Doing the housework is a job that I procrastinate over so I dedicate at least half an hour per day to keep on top of it.
One of my least favourite jobs is cleaning the bathroom as it feels like it’s a never-ending chore.
Living in a house full of boys with ages ranging from 4 through to teens and beyond means that I am not only clearing up those ‘near misses’ but have to deal with the remnants of shaving in the sink too.
We are a family that takes showers on a daily basis. My son works as a lifeguard so likes to shower to remove the smell of chlorine when he gets home from work and Isaac swims for our local club and swims up to four times a week.
Us girls don’t get off scot-free either, both Eliza and I have long hair and I am forever clearing hair from both the shower and bath plug holes.
All that showering and shaving means that plugholes get clogged up quite frequently with no only hair, but all the products we end up using when going about our daily routines.
We were invited to try Buster Bathroom Plughole Unblocker, the only product on the market that’s able to dissolve hair (human and animal), which is the leading cause of blockages making it seriously effective at blasting through pesky plughole build ups and allowing water to flow freely again.
It’s also expert in tackling other bathroom blockage culprits including soapy sludge, bath oil and toothpaste.
Buster commissioned a scientific study by the University of East Anglia to investigate and what they found is most unpleasant:
Everyday plughole blockages typically caused by hair and soap are in-fact a damp, dark, nutrient rich breeding ground for bacteria to grow on.
If left untreated, bacteria laced blockages can cause really harmful pathogens such as E.coli and Salmonella to form, become airborne and pass up through the plughole into the home, landing on people and nearby objects (toothbrushes, towels, toys etc…).
It’s an unsavory thought but one which makes perfect sense when you imagine a family’s worth of grime being washed down the plughole each day.
Bathrooms Biggest Culprits
- Hair – both human and canine. Even small amounts of hair (long, short, scalp & body) can build up over time to create a matrix like structure in the plughole upon which other bathroom blockage culprits become lodged. Furthermore, there are 8.5million dogs in the UK according to the RSPCA, and if even half of those are being washed in the bath, that’s an awful lot of dirty fur heading south down the plughole.
- The foaming agents in every day soap – Most shampoo, shower gel, bubble bath and face wash contain chemical foaming agents called ‘sulfates’. These build up creating a thick, bacteria rich soapy sludge (similar to polluted sea foam) which can become lodged in the plughole.
- Bath Oils – Much like the fats going down a kitchen sink, bath oil can coat an existing blockage and make it even harder to shift as creates a waterproof membrane around it.
- Toothpaste – The fluoride in toothpaste is great for protecting tooth enamel but not so great for plugholes as it’s thick and in-soluble. Toothpaste is also of course a carrier of food molecules which can become lodged around blockages and turbo charge bacterial growth.
Short of banning the family from using the bathroom, blockages are un-avoidable, so an effective treatment is really important.
When you experience slow running water it’s good to act sooner rather than later by treating the issue with Buster before a full blockage occurs and bacteria starts to form and we put it to the test.
It is recommended you leave it to work for a minimum of 15 minutes but overnight if possible, so I poured it down the plug holes in our shower, bath and sink before going to bed.
I had found the water to be draining very slowly in both our sink and our shower and have been really impressed with the results. Both plugholes are now draining better than they have done for some time.
What is even better is that Buster is a proudly British brand, manufactured in the small town of Hadleigh near Ipswich. It’s also an independent, family owned company.
Disclaimer:This post is in partnership with Mumsnet. I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity and all opinions here are my own
This looks like a great brand and sounds like it does a good job. We are forever plunging the shower plug hole because of our stray hairs!
I’ve used this too – it can be extremely helpful, especially if you have two people in the house with long, thick hair!
I hate cleaning the bathrooms and our sinks are forever blocking. I need to get this
I do tend to wipe down the bathroom every evening before bed so it’s not a mess in the morning and takes less time to do if done daily
Great brand this. We’ve been using it for a while and found it does a fantastic job with our blocked drains!
Oh we use this too. And doing half an hour a day of chores is a great idea. Sigh. It really is never-ending, isn’t it?
I need this!! My hair is falling out by the handful and my husband is sick of pulling it out of the drains! Nothing seems to work, I’m going to try it!
I am a big fan of this product. We have really badly designed sinks and the toothpaste is always clogging the sinks up. A bit of this stuff and hey presto all clean again.
I actually only use Buster to unplug my bathroom plughole as you said it dissolves hair so works wonders with my ever shading afro hair.
I’ve used this before & it works a treat. I have really long hair so it’s pretty yucky in the plug – this works! x
I am forever having to get long hair out the plughole having two girls and myself with long hair. I have never tried this before x
My long hair causes constant plughole problems!! This looks like a fab product, I need to add it to my shopping list x
I don’t normally enjoy cleaning either but this bathroom plughole unblocker looks perfect!
Having long hair, means I’m constantly blocking my drains! This stuff looks good! What stores can I find this?x
I need to get my hands on some of this, our kitchen and bathroom are in need of a deep clean
Our plughole gets clogged with hair all the time. Yuck! I’ll have to give this stuff a try 🙂
Louise x
Hi ChelseaMamma,
The bathroom is the most used room and takes the longest time to clean in our home and having effective cleaning materials and solutions (like Buster) that make life easier is ‘heaven sent’.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Cheers,
Jessica
Really a big buff of this products. We have certainly badly specially designed sinks and then the toothpaste is clogging the very sinks up. A bit of what you do and where you are all nice and clean again. Thanks for this informative post !!
Sounds like a great product. Thanks for your review!
When cleaning any room especially the bathroom I clean top down, back out…meaning light fixtures, tops of mirrors, front and back of doors, door handles, light switches, outlets, towel bars, shower bars, window sills, shower/tub, toilet, sinks/countertop, mirrors, cabinets, baseboards, then floor. There is a lot of items in the room that collect dust. If you only clean main surfaces, eventually the bathroom is still going to look dirty because of the build up of dust and fingerprints!