Okay, so, the other day I noticed this nasty, musty smell in my bathroom. It was driving me crazy! I looked around and, sure enough, found some ugly black spots on the shower curtain and a bit on the grout. Mold. Ugh.

I hate using harsh chemicals, especially in a small, enclosed space like my bathroom. So, I remembered reading something about tea tree oil being good for mold. I figured, why not give it a shot?

My Little Experiment

First, I grabbed a spray bottle. Any old one will do, just make sure it’s clean.

• I poured in about two cups of water. Just regular tap water, nothing fancy.
• Then, I added about two teaspoons of tea tree oil. The smell is pretty strong, but I actually kind of like it. It’s…clean smelling, I guess.
• I put the spray top and screw the lid tightly.

I shook the bottle really well to mix everything up. I wanted to get the solution spread all over,Then, I sprayed the heck out of the moldy areas. I mean, I really soaked them. I made sure to get the shower curtain, the grout, and even a little bit on the wall where I saw a few tiny spots.

After spraying, I just…left it. I didn’t rinse it or anything. I read that you should let the tea tree oil do its thing for a while. So I went about my day and left the bathroom door open for some ventilation (because, like I said, the smell is strong!).

A few hours later, I went back to check. Honestly, I was surprised! Most of the mold on the shower curtain was straight-up GONE. The grout still had some staining, but it definitely looked better. I grabbed an old toothbrush and scrubbed the grout a bit, and that helped lift even more of the gunk.

I ended up spraying the areas again, just to be sure, and letting it sit overnight. The next morning, the bathroom smelled strongly of tea tree oil, but the mold situation was MUCH improved. I probably repeated process a couple more times over the next few days, just to get everything squeaky clean.

It’s been a couple of weeks now, and the mold hasn’t come back! I’m pretty happy with how this whole tea tree oil thing worked out. It’s definitely my new go-to for dealing with mold, and much prefer to use than bleach or other harsh chemicals.