The modern bathroom presents a tough, relentless battlefield. All that gleaming tile and glass. All that water. Sure: hard, tight surfaces are impermeable to water in all its presentations—splashes, rivulets, puddles, beads of moist clinging fog. But that innocently clear water carries stealth particles—dissolved microscopic minerals—that stay behind, bond with soap and dirt, and erect cloudy films and grimy-stain battlements with a ferocious stick. The beauty of that clean gleam is under constant water-borne assault.

Pumice Powder Scrub

Chemical-powered cleansers may dissolve new accumulations of soap scum and grime, but they are notoriously ineffective against the build up of hard water stains and scale. The solution? Meet force with force. Those hardened battlements can be physically stripped away with a proven abrasive grit. Pumice.

Pumice is a fascinating stone, accurately described as a foamed stone of volcanic glass. Three factors work in concert to provide pumice its effective scrubbing nature. A rigid-sponge form factor of pumice powder presents a myriad of cutting edges. Those glassy micro-edges are wicked-sharp. Pumice is hard enough to do the work, but not so hard that it scratches ceramic (porcelain) or glass surfaces (see Not for Every Surface, below), but rather it breaks down, creating new sharp-edged shards.

CleanCut™ is sourced from a southeast Idaho pumice deposit renowned (and shipped) world-wide for its superior firm-yet-friable abrasive properties and natural pureness.

How it Works

CleanCut™ does its work without chemical solvents. Rather, the pumice powder rips grime and stubborn mineral deposits from hard surfaces by mechanical action—a combination of countless cutting edges and a bit of elbow grease. In other words, a combination of scouring edges, scrubbing pressure, and soapy water (soap is a surfactant, not a solvent) to suspend and carry away the freed mineral deposit fragments.

CleanCut can certainly be combined with chemical-action cleansers, adding mechanical force to the grime-softening chemistry. CleanCut works well with liquids and gels: it will not dissolve, soften, swell or get soggy. Mix it with a favorite cleanser and create a gritty, hard-working paste. When mixed with a liquid to form a pasty scrub, know that the cutting bite of the now-wet powder will be reduced slightly.

Not for Every Surface

CleanCut™ is an aggressive abrasive, and so is not to be used on fragile, soft, easily-damaged surfaces. In particular, do not use CleanCut on plastics, fiberglass, finished wood, marble (cultured or natural), and painted surfaces. Do not use on tadelakt plaster finishes. The thin-skinned plated finishes of faucets and trim (no matter the process: electroplating, physical vapor deposition, powder coating or thin film ceramic) will scratch and eventually be worn away by CleanCut; satin and flat finishes will quickly be worn shiny. Use only a damp cloth and a mild detergent to clean metal fixtures, and do so frequently, before mineral deposits take root.

It is safe to use CleanCut on glass and fired, non-porous ceramics like vitreous china, bone china, porcelain.

The Virtues of Clean

Beyond the sanitary and visually pleasing aspect of a gleaming-clean bathroom, accumulated mineral deposits found in our water supply (calcium, magnesium, limestone) and the build-up of acidic waste captured by those deposits ultimately eat through the protective layer of a ceramic fixture’s easy-to-clean finish. Frequent scrubbings to remove deposits prevent that damage.

Use Instructions

Fill a bucket with hot sudsy water. Wet a non-scratch pad in the soapy water and sprinkle CleanCut™ pumice powder onto the wet pad. Scrub back and forth with firm-to-hard pressure. Avoid scrubbing in a circular pattern.

Do not use on delicate surfaces.

Store CleanCut in a sealed container to keep the powder dry and easy to dispense/sprinkle. CleanCut is a natural pumice stone powder and will keep indefinitely.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION and SUPPORT DOCUMENTS

Technical Data Sheet: the physical and chemical properties of pumice from the Hess deposit (this information also found on page 2 of the CleanCut TDS sheet).

SDS: Pumice Safety Data Sheet (PDF)

Certificate: Non-Expiration (PDF)

Declaration: Free from Heavy Metals and Pesticides (PDF)

Declaration: Natural Origin Index (PDF)

Declaration: Non-Crystalline Silica (PDF)

Declaration: Organic Status of Pumice (PDF)