If you’ve ever experienced the long-term effects of living with hard water, you know just how annoying limescale can be: It builds up on everything it touches, from shampoo bottles to tea kettles, and while there are plenty of descaling options out there, I’ve learned with time that nothing truly works like white vinegar.

Plus, with two small children at home, I’m always on the lookout for natural cleaning solutions, which is another reason this hack is a go-to.

But with time, I’ve learned that it has its limits. While I don’t see the best results from using a white vinegar spray, I’m always amazed by how well it works as a soak—especially when it comes to removing limescale from our bathroom fixtures.

What Is Limescale?

Hard water gets its name because it has a higher mineral content than soft water. One of these minerals is calcium, and that leads to a chalky white film that builds up on anything repeatedly exposed to the hard water.

While you can get water softeners installed to help mitigate the issue, we’ve always rented our homes, so it hasn’t been an option for us. This means our sinks, tubs, and splash zones can get kind of unsightly—and with annoying regularity.

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What Are the Solutions?

There are also plenty of cleaning products that effectively remove limescale, and we use a spray on the shower to help reduce the issue on our showers and baths. For small appliances like tea kettles and coffeemakers, you can buy dedicated descaling solutions.

But for anything that can be easily removed and left to soak, my favorite solution of all is white vinegar. I love it because it’s effective, natural, incredibly easy, and it’s also oddly satisfying. You simply soak your limescale-covered items and remove them to find everything is sparkling once more.

Because of its high acidity, white vinegar effectively cuts down on the calcium deposits, removing them completely over time. However, this also means this solution works best when it’s left alone to do its work. That’s why I find it works best on anything that can be removed and left to soak.

How I Use White Vinegar to Clean Limescale

We first learned about this cleaning hack when we lived in France for a year. We were renting an 18th-century farmhouse in the forest, and in the middle of all my other culture shock, our Dutch landlord told me to soak the shower head in white vinegar once a month.

She didn’t share that this process was related limescale build-up, so I had no idea what she even meant. But a few months in, it was clear: The shower head was caked in some gross, white residue that suddenly explained why my skin was breaking out and my hair felt so limp.

From that day on, I’ve done this same process whenever the build-up becomes apparent:

1. Remove all fixtures you’d like to soak. In our home, this often means bathroom drain stoppers and shower heads.
2. Place everything in a large bowl or a bucket. 
3. Fill the bowl or bucket with vinegar until your items are covered. They don’t need to be fully submerged, but you need enough liquid to feel like everything can soak properly.
4. Leave to sit for about an hour.
5. Rinse and admire.

The first time we did this, it was so revolutionary that I felt like we had gotten a new shower. I also loved knowing that the water wasn’t flowing through any bleach-using products, so there were no concerns about letting it run through before the first shower.

Now, we do this process regularly. Sometimes, I’ll wait until I notice signs of the build-up, other times, I just toss everything in when it’s clear one item needs a deep clean. No matter what, I always feel so much better after it’s been done.