How To Clean, Dry & Maintain Your Shower Curtain To Prevent Mold

Some areas of the home require a little extra elbow grease to clean and maintain—and the shower is certainly one of them. Since so much moisture can collect in the shower, it can be a hotbed for mold. "Shower curtains tend to get mold—black mold—on them if you do not wipe them down," notes professor and microbiologist Charles Gerba, Ph.D.

If you have a plastic liner on the inside of your shower curtain, or the curtain itself is made from a PVC or polyester material, you're in for a relatively easy clean. According to Rapinchuk, "If you have a plastic shower curtain, it can be washed in the washing machine on cold and hung up to dry." The emphasis here is on cold! Make sure to run it in a cool setting so you don't melt the liner.

Cloth curtains can be washed in the washing machine as well, using a similar process. Rapinchuk also notes that she'll throw bath towels in with her cloth curtain to help keep it from clumping together. If your curtain has tough stains, you can also add baking soda and vinegar into the mix: Run the machine with equal parts detergent and baking soda to start. Then, right before the rinse cycle, add in a cup of white or apple cider vinegar.

Once your curtain is washed, you can either hang dry it or run it through the dryer on no heat, which is what Rapinchuk likes to do. Always be sure to check the care label, though, as some heavier materials may need extra time in the dryer to dry completely.

Just as important as cleaning the shower curtain is cleaning what it's hanging from! Those shower rods and rings can collect all sorts of germs and mold.

Start by removing the rings from the rod. Dilute some white or apple cider vinegar in a bucket or plugged sink, and let the rings soak in the mixture for 15 to 20 minutes or longer. Use a brush or rag to scrub at any pesky spots.