial application for the remediation of fungal contamination in residential and occupational buildings.”
That’s largely thanks to the terpinen-4-ol in tea tree oil.
But there are other components that can ass-kick fungi, too. Like citral (in lemongrass oil) and geraniol (in palmarosa).
I’m using vinegar as a base for this blend. I know, vinegar smells monkey-butt bad. But the essential oils will help with that. And the acetic acid in vinegar is like a 2.5 pH, which fucks up micro-organisms like fungi when they’re trying to grow.
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Tea Tree After-Shower Spray
4 oz white vinegar
20 drops tea tree oil (Melaleuca alternifolia)
20 drops palmarosa oil (Cymbopogon martinii var motia)
20 drops lemongrass oil (Cymbopogon citratus)
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Directions
You’ll need a 4 oz glass spray bottle for this. (I prefer colored glass, but you can use PET plastic.)
Combine the vinegar and essential oils in the bottle. Shake, shake, shake!
Spray this blend on your tile and tub after you shower.
Don’t use this blend on natural stone, granite, marble, or wood. Vinegar isn’t nice to every household surface.
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The three oils in this recipe pack a serious punch.
But they’re still not a guarantee against mold.
If they were the answer in any and all moldy situations, the human species would have asserted its dominance over the kingdom of molds, and the little fuckers wouldn’t cause us problems anymore.
If you already have mold growing, you can give this blend a try. But mold is really tough to deal with once it digs itself in—especially in damp areas like the bathroom. Spray the area with this recipe and let it sit for an hour. Then scrub away and cross your fingers… and if the mold won’t go away, you might want to call in a pro. Like I said, mold can cause a lot of health problems.
These oils work best preventively. If you’ve got patches of black mold dotting your bathroom, this probably isn’t going to get rid of them. Though it might slow the spread of the mold on surfaces.
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Share this post with a friend who hates mold!
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REFERENCES
Carson, C. F., Hammer, K. A., & Riley, T. V. (2006). Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree) oil: a review of antimicrobial and other medicinal properties. Clinical microbiology reviews, 19(1), 50–62. https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.19.1.50-62.2006
Clausen, Carol A.; Yang, Vina W. (2011) Leach and mold resistance of essential oil metabolites. In: Proceedings, one hundred seventh annual meeting of the American Wood Protection Association, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 2011 May 15-17: Volume 107. Birmingham, AL: American Wood Protection Association, c2011: p. 121-127.
Li WR, Li HL, Shi QS, Sun TL, Xie XB, Song B, Huang XM. (2016) The dynamics and mechanism of the antimicrobial activity of tea tree oil against bacteria and fungi. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2016 Oct;100(20):8865-75. doi: 10.1007/s00253-016-7692-4. Epub 2016 Jul 7. Erratum in: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2017 Mar;101(5):2201. PMID: 27388769.
Powers CN, Osier JL, McFeeters RL, Brazell CB, Olsen EL, Moriarity DM, Satyal P, Setzer WN. Antifungal and Cytotoxic Activities of Sixty Commercially-Available Essential Oils. Molecules. 2018 Jun 27;23(7):1549. doi: 10.3390/molecules23071549. PMID: 29954086; PMCID: PMC6100473.
Rogawansamy, S., Gaskin, S., Taylor, M., & Pisaniello, D. (2015). An evaluation of antifungal agents for the treatment of fungal contamination in indoor air environments. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(6), 6319–6332. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606319
Viollon C, Chaumont JP. (1994) Antifungal properties of essential oils and their main components upon Cryptococcus neoformans. Mycopathologia. 1994 Dec;128(3):151-3. doi: 10.1007/BF01138476. PMID: 7739729.
Yu D, Wang J, Shao X, Xu F, Wang H. (2015) Antifungal modes of action of tea tree oil and its two characteristic components against Botrytis cinerea. Journal of Applied Microbiology. 2015 Nov;119(5):1253-62. doi: 10.1111/jam.12939. Epub 2015 Oct 7. PMID: 26294100.