product test: kaboom toilet bowl cleaners
I had a colleague at Budget Living who swore by Kaboom Bowl Blaster toilet cleaner. It’s inexpensive and supposedly does the trick without scrubbing. And, it comes in this cheery purple and green packaging! So I was excited to test out these cleaners for myself. Kaboom has two different types of TB cleaners. One’s the bowl blaster. You pour it in, and leave it for like ten, fifteen minutes. It suds up, you flush, and then it’s supposedly clean. The other one is called Never Scrub, which you put in your tank and it is supposed to prevent rust stains. After trying them a couple of times, I have to say I am not a fan. The Bowl Blaster is a superfine powder, and each time I used it, a plume of it would fill the air, and my nose. I don’t see how you could use this product and not enhale it. Yuck! As far as how well it cleaned, well, you still have to scrub with a brush a bit. However, the smell, a sort of lemony citrus, is nice — especially if you don’t like bleach. The other bathroom products were pretty standard — a scrub and a spray — and for those I’d rather stick with my natural, yummy smelling organic stuff (like Method and Seventh Generation.) What about you? What do you use to clean your toilet? Found anything you love? — Angela M.
May 15th, 2007 at 8:55 am
my dad recommended the kaboom stuff and you’re totally right - the bowl blaster powder gets in your face every time and if you don’t use it for a little bit (er, i won’t say how long) it actually solidifies into a hard lump in its container. kind of like brown sugar in a box. i use a lysol cleaner for the toilet and sure, you have to scrub, but not that much. and then i recently tried using a mr clean magic eraser to clean the rest of the toilet (not the bowl) and that was so easy.
anyway, if you clean regularly i don’t think cleaning the toilet is really that big of a deal.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:32 am
I use vinegar and baking soda. It still requires a swipe of the toilet brush, but it’s neat to watch it erupt! Just flush the toilet, sprinkle baking soda liberally, and add vinegar. Leave for 10 minutes and then swipe with brush! It disinfects as well as cleans, and the baking soda isn’t too abrasive for porcelain.
Plus, you avoid any toxic chemicals that kids/pets/you could be harmed by.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
My Mom raised me on Comet…and I still use that. Not the most environmental…but when it comes to the toilet, I lose all patience with the green life.
May 15th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
My favorite toilet bowl cleaner? My cleaning lady! She’s a saint.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:18 am
I’m with Freya, cleaning the toilet isn’t that hard, vinegar and baking soda is non-toxic, and a bit of scrubbing can be counted as exercise.
May 16th, 2007 at 5:04 am
I use Mrs. Meyers geranium scent toilet bowl cleaner -it smells AMAZING and does a great job -i get it at whole foods.
May 16th, 2007 at 5:45 am
I was recently given the Seventh Generation toilet bowl cleanser and it’s OK, but like the folks said before, vinegar and baking soda are cheaper by far. And as far as scented products go, it’s still scented bleach or ammonia or whatever, so although it may smell good, you’re still inhaling chemicals you shouldn’t.
August 26th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
I used the kaboom bowl blaster…the dust caused me to cough, have a hard time breathing and my throatand nose to burn and my throat swelled, I got a sore throat and had to go the ER. not fun.. looked on line and so did they and could not tell what was in it. No body had an answer for what it was made of…scary to me.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I used this product less than one hour ago at my workplace. This was the first time I had done so. My nasal passage was immediately aggravated and when my nose started to bleed. What the hell is in this stuff ?!?!?!?