Rejuvenating tired old Soft Scrub

[sudsmaster]

If your home is like mine, it's an older one with an older porcelain enamel kitchen sink. Naturally after decades of previous owners scrubbing that sink with harsh cleansers, the protective glass layer has been worn away, and the underlying white enamel accepts stains too easily.

 

Since I moved in, I've tried to restore the sink somewhat by using only Soft Scrub, which instead of having harsh silica based abrasives, has much milder chalk-based scrubbing agents. To whiten, it also contains a low amount of chlorine bleach.

 

However, after a year or more in storage, the chlorine bleach ingredient breaks down and the Soft Scrub no longer whitens like it used to. Some of the water content also evaporates, leaving a thickened product that can be difficult to dispense.

 

The solution I tried recently is simple: just buy a some (a quart is enough) of liquid chlorine bleach and add an ounce or more to the Soft Scrub bottle. Shake well. Add more if it needs more thinning. The result: it quickly bleaches white the sink enamel as you scrub. This helps extend the life of the Soft Scrub and ensure a sparkling white, at least until the next time one leaves onion skins in it too long ;-).

 

 

[tomturbomatic]

Thanks! Sure beats throwing it out because it stops working.

 

[sudsmaster]

The stuff isn't cheap (Soft Scrub, that is) and can sometimes be hard to find. I used to buy it in bulk at Costco but they stopped carrying it. So now I get it, or a similar product, at places like Smart & Final.

 

I don't get chlorine bleach in gallon jugs any more, though. I don't use it in the laundry so a quart at a time is more than enough. Unless I need it for painting, as in bleaching mold on walls before painting.

 

 

[sudsmaster]

Well I do declare. I was in the cleaning aisle today and spotted a six pack of Comet cleanser, for a reasonable price ($6). What caught my eye was the writing on the cans - "No Scratch". So I impulse bought a pack. Tonight I Googled it and lo and hehold the list on ingredients (which aren't on the can!) do NOT include diatomaceous earth, which was the harsh abrasive ingredient in old formulations.

 

So I'm thinking I can stop buying overpriced soft scrub and transition to the new "scratch free" powdered cleaner instead. Yaay.

 

Here's the list:

<h3>Ingredients</h3>
Ingredients:

<thead>
<th style="text-align: left;" scope="col">Ingredient</th><th style="text-align: left;" scope="col">Purpose</th>
</thead>

Calcium Carbonate
Scrubbing Agent

Calcium Hydroxide
pH Adjuster

Fragrance
Fragrance

Green 7
Colorant

Sodium Carbonate
Builder/Sequestering Agent

Sodium Linear Alkylbenzenesulfonate
Surfactant - Cleaning Agent

Trichloro-s-triazinetrione
Bleach

- See more at: http://www.cometcleaner.com/kitchen-bathroom-cleaners/bleach-powder-cleaner/#sthash.z6lnyGLV.dpuf

 

Ingredients:

<ul>
<li>Ingredient     Purpose</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Calcium Carbonate     Scrubbing Agent</li>
<li>Calcium Hydroxide     pH Adjuster</li>
<li>Fragrance     Fragrance</li>
<li>Green 7     Colorant</li>
<li>Sodium Carbonate     Builder/Sequestering Agent</li>
<li>Sodium Linear Alkylbenzenesulfonate     Surfactant - Cleaning Agent</li>
<li>Trichloro-s-triazinetrione     Bleach</li>
<li></li>
<li>
- See more at: http://www.cometcleaner.com/kitchen-bathroom-cleaners/bleach-powder-cleaner/#sthash.z6lnyGLV.dpuf</li>
</ul>

<h3>Ingredients</h3>
Ingredients:

<thead>
<th style="text-align: left;" scope="col">Ingredient</th><th style="text-align: left;" scope="col">Purpose</th>
</thead>

Calcium Carbonate
Scrubbing Agent

Calcium Hydroxide
pH Adjuster

Fragrance
Fragrance

Green 7
Colorant

Sodium Carbonate
Builder/Sequestering Agent

Sodium Linear Alkylbenzenesulfonate
Surfactant - Cleaning Agent

Trichloro-s-triazinetrione
Bleach

- See more at: http://www.cometcleaner.com/kitchen-bathroom-cleaners/bleach-powder-cleaner/#sthash.z6lnyGLV.dpuf

 

[tomturbomatic]

Or just buy Bon Ami which "hasn't scratched yet," which had to be explained to me when, as a child, I asked what that had to do with a chick. Bon Ami and Renault were two brands that no doubt set French teeth on edge when they heard how we pronounced them, but then they generally stay pissed off at everything we do until they need help. At least we got "Renault" right by the time they introduced that bomb "Le Car."

