What's The Point Of Putting Vicks VapoRub In Your Toilet?

The state of your bathroom says a lot about how hygienic you are. The last thing you want is for anyone visiting to step into your bathroom and see mucky brown stains here and there. It's a huge turn-off and can leave even the strongest stomach retching in despair.

Because the toilet is responsible for a lot of, well, messes, it needs to be spotless at all times. That doesn't mean that stains don't occur every now and then, but getting rid of them quickly is of the utmost importance. You can't go buying a new toilet seat every time you find a yellow or brown mark on it. The good news is that Vicks VapoRub might be an easy solution.

Toilet stains can happen quite frequently as they are one of the most used appliances in the house. Urine and blood, for example, contain minerals like iron and salts which can leave behind deposits on or under the toilet seat, staining them. Interestingly enough, Vicks VapoRub contains a host of active ingredients like menthol, camphor, and eucalyptus oil, which makes it perfect for soothing nasal congestion and cough. It also contains cleaning agents like turpentine oil, which is known to be able to lift tough stains, especially greasy ones. This handy bathroom cabinet staple might be saving you the cost of a new toilet seat.

Vicks VapoRub is more than just your grandmother's go-to treatment for a stuffy nose. Banishing stains from your toilet using the ointment is a hassle-free process. YouTube cleaning expert @AndreaJean uses a cotton pad to perform this hack. First, she dips the pad onto a bottle of Vicks, making sure to scoop up a nice clump of it. Then, she simply works it onto the stain until it dissolves and disappears. That's all there is to it. You can also use a cotton stick swab to get the substance into hard-to-reach cracks.

The creator also noted that VapoRub can do more than just clean off stains from your toilet seat on a regular basis. "The nice thing is that this can help prevent future staining because it creates a protective barrier between your toilet — your porcelain — and anything else that it comes in contact with," she asserted. This barrier is likely due to the oil constituents that make up the rub. Healthline lists out the non-active additives of the rub including petrolatum, cedar leaf oil, and nutmeg oil, in addition to turpentine.