Cheap Trick: Clean Stainless Steel with a $2 Product

Elizabeth Passarella
Elizabeth Passarella
Elizabeth Passarella is the author of the essay collection Good Apple and a contributing editor at Southern Living. A former editor at Real Simple and Vogue, she has spent more than 20 years writing about food, travel, home design, and parenting in outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Parents, Martha Stewart Weddings, Coastal Living, Airbnb, and The Kitchn. Elizabeth grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and now lives with her husband and three children in New York City.
Follow
updated May 2, 2019
pinterest
comments
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

We’ve spent far too much money on bottles of stainless steel cleaner that claim to wipe out smudges. We haven’t had much luck—only buyer’s remorse. But did you know you can use a super inexpensive product from the drugstore that does a better job? Several of you smarty pants mentioned it in this post.

It’s…. baby oil.

We read about this trick on a website a while ago and haven’t yet tried it, but a family member swears by it. The baby oil isn’t meant to clean dirt and grime off of the surface; you’ll need to use a wet cloth for that. But once it’s clean (and still covered with fingerprints), wipe on a thin coat of baby oil. The oil will erase the smudges and keep it shiny longer.

We’ve read about some people using mineral oil instead of baby oil; we’d imagine any type of oil would create that polished finish. But baby oil is easy to find and cheap.

Does anyone out there use this trick? Do you ever get a greasy feel? How does it hold up to fingerprints?

Related: Trend Watch: Is White the New Stainless Steel?

(Image: Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, from Melissa Clark’s Revamped Kitchen)

Filed in:
Cleaning
Surprising Ideas