8 Unexpected Ways to Use Dish Soap in Your Home

If you (or your kid) have a messy hair dye situation on your hands, dish soap could be the savior you’re looking for. According to L’Oréal Professional, combine a dime-sized amount of baking soda with dish soap so that you form a paste. Rub that into your stained hands, then rinse with warm or hot water. Goodbye, rogue blue stain!

You don’t necessarily need special brush cleaner for your makeup brushes; dish soap can do the trick. Just add one part olive oil and two parts dish soap in a small bowl and use that instead of a store-bought brush cleaner.

Got a mild aphid problem? Whip out the dish soap.

If you have a door that’s waking up the family each time it’s opened, consider brushing a bit of dish soap on the hinge. According to HardwareSource, the hinge division of the specialty hardware retailer San Diego Hardware, you can apply a little dish soap to clean hinge pins that you’ve already removed from the door. 

Every plumber I’ve ever worked with has been anti-Drano, but sometimes you really need to get in there and you may not have a drain snake handy. Enter dish soap. “When poured down the drain, the soap helps break down grease, oil, and food debris that cause blockages,” Brown says. “For minor clogs, simply pour a generous amount of dish soap into the drain, followed by hot water. Let it sit for a few minutes, then flush with more hot water to clear the blockage.”

If you’re planning a week of cooking pasta—or you like to take long showers—window condensation could turn your home into a steamy greenhouse. Once again, dish soap is your soldier. “Condensation on windows can lead to mold growth, dampness, and general discomfort in your home,” Brown says. “One effective but unusual remedy is using dish soap. By mixing a small amount of dish soap with warm water, you can wipe your windows to create a thin, protective layer. This thin layer allows moisture to spread more evenly by breaking down the surface tension instead of clumping to beads, making the water easier to evaporate.” This is a temporary fix, though, and if condensation is a chronic issue, you may want to track your home’s humidity levels and, if necessary, improve its insulation.

Sure, you can get a special cleaner for your stainless steel appliances—but do you really need to? In our tests of the best stainless steel cleaners, we discovered that you probably don’t if you have Dawn in the house. Apply a couple drops of Dawn onto the soft side of a damp sponge, squeeze to disperse the soap throughout the sponge, then wipe the sponge across the stainless steel in the direction of its grain. Buff with a paper towel or microfiber cloth after you’re done to prevent streaking.

If you have a shower in dire need of cleaning and no time to run out for one of our favorite shower cleaners, dish soap will do the trick. In our shower cleaners test, we poured half a cup each of vinegar and Dawn into a spray bottle, stirred gently (you don’t want to shake vigorously, as that can create a ton of bubbles), then sprayed it on our shower tile. We did this twice: once wiping right away with a damp sponge (the more successful method) and once waiting 30 minutes before rinsing. 

Proper shower cleaner—specifically Scrubbing Bubbles or OxiClean, which were the top performers in our tests—will still get your shower cleaner than this method. But if, for whatever reason, you can’t or don’t want to buy shower cleaner, Dawn is a solid option.