The Surprising Power of Dish Soap: 6 Expert Cleaning Hacks You Need to Try

Living in Chicago, between work, commutes, and trying to enjoy the city, keeping your home spotless can feel like a second job. You know the feeling—you want a clean, fresh space but just don’t have the hours in the day. What if you could get that deep clean you crave without it consuming your weekend? Sometimes the best solutions are simpler than you think, and sometimes, the best move is to call in the pros.

As a cleaning expert, it frustrates me to see dish soap relegated only to the kitchen sink. This humble bottle is one of the most powerful, versatile cleaners you already own. It’s not just for plates; it’s a degreaser that can tackle everything from grimy car parts to delicate personal items. Let’s dive into some approved, expert-backed uses that will save you time, money, and a whole lot of hassle.

Why Dish Soap is a Cleaning Superhero

Dish soap isn’t a magic potion, but it feels like one because of its science. It’s a degreaser, meaning it’s designed to emulsify—or break down—grease and oil from a surface, lifting it away for easy cleaning. Once you understand this, you can replace a cabinet full of specialty cleaners. This is the kind of smart, efficient cleaning hack that makes maintaining your home easier. Of course, for the bigger jobs, nothing beats a scheduled professional home cleaning.

6 Genius Ways to Use Dish Soap at Home

1. Refresh Makeup & Paint Brushes

Makeup brushes collect pigments, waxes, and oils—exactly what dish soap breaks down. Here’s how to clean them:

• Fill a bowl with warm water and add a quarter-teaspoon of dish soap.
• Dip the brush head in and swirl it gently on a textured silicone mat.
• Rinse thoroughly, dry on a towel, reshape, and lay flat to dry.

It’s a simple routine that keeps your tools hygienic and performing well.

2. Get Crystal-Clear Eyeglasses

Smudges and fingerprints on glasses are endlessly annoying. For a streak-free shine:

• Add a drop of dish soap to warm water and swirl your glasses in the solution.
• Dry and buff with a flatweave microfiber cloth.
• For an on-the-go option, keep a small spray bottle with water and a drop of soap in your bag or car.

This method is often recommended by opticians!

3. Deep Clean Dental Appliances

Retainers, aligners, and mouthguards can develop biofilm and odors. To freshen them up:

• Squirt some dish soap into a cup of cool or lukewarm water.
• Dip the appliance, then gently scrub with a soft cleaning toothbrush.
• Always check with your dental professional for their recommended care, but this is a great maintenance routine.

4. Lift Oil Stains from Driveways & Garages

Notice oily spots on your concrete or pavement? Dish soap can help without causing damage.

• Squirt soap directly onto the stain and scrub it in with a brush.
• Let it sit for 15-20 minutes to emulsify the grease.
• Rinse away thoroughly with a hose or pressure washer.

It’s an effective, affordable alternative to harsh chemical cleaners. For indoor grease and grime that’s built up over time, consider our deep cleaning help.

5. Restore Your Car’s Wiper Blades

Dirty wiper blades ruin visibility. A quick clean makes a huge difference.

• Add a couple drops of dish soap to a bucket of warm water.
• Use a cloth to wipe down the entire length of each blade, removing road grime.
• Rinse and let air dry for dramatically clearer swipes.

6. A Note on Wildlife & Safety

Yes, dish soap like Dawn is famously used by rescue organizations to clean wildlife after oil spills. However, this is done by trained professionals using specific dilutions. It’s a testament to the product’s gentle yet effective power when used correctly.

Simplify Your Cleaning Routine

These hacks show how one product can simplify your chores. But let’s be real—life gets busy. When you need a more thorough reset for your entire home, it might be time to schedule a cleaning with a trusted local team. Finding a reliable cleaning service near me in Chicago means you can enjoy these small maintenance wins while leaving the big jobs to the experts.

Whether you’re looking to clean your apartment quickly or need someone to clean my apartment regularly, efficient solutions exist. As Chicago’s trusted Chicago cleaning company, we believe in working smarter, not harder. Sometimes that means a dish soap hack, and sometimes it means booking a home cleaning service to get your space cleaned from top to bottom.

