How do you get rid of calcium buildup in a showerhead, preferably with natural materials?

I use cheap white vinegar to descale my kettle and shower rose. Fill kettle and switch on but don't let it boil, the vinegar will foam up and boil over. Just let it get hot and then switch off and wait until it stops fizzing. You can unscrew the shower head and leave it in the kettle too because heating makes the chemical reaction more powerful. Our local supermarket sells 1L bottles of white vinegar for pickling.

Vinegar or lemon juice are good because the (acetic/citric) acid is safe to digest, so the kettle doesn't need to be rinsed out more than once & you can't taste the vinegar. If I leave the kettle too long I have to do it twice to get all the scale out, because I live in a hard water area.

Well, this is both a common problem and often done with too much faith in chemicals. The old heads, not the adjustable multi-spray-pattern heads, are basically a little can with a bunch of holes. Soak it, again, with the CLR, then scrub the face with an old toothbrush, then poke each hole with a toothpick, or, if you have a guitarist friend, some cut-off stubs of steel guitar strings (the balled end, from the bridge end are handy). Some heads can be disassembled for more thorough cleaning - but the multi-spray types can be a bear to reassemble.

Soak the showerhead in a bowl of unheated vinegar for at least an hour or two. It may take more than an hour to get the results you re after, so you may need to soak the shower head in vinegar overnight. you can hang a small container up on the shower head if you don t want to take it off Good Luck~~

Remove the showerhead from the spray arm, disassemble it. Lefty-loosey.

Use a straight pin to poke the larger accretions out.

Dunk all the parts into a bowl of vinegar. Don't soak rubber parts, only metal ones.

Go on to work and forget about them.

When you get home, take the parts out of the vinegar bath, put them back together and reinstall the shower head.

That ought to do it.

Buy some more C.L.R. unscrew the head and dip it in the C.L.R let it dry and then scrub off the deposits, I use a green scrubber (use a straight pin to re-open the holes, ... works great, but do it in a well vented area, clr is a type of acid and may cause problems if you breath it. Good luck!

You can try vinegar but if CLR didn't get it clean then vinegar is not likely to do the job. You really need to use a stronger acid but that can be dangerous so I suggest you just buy a new shower head. They aren't that expensive and are easy to install.

Try some Baking Soda & Lemon Juice. Just put it ON, let it "Set"- & rinse Off. It tends to dissolve off in LAYERS. So You're probably going to have to Do it- a few Times. :)

try soaking it in white vinegar for a few hours. Removing the head from the pipe not necessarily required; think about how a horse nosebag works. your choice.

yes