How to make my bathtub slippery

Question

We've rented an apartment and the bathtub surface is not slippery enough. I know that being slippery is a downside for bathtubs, but it causes so many problems. The main problem is that the water doesn't slip well on it and after finishing the shower the remaining water doesn't wash all the hair and dirt down to the drain. They tend to remain in their place and we always have a dirty bathtub after showering. How can I handle this problem? Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Unless you have the perfect not-stick bath, soap etc will build up, so it is hygienic to clean the bath frequently with a soft non-scratch pad and bath cleaner. One possible reason why the bath retains hair and soap, is because the previous tenants used an abrasive pad.

If so, the damage is done now. It is not your bath, so I would not recommend any serious surface treatments, except possibly a Teflon™ spray coating. But be careful what you wish for – you might slip over and hurt yourself. I would have thought that a non-slip bath was an asset: people buy rubber mats for the bath so that it isn't slippery.

Other ways to clean off the hair and soap are

• If the shower head detaches use that to wash away hair etc.

• If not, use a plastic jug to sluice water around the bath to remove the residue.

• In any case, clean the bath frequently as mentioned.

Hair can build up in the outlet grating. That's a good thing, because it prevents it from clogging the drain itself. Every week or so, pick out the hair with a toothpick or something like that, and put it in a waste bin.

Answer 2

If you think that

water doesn't wash all the hair and dirt down to the drain

then the bathtub is actually doing a service to you, by not being slippery. Long hairs should be collected from the water before they have a chance to go down the drain, exactly for the purpose of keeping the drain from clogging.

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It depends what material the bathtub is made of.

1. A generic solution is to apply a layer of lacquer on the surface. Works with all bathtubs. Choose the lacquer according to the material.

2. Apply a layer of enamel, if the bathtub is metallic.

3. If you feel heroic, polish the surface. There are countless videos on the net showing how to polish. After polishing, a protective layer is recommended to be applied.

4. Buy another bathtub and replace the current one.