The foam still cleans for me, as it does for all those who truly believe

October 30, 2016 11:45 AM

On your advice, I bought some offbrand Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I'm not feeling the magic. What gives?

Previous Ask MeFi cleaning questions convinced me to buy some melamine foam a few years back. Every so often when I'm the one cleaning our kitchen or bathrooms, I break out a block and attempt to use it on grease/dirt/hard water stains that have built up in the 4-8 weeks since the last real cleaning occurred. Invariably, it feels like the foam does basically nothing unless I mash it into the surface I'm trying to clean and scrub back and forth until tiny bits of foam start to break off, and even then, not much more than windex and a paper towel. Am I missing something here? Is this one of those products where we'd have to clean more frequently to appreciate? Do you have some great application for these where melamine foam is your preferred choice for cleaning an entire surface, or should we chuck them and go back to damp soapy dishrags, the reigning champion for cleaning up surfaces and random gunk?

posted by deludingmyself to Home & Garden (18 answers total)

I've found that the offbrand version doesn't do much. The real ones are far superior.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 11:55 AM on October 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Melamine sponges are essentially a super-duper soft kind of sandpaper. So, they work by sanding off the gunk from whatever surface it has adhered to. I only use them when garden variety cleaners (windex, dish soap) aren't having an effect.

And, my experience is that yes, they disintegrate while you're using them. That's again, because they clean by abrading, but they're soft enough not to damage (most) surfaces.
posted by msbubbaclees at 11:56 AM on October 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: You're wetting them before you scrub, right? I've had excellent results with the Mr. Clean brand.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:03 PM on October 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Get the genuine article Magic Erasers. They're much more effective and while they still break down like you described, it happens much more gradually than with the generic versions.
posted by Pizzarina Sbarro at 12:04 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Whenever I spill dye on the paintwork, melamine foam is basically the only thing that will get it off. I mean I wipe it off with a detergent towelette when it's fresh, but very often dye stains don't show up until hours later, when it's too late.

Yes, it takes a lot of elbow grease and yes, the sponge disintegrates in use. But I thought that's to be expected, after all, it's an abrasive mineral, it doesn't *actually* work by magic any more than anything else does.

I've found no appreciable difference between branded and off-brand except that branded costs about £1 each and off-brand costs like £1 per dozen.
posted by tel3path at 12:07 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Real thing. Off brand wasn't cutting it for me, either.
posted by BlueHorse at 12:20 PM on October 30, 2016

Best answer: I've found the euro-shop offbrand ones are fine, you just have to have them dripping wet when you use them. Yours sound too dry.
posted by shelleycat at 12:30 PM on October 30, 2016

Best answer: They're not an "entire surface" thing for me, I just use them on stains that otherwise aren't coming off (sharpie on laminate cupboard, intractable grout stains, scuffs that won't wipe off, etc.).

And yeah, wet the sponge. The corner you're working with should flatten out and slowly decay, larger bits coming off usually means I need more water (I use fingertips to scrub with them a bit because I'm cheap).
posted by momus_window at 12:36 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Mine got a metal scratch out of a toilet that nothing else would budge and rust from well water fed sprinklers that discolored a composite deck. I don't use them for regular cleaning, just the stuff where regular cleaning isn't enough.
posted by cecic at 12:47 PM on October 30, 2016

Best answer: I also find that melamine foam doesn't work well on those types of stains/I would use them up way before I got significant results.

For tub/bathroom build up, baking soda works way better for me (make a thick paste, use an old sponge to scrub the area with the paste). And is pretty cheap.

For hard water stains that don't come away with baking soda, I first use a limescale remover, or a vinegar soak. That usually gets rid of the worst.

For grease, depending on where it is, I sometimes use mineral oil to "soften it up", remove as much as I can with mineral oil, and then am able to wipe away the rest with regular detergent/water. Or using something like Goo gone.
posted by troytroy at 12:49 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yeah, I wouldn't think to grab a melamine sponge for that kind of work, with a hard water buildup. I use them on all the porcelain parts of the sink, and the counter, because they're great at greasy/dusty scum and makeup drips, but I generally spray CLR on those hard water stains and then scrub with an old toothbrush or green scrubby.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:29 PM on October 30, 2016

Response by poster: ...wet the sponge.

Right. Well. There's my problem. (Plus the existing hard water / infrequent cleaning problems.)

In my defense, the description of how to use these suckers is:

"Simply rub the Eraser over the area or stains that need to be cleaned. Most stains begin lifting immediately."

Which sounds like a) magic, and b) roughly analogous to how sandpaper works, which is to say, dry.

Thanks, MeFi.
posted by deludingmyself at 2:10 PM on October 30, 2016 [13 favorites]

Don't worry, you're not the only one. I thought they were total shite until I somehow figured out they needed to be wet. I have NO idea why that's not made more clear.

(I have a 100-for-$6-from-China pack; I like the off brand just fine.)
posted by kmennie at 3:02 PM on October 30, 2016 [6 favorites]

They work really well to get dog oil/grime off painted walls and kitchen cabinets.
posted by teremala at 3:31 PM on October 30, 2016

I find that they work a lot better on grime than on things like hard water stains. For example I recently cleaned out an absolutely filthy bathtub (which was not filthy on my account, I feel I should clarify) with them, and it worked a treat.

And, yes, sopping wet of course.
posted by Sara C. at 5:07 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah hard water is not the ideal target for them, its a rough surface so it tends to shred them before they can shred the hard water.
posted by Ferreous at 5:26 PM on October 30, 2016

Don't worry, you're not the only one. I thought they were total shite until I somehow figured out they needed to be wet.

Yup, me too. I actually think I got them wet by accident then it started working. Stupid instructions are stupid.

I use 5x concentrated vinegar on hard water stains with good success. I agree that it's not a great thing for the erasers. Whereas greasy marks around light switches and at cat-height on the door frames are magically removed by the erasers.
posted by shelleycat at 10:39 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

I literally had this same issue just a few days ago. I see that you solved it above and, I agree, the packaging is misleading- They really need to be wet.
posted by GilloD at 4:05 PM on October 31, 2016