There has been a new phenomenon on TikTok called #CleanTok, where people have spent lockdown showing their cleaning habits. As we have been stuck in our homes, we have applied our imagination to making videos for the popular channel, and then 13.6 billion sets of eyes have come in to view them. It might be that cleaning our homes is our most hated activity; we do have to do it – and we are always looking for ways to do it better. Also, there is something wonderfully calming about seeing someone declutter or remove stains from their homes.
Having established that it makes sense that there is the reason behind this madness, what are the TikTok cleaning trends we should know about.
Hashtag popularity
One way to judge the trends on TikTok is to look at the views for hashtags. The hashtag #cleaningTikTok leads with 5.7 billion views, with #cleaninghacks coming in second with 1.6 billion views. The other hashtags are in the hundreds of millions, including #cleanwithme, #cleaningasmr, #deepclean, #cleaningtips, #cleaningmotivation and #bathroom cleaning. Likely for the teenagers out there, #cleaningmyroom gets a healthy 68.2 million views and rugcleaningtiktok 7.2 million.
Then there are the specific trends that pop up on the platform. These trends come and go and depend on the latest addiction. #poolcleaning is massively popular, receiving a massive 597.3 million views as of May 2021. Yet, this is nothing in terms of oddness that the 95.5 million views for watching people clean their toilets. #toiletcleaning is also popular, and the numbers continue to rise every day.
The most popular video types also include reorganising the kitchen, carpet cleaning and laundry stripping. Laundry stripping is an incredible hack – and something worth looking at closer!
Cleaning hacks
Laundry stripping with 1.8 million likes is one of many cleaning hacks you can find on TikTok. While we can watch cleaning for the pure satisfaction of watching someone clean up, there are a whole load of tips and tricks that are causing a stir on the platform. There are hints for cleaning your oven and getting your rugs to the cleanest they can be. Let’s dive deeper into some of the top hacks that are trending on CleanTikTok recently.
Laundry stripping
Over time our laundry can become unusable due to ground-in dirt. Regular washing does nothing to remove the soaked in grime, and scrubbing is likely to make matters worse. This hack requires you to turn your bath into a place to soak troublesome laundry. Fill the bath with a mixture of Borax, washing powder and laundry detergent to a ratio of 2:1:1. Laundry Stripping is an aggressive way to strip your laundry of dirt and dust and is perfect for your pillows, towels, and rugs. After the stripping, the water in your bath will be a gross shade of brown.
Removing paint spills
With 960 000 likes, there are many people dropping paint onto the carpet when they touch up the walls in their home. This hack allows you to clean up the paint without using other chemicals to leave a smell and maybe take some of the colours out of the carpet. It would help if you only had only some hot water, a bucket and a wet and dry vacuum. When you first spill the paint, scrape off the excess. Then, pour water on what remains and suck the water up with your vacuum cleaner. By repeating this process of soaking and then scraping up the water with the vacuum, the paint will disappear.
Cleaning the sink plughole
There are 3.5 million likes for the video that teaches you how to remove the pungent smell that can emerge from your sink plug hole. You may have tried lots of drain cleaners and pouring cleaning agents down there, with no success. What you might not know is that you can unscrew the plug home and then get down into the pipe with some bleach and a toothbrush.
Stained stovetop
With 3 million likes, the use of oven cleaner on your stovetop can bring it back to looking like new. Burnt watermarks are normal wear and tear for your stove, but you don’t have to live with them. Be careful, though, as oven cleaner is a serious chemical.
Shiny taps
With 2.3 million likes, the video to make your faucets shiny again proves you don’t need chemicals. The use of white vinegar and a toothbrush does the job nicely enough.
Final musings
While we may find some of the trends in cleaning videos strange, there is much to learn on the platform. You can have the perfect home –or waste hours of your life watching other people clean.