I’m about to surprise you with some of the most amazing ways that you can use dish soap around the home. As a cleaning expert, what frustrates me the most is when I see people just using dish soap to clean their dishes. >> Excuse me. >> Dish soap is actually one of the most powerful cleaners in your home. Of course, it can clean your dishes, but it can also remove motor oil. It can help you get better visibility in the car. It can clean small and delicate items at home. And yes, it’s even used by wildlife rescue teams to help clean animals after oil spills. This isn’t a hack. This is straight up science and all of the uses I’m going to share with you today, they are approved uses. If you’re new here, welcome to Clean My Space. My name is Melissa Maker. I’m an accidental cleaning expert, which means I hate to clean, but I love to find the most efficient and effective way to get the job done right the first time. I have almost 20 years of professional cleaning experience, and I’ve been sharing it here on YouTube for the past 14 years, which makes me still 26. >> Wow, she’s bad at math. So, if you want a super clean home, but you don’t want to spend your whole freaking day doing it, you need to follow. And stay tuned because these uses are really going to surprise you. They’re going to save you money. They’re going to save you time, and they are going to get the things we’re talking about a lot cleaner. All right. Dish soap isn’t a miracle product, but it feels that way because it’s a degreaser, which means it’s designed to emulsify or break down grease from a surface and lift it up so it can be easily cleaned away. And once you know that and know the different ways that you can apply it, it can replace so many specialty cleaners and help you clean so much more easily and more effective without spending all the money on the fancy stuff. So, this is the way that I clean my makeup brushes. All of the uses in this video are approved uses for Dawn dish soap. This goes for paint brushes and makeup brushes. Here I’ve got my makeup brushes. They are basically designed to collect pigments, waxes, oils, and binders, essentially grease and color. And that is exactly what dish soap is able to get rid of. So, what you’re going to do is fill a little bowl with some warm water and you’re going to add a drop of dish soap. When I say a drop of dish soap, I mean about a/4 teaspoon. You’re going to let it dissolve. Then dip your makeup brush head into that water. I like to get a textured silicone mat and swirl the brush around gently to help loosen everything up. I might repeat this if needed. And if there’s a lot of makeup that’s really ground in, I might even add some dish soap and water to the textured mat itself. Once that’s done, I’ll rinse it really well, dry off the brush on a towel, reshape it, and lay it flat to dry. It’s very frustrating to put on a pair of glasses that have smudges and fingerprints and oil all over them. And if you wear makeup or SPF, you know what happens in here. So, you can use a little drop of Dawn dish soap, add some warm water, and gently place your glasses in there. You can kind of swirl them around for a minute. And once that’s done, you can get yourself a flatweave microfiber cloth. I’ll put a link to this one for you down below. It’s by Makers Clean, our sister company. And then you can start to buff and dry your glasses. Dawn dish soap is often recommended by opticians to keep your glasses clean. There you go. If you want a little onthe-go option for this or even something you can keep at your desk or in your car, just get yourself a small spray bottle, fill it with water, add in a tiny drop of dish soap, spray that on your glasses, get yourself your flatweave cloth, and use that to do the cleaning. And since I know I’m going to get asked about this, yes, Dawn is the dish soap that’s used to clean wildlife docks most commonly after oil spills. And yes, it is safe, but there is a caveat. Organizations like International Bird Rescue have used Dawn for decades to help clean up wildlife after oil spills. And I’ve actually been to a couple of these facilities in California. I did a trip there uh with Dawn about 10 years ago and I have some photos and videos that I can share with you to show you all about this trip. But what was great about it is that I learned how Dawn was used safely and why indeed it is the best choice. But this is the most important part. It is used in certain dilutions by trained professionals. So they know exactly what they’re doing and exactly how to use it to remove oil from ducks and their feathers in their skin. If you wear aligner trays, a mouthguard, a retainer, or a bite plate, you know that these can build up bofilms and odor and bacteria over time. And here’s what you can do. You can get a little cup. You can add a squirt of dish soap in there, cold water or lukewarm water at best, dip your dental appliance in there, swirl it around, and then get yourself a little cleaning toothbrush, and gently go to town. Now, you always want to make sure that you check with whichever professional or specialist is providing these with you just to make sure you’re using the right cleaning methods and products, but this should work. On your driveway or in your garage, you might notice these oily stains on the ground, and we can use dish soap to deal with that. Don’s just going to emulsify these stains, which means it’s going to break down the grease, bring it up to the surface, and make it easy to rinse away. So, the way that you deal with these stains, and by the way, I’m not demonstrating this right now because it’s currently8° C and I am freezing. >> It’s freezing cold. >> So, I’ll do this in the spring. So, what you’re going to do is take your dish soap, squirt it onto the area, get yourself a scrub brush, brush it in, let it sit for about 15 to 20 minutes, get a hose or a pressure washer, and blast it clean. And another great benefit of using Dawn on this type of stain is it won’t etch or cause any damage to these surfaces, making it a great choice for something to use at home. And you didn’t need to spend money on any specialty cleaners when you’re driving. Something that can really get frustrating is a dirty wiper blade because that affects your visibility and that sucks. And a really easy way to fix this problem is to use some Dawn dish soap. Get yourself a bucket. Fill it with some warm water. Add a couple drops of dish soap. And then take a cloth that you don’t really care that much about. Put it into the bucket. Swirl it around. Get it nice and sudsy. Pick up your wiper blade. And then run the cloth along the length of the blade. What you’re going to notice coming up is all of that grime from the road. It might look a little gray, a little bit black. That’s a good sign. We’re getting up the dirt. Once that’s done, you can give it a little rinse and just allow it to air dry. This is going to dramatically improve your visibility and you are gonna thank your Lucky Dish soap for solving the problem. Oh, and I created a whole usage guide including over 100 approved uses for Dawn dish soap. This is not sponsored, by the way, and if you want to get your hands on that, click the link below and I’ll get it sent straight to your inbox. And that brings me to this week’s comment question, which is, what is the oddest thing you have ever cleaned with dish soap? or is there a use that you swear by when it comes to cleaning with dish soap that I didn’t share here? Let us know what it is in the comments down below. And remember, if you want that usage guide with over 100 different ways that you can use dish soap, there’s a link down below for you. Click it and I will get it sent straight to your inbox. And if you want more cleaning recommendations with products, tools, and techniques that actually work, save you time, and get the job done right, you’ll definitely want to sign up for our email newsletter. It’s called the Dirty Dish, and I’ve got a link for you down below. By the way, if you love the work that me and my team do here at Clean MySpace, you can consider becoming a member. And since we’re already here talking about Dawn dish soap, I figured you might also want to see a video about the amazing uses for Dawn Powerwash. These are two different products, and you can’t DIY your way into this one. So, if you want to see that video, I’ll link it for you right over here. Remember, if you haven’t done so already, make sure that you subscribe to the Clean MySpace channel. Thanks so much for watching, and we’ll see you next time.