7 Ways to Get an Amazing-Smelling Bathroom and Banish All Odors (Not Just Mask Them!)

While the bathroom just might be the most personal room in your home, it can also be a shared space with the people you live with or guests that come to visit you. Its frequent usage, high humidity, and sometimes lack of ventilation can create an array of unpleasant odors, so it’s natural to want to find ways to make it smell nice on a regular basis.

Fortunately, I spoke to experts to get their insight on how to keep a bathroom clean and smelling amazing. Below, their most useful tips (and a couple of tips from yours truly!) that you’ll want to implement into your daily routine now.

This may seem like the obvious first step to achieving a clean and nice-smelling bathroom, but the toilet may be overlooked because of how often it gets used. 

Jessica Bragdon, co-founder of Koala Eco, likes to use oxygen bleach, which is a safe, effective product that can disinfect surfaces and kill bacteria, to clean the toilet. Additionally, she recommends cleaning the exterior of the toilet as efficiently as the bowl. Use a multi-purpose cleaner and microfiber cloth to clean the seat and outside of the toilet.

For a DIY solution, Alicia Sokolowski, co-founder of AspenClean, says you can create toilet bombs by combining one cup of baking soda, 1/4 cup citric acid, and 10 drops of essential oil, pouring them into silicone molds, and letting them dry. Then, drop one in the toilet to clean and freshen.

My husband and I have our own bathrooms (a true luxury), and we have different preferences when it comes to scents. Because his is the smaller bathroom and doubles as the guest bathroom, a small candle makes the most sense. He loves the Voluspa Foraged Wildberry Mini Candle, which is perfectly sized for a guest bathroom; plus, it’s made with a coconut wax blend for a cleaner burn. 

I prefer the Tea in the Sahara Diffuser from Element Brooklyn, which has an uplifting spa-like aroma made with essential oils, or the Grove Co.’s spring collection room spray that has a light floral scent made with plant-derived ingredients. For an extra-verdant aesthetic and aroma, we both like to add a bunch of fresh eucalyptus to each of our shower heads.

When it comes to eliminating bathroom odors, Danny Pen, president at New Era Plumbing & HVAC, says that most people think of toilet odors, but usually fail to realize that drains can be an even bigger source of bad smells. 

“If there are sinks or showers rarely used, remember to run water in them regularly to prevent the trap from drying out and allowing odors to escape,” he says. “To keep your drains smelling fresh, clean them once a week by pouring some enzyme-based drain cleaner down and follow it with hot water to rinse everything away. Enzyme-based cleaners work better at breaking down soap, dirt, and hair in the drains than just a mix of baking soda and vinegar.” 

This Green Gobbler Enzyme Drain Cleaner is one option you could go for, but for an even more natural DIY solution, Sokolowski recommends squeezing a lemon into the toilet or drains to cut through odors and leave a fresh scent.

Even if you have a bathroom trash can with a lid, it can trap odors with ease and release them every time you open it. Both Pen and Sokolowski say it’s important to empty your trash can weekly, if not more, while also implementing fragrant and odor-absorbing elements.

“If you have heated floors, you almost have a compost bin right in your bathroom,” says Pen. “A sprinkle of salt or baking soda at the bottom of the trash can before you add the liner, along with a few drops of essential oil on top of the salt, can absorb unpleasant odors and add a subtle pleasant one.”

In any windowless bathroom, towels and bath mats will retain moisture and dank smells faster than bathrooms with windows. I wash my bath towel, hand towel, and bath mat every seven to nine days to avoid that mildewed scent that dirty towels tend to emit. Although I can give or take fragrance when it comes to laundry detergent, I usually opt for something with a strong yet fresh scent when washing my towels such as the Koala Eco Mandarin and Peppermint Natural Laundry Wash or the Cleancult Juniper and Sandalwood Laundry Detergent. 

It may seem obvious to air out a bathroom by opening a window in any room, but even this simple act can fall by the wayside. If you’re lucky enough to have a window, keep it open during bathroom activities (especially hot showers) while also turning on a dehumidifier. This 50-pint Frigidaire model has hundreds of reviews, with several noting how well it works at removing moisture. Plus, it’s portable and has smart capabilities.

“If you’ve cleaned thoroughly and your bathroom still smells bad, it may be because moisture can still get trapped, creating an environment where odors linger,” says Pen. “Bathrooms with lower humidity are less likely to smell bad and [they can] clear those odors very quickly.”

A daily cleaning after a shower can help lengthen the time in between deep cleanings, and will also keep your entire space looking and smelling fresh. To take it a step further and get rid of any soap scum, mineral buildup, and other types of grime that can cause lingering unpleasant odors, Bragdon recommends using a dedicated shower cleaner or oxygen bleach with a couple other tools. For instance, you can purchase this shower spray and this oxygen bleach option.

“Spray your solution over your shower glass and bathroom tiles and leave for 15 minutes before scrubbing with a scrubbing brush,” says Bragdon. “Use the shower head to blast the wall with hot water to wash the solution away, and use a cleaning cloth or squeegee to dry everything thoroughly.”