 

[sudsmaster]

Bon Ami is nice but since it doesn't have bleach it doesn't do squat to fix stained worn porcelain surfaces.

 

 

[mark_wpduet]

Didn't Soft Scrub

come out as "NEW" in the 1980s and was very popular for a long time? I forgot all about it and haven't used it in years. I remember the commercials for it. I don't have anything porcelain.

I remember thinking of something a LONG time ago and this brought that thought back up. There are so many items from the past that they still make and sell, but they don't advertise anymore at all.

 

[tomturbomatic]

There is Soft Scrub and Soft Scrub with bleach and you are right, Bon Ami would have to have some bleach added to the paste you work up to whiten the sink.

 

[lordkenmore]

French

The fun corruption in my area was a department store named The Bon Marché. It literally translates something like "good deal" and means cheap.

Indeed, I had a French teacher new to the area when I had him who had recently discovered the store. He mentioned the words mean "cheap." Then, he commented in French something like: "Bon Marché is not cheap."

Sad to say...the store eventually became Macy's.

 

[supersuds]

Your French teacher should have known about the very grand Parisian department store of the same name, which has been in business since 1852.

http://www.lebonmarche.com/en.html

 

[lordkenmore]

He probably did know about that Parisian department store. Not only did he teach French, but he was married to a French woman. I was under the impression they'd visited France quite a bit.

Indeed, a highlight of the year was when his in-laws came to class one day.

 

[sudsmaster]

I guess Soft Scrub has been around for a while. I started using it around 1997 when I got this home with the worn kitchen sink. I didn't want to wear it down to the iron ;-).

 

I tried the new "no scratch" Comet today, and it did a good job. Of course it needs to be wetted but that's not an issue with a sink. I noticed there wasn't the chlorine aroma of older scrub powders. In fact not much aroma at all. It seemed to bleach as well as Soft Scrub, which has chlorine bleach in it.

 

I also looked at a can of "Babbo" I got a year or so ago, and that also has dropped abrasive diatomaceous earth from its ingredients. In fact they are about the same as the new Comet.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I think I remember that cleansers also used to use feldspar as an abrasive agent.

 

[sudsmaster]

Bon Ami uses feldspar and limestone...

 

 

[tolivac]

Near Rapiud City,South Dakota me and some freinds explored an old Feldspar mine-sort of interesting.Stayed out of the tunnels,though-abandoned mine tunnels are UNSAFE!!!!Plenty above ground to explore.Remember turning the flywheel of their air compressor-still had GOOD compression!They used it to power air powered mine cars and air drills.Can't remember its brand.

 

[sudsmaster]

Back in the 1960's I remember learning in school that sink cleansers, often called scouring powders, contained diatomaceous earth. I took that as gospel from that day forward. It was emphasized that the diatoms are in fact a form of glass, and as such are abrasive enough to remove the thin glass layer from fired enameled kitchen sinks.

 

I assumed that ALL powdered cleansers contained this diatomaceoous earth, and hence were to be avoided if one wants to keep a shiny sink shiny.

 

But now I'm looking not only at the "scratch free" Comet I purchased recently, but also some other cans I purchased more than ten years back (unopened and in storage) and notice that they don't contain diatomaceous earth either. In fact I can't find, via the internet, any modern scouring powder that does contain it. The only difference between the 10 year old Comet and the current product appears to be the type of bleach. The older stuff has a dichlor type of compound, whereas the newer stuff has a trichlor type of compound. Both chemicals are also used to treat swimming pool water, by the way.

 

Anyway, I'm glad I no longer have to rely on Soft Scrub for this purpose, but am a little embarrassed that I probably could have weaned myself from it long ago. Oh well, all's well that ends well.

 

 

[lordkenmore]

Well, I don't think it's unreasonable to have stuck with Soft Scrub. It was a product that worked well for what you needed. (Apart from deterioration, that is.) I assume it was probably more expensive than some powder cleansers, but it surely can't be bankrupting.

Actually, I read one commentary a week or so back that even suggested standardizing on products. The idea being that it saves time and thought when shopping.

 

[sudsmaster]

OK, thanks!

One drawback of Soft Scrub is the shelf life. The stuff tends to settle out over time, and then can be difficult to shake back to an even consistency (all the clay tends to form a sludge layer at the bottom of the bottle). Then there is the problem that it contains liquid chlorine bleach, which gradually deteriorates and no longer has much bleaching power. I'm assuming the pool chemical type of bleach in the powders has a longer shelf life, because the chlorine is bound up with a cyanuric acid stabilizer, and only becomes active when wetted. And I have some ancient Comet in storage I can test this theory out on some day .