Best Product: Squeegee, Not Shower Spray
We just don’t feel comfortable spraying mysterious combinations of chemicals just to keep our shower clean. And, if you think about it, buying something that’s mostly water and which is intended to go directly down the drain just doesn’t make sense. Instead, we’ve adopted a slightly more labor-intensive technology that seems to work just as well: squeegee! Plus, it’s a lot more fun to say.
The key is to find one that’s flexible enough to conform to the surfaces in your shower. Read on for our favorite and a few alternatives.
• The California Water Blade works the best of anything we’ve tried. It’s marketed as a way to get water off of cars, but don’t let that stop you from using it in the shower. The blade is soft and flexible, which helps it to get nearly all the water off even irregular tile. But it has a flaw: no handle. It’s not difficult to use, but storage is a problem. You can’t hang it, so it has to stand on end with the shampoo. Ours always falls over. Widely available in local stores; $18 at Amazon.
• For those with more traditional tastes in squeegees, check out Oxo’s Good Grips Squeegees. We’re not sold on the utility of a $12 stainless steel squeegee (wouldn’t it be permanently spotted?), but the plastic model has the same good ergonomics. We’ve used it and it gets most of the water off surfaces (though it’s no Water Blade.) At $6, it’s a deal.
• This most modernist of squeegees can be yours for about $14. While we like its minimal lines and tool-like demeanor, we’re concerned about the functionality of the very narrow blade, and the product reviews seem to confirm our suspicions. We haven’t tested it ourselves, though, so we’ll keep an open mind.