The Unexpected Way You Can Use Shampoo In Your Kitchen

People are always looking for tips on how to best clean their kitchens, and it's no shocker why. Grease, oil, food splatter, and dried-up spills permeate just about every kitchen surface, so we're constantly looking for ways to make cleanup easier. And shampoo might just be the grime-busting product you have been looking for.

More specifically, shampoo can be your new go-to product for cutting through grease. And since grease is an unavoidable part of kitchens, that can help make your chore day much less cumbersome. Grease gets on everything from backsplashes to stove tops to vent hoods, requiring lots of cleanups. Whether you make a simple grilled cheese or fry up messy chicken cutlets, it will land all around your stove area. But if you can cut through it with shampoo without much trouble, it will make deep cleaning your kitchen a little less annoying. Here is how to do it.

At first glance, this might seem bizarre. After all, how can something you use to suds up your hair also be strong enough to bust grease stains in the kitchen? People often need a heavy-duty cleaner to do that, so it seems difficult to believe shampoo can get the job done. But it can! To pull this hack off, all you need to do is add a quarter-sized drop of shampoo onto a damp cloth and use it to buff it into your greasy surface. Work it into a slight lather, and then allow it to sit for a few minutes, allowing the soap to soften and penetrate the buildup. Grab a wet rag or sponge to remove the bubbles and grease, rinsing them. The grime should wipe away without much fuss.

If you have one especially neglected spot with lots of buildup, you might need something abrasive to help lift it off from the surface. In that case, you can add a dash of baking soda to the shampoo, which will act as a scrubbing agent, helping you break through the buildup.

Shampoo can bust grease because that's what it is formulated to do. The soap was made to remove grease from the scalp and hair, so it uses those same ingredients to tackle buildup in the kitchen. It can be even more effective to choose shampoo made for oily hair for this task, which will boost your cleaning power.

Since oil and grease are hydrophobic, lathered shampoo breaks them down so they can mix easier with water, allowing the grime to be carried away. And since the shampoo doesn't know the difference between a scalp and a stovetop, it will break down the oil just as it would in a shower. This leads to an easier clean.

Even if you still want to use kitchen cleaning products, this can be a great cleaning hack to keep in your back pocket if you run out of your favorite product but still want to tackle your dirty counters or vent hood. This way, you'll never have to use a sub-par product that will have you using more muscle than necessary.