I’m often amazed by the helpful hacks and recipes I stumble upon during my irregular visits to the TikTok app. While I wouldn’t exactly call myself TikTok-savvy (I’m more focused on getting the hang of Instagram Reels, which is similar to TikTok but I didn’t have to make another social media account to use it), I do try to keep up with what’s making the rounds there—especially anything cleaning-related.
Recently, I’ve been seeing the “ThePinkStuff” hashtag popping up all over the place, and when I realized it had more than 116 million collective views, I knew I had to know what it was all about. To my delight, The Pink Stuff ended up being a cleaning product that lives up to the hype.
What Is The Pink Stuff?
While “The Pink Stuff’’ is a mysterious enough moniker to apply to any number of things, it’s actually the name of a bright pink cleaning product with a paste-like consistency.
It’s handy for cleaning a number of grimy household surfaces, and if you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of it, that’s this UK-based product was only recently became available in the U.S. And while The Pink Stuff still isn’t widely available stateside, I was able to find some on Amazon easily enough.
The primary ingredients in The Pink Stuff are baking soda, quartz, sodium silicate, and soap, and they combine to form an abrasive, grease-dissolving cleaning paste. Keep in mind that due to its abrasive quality, it’s a good idea to spot test more delicate surfaces and painted walls before committing all the way.
In addition to being effective, The Pink Stuff consists of 99% natural ingredients, is environmentally-friendly and non-toxic, and is never tested on animals, which are all big wins in my book.
What Can I Clean With It?
One of the best things about this product is how versatile it is. You can use The Pink Stuff to clean a variety of surfaces around the house, including:
- Stainless steel sinks and faucets
- Glass shower doors
- Scorched pots, pans, and casserole dishes
- Spills and splatters inside your oven
- Ceramic tile and grout
- Grimy kitchen appliances
- Tools, outdoor furniture, and grills
How To Use The Pink Stuff
Scoop up some of the pink paste using a cloth or sponge, then apply it to the surface you want to clean using circular motions. To avoid having to use a good amount elbow grease, especially when cleaning particularly grimy surfaces, try smearing it onto the surface and waiting about 10 minutes before scrubbing.
The paste has a consistency that’s sort of like peanut butter mixed with sand, and it’s easy to spread across cooktops and other surfaces. I’ve been applying The Pink Stuff with a microfiber cleaning cloth, letting it sit for a few minutes, then rinsing the cloth and using it again to scrub the paste to reveal a shiny, clean surface.
While a cloth works great, I’ve also seen TikTokers use sponges or steel wool with great results. Just be careful that you choose the right tool for the right surface, meaning that whatever tool you use won’t scratch the surface you’re trying to clean.
The Takeaway
I have to say I’ve been impressed by The Pink Stuff, and that’s coming from someone who has tried a lot of cleaning products over the years! It works well, is easy to use and clean up, and no one has any complaints about the its light berry scent.
I’ve cleaned three surfaces with it so far, and while it worked well on the glass stovetop and did an excellent job cleaning up cookware, I wasn’t as impressed with the results after using it to clean grimy cookie sheets. (For that task, I’ll stick with my go-to method.) It’s great for cutting through greasy messes and lighter stains, but the stubborn baked-on grime on my cookie sheets proved to be a bit beyond the scope of The Pink Stuff.
But overall, I would absolutely use The Pink Stuff again and would happily recommend it to anyone looking for a simple cleaning solution for grimy surfaces. Here’s to hoping it will become more widely available soon.
What’s the best cleaning product you’ve learned about online?
