Bathrooms are a magnet for mould, with hot showers and steam making for a damp environment that’s a perfect breeding ground. Getting enough ventilation after showering can help prevent mould from growing, but it’s not always a guarantee.

Preventing mould from growing in your shower is also tricky, given its constant exposure to water and moisture. Plus, its rubbery consistency makes it an easy target for mould growth, even if you do keep your bathroom well-ventilated. Often found in shower sealants, black mould isn’t just a nuisance to clean, it can also impact our health and irritate skin.

While bleach and vinegar are often recommended to clean and remove black mould from shower sealants, this doesn’t always stop it from growing back.

Instead, cleaning and home content creator @anna_louisa_at_home has shared the homemade solution she makes using one natural ingredient that will “get rid of the mould for good in a safe way.”

Rather than using chlorine bleach, which Anna said “doesn’t skill the spore meaning it will eventually come back”, the cleaning creator instead applies a tea tree remedy to stop black mould from returning.

Packed with antifungal and antibacterial properties, tea tree is a great cleaning agent, which destroys the cell walls found in mould spores, preventing any regrowth in the area. “It also creates an incredibly toxic gas when used on mould” and gets rid of it in a “safe way”, said Anna in the video posted on TikTok.

To get rid of black mould, Anna mixes one cup of three percent hydrogen peroxide with a teaspoon of tea tree essential oil in a spray bottle.

Mixing this in a spray bottle will allow you to soak the mould in the solution. Make sure to wear gloves while dealing with mould too, and wash hands after treating it.

After soaking the area where the black mould has grown, Anna then covers it with a tissue, and sprays the tissue again until it’s soaked. Leave the solution to work for one hour before removing the tissue and scrubbing. Make sure to wipe and rinse the area too.

You can make the spray as and when you need to clean, but if you’re making enough solution to keep, make sure to use a dark bottle as hydrogen peroxide reacts to light. Keeping it in a dark bottle will prevent it from decomposing.

While this works on shower sealant, the cleaning creator doesn’t recommend using it near marble or other natural stone.