Sometimes it’s clear when bathroom items need to be replaced. Take, for example, towels so smelly that you don’t want to be near them or paper-thin bathmats that will trip you banana-peel-in-a-cartoon style. But while it’s usually out of sight and out of mind, your humble toilet brush may be overdue for retirement, even if you think it looks fine.
As Jason Tetro, a microbiologist and author of “The Germ Code,” previously told HuffPost, toilet brushes should be replaced about once a year, to help your liquid cleaning products work even better.
As Tetro describes, the brush’s bristles work to physically break down material around your toilet bowl. While this certainly includes typical, visible toilet messes, it also includes “invisible biofilms,” which Tetro says can stick to hard surfaces and foster bacteria communities, even under running water.
According to Tetro, a proper (read: not 6-year-old) toilet brush breaks up these films and bacterial communities, allowing your disinfectants and cleaners to better do their thing.
As Melissa Maker, founder of Clean My Space, previously described, for best results, toilet bowl cleaners need to be “agitated” via a strong brush after they are applied to really break down stains, smells, scum, and whatever else.
