The short answer: yes, almost every shower curtain and plastic liner can go in a washing machine, and whether it survives depends on two numbers nobody mentions. The first is the gauge, meaning the thickness: liners are sold from 4 gauge to 12, and a thin one has considerably less to hold onto when the drum starts turning. The second is the water temperature, where the published advice splits between cold and warm because plastic warps and the type matters. Add two bath towels for scrubbing and balance, use a gentle cycle, and never put it in the dryer, which melts it into a lump. And one safety point: several guides recommend bleach and several recommend vinegar, and combining them produces chlorine gas.
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The number on the packaging that decides it
Every guide to this says the same three things: put it in with a couple of towels, use a gentle cycle, and never use the dryer. All correct, and all of it assumes every liner is the same object.
They are not. Liners are sold by gauge, which is a thickness measurement, and the range on the shelf runs from 4 gauge to 12. That is a threefold difference in material, and it decides whether a wash is routine or a gamble.
What gauge actually changes
A 4 gauge liner is the cheap clear one that comes folded in a small bag and feels like a carrier bag. It is light, it clings, and there is very little material around the grommet holes at the top.
An 8 or 10 gauge liner is noticeably heavier, hangs straight rather than clinging, and has a reinforced header along the top edge. Manufacturers describe that header as preventing tearing through everyday use and removal for washing, which is a revealing phrase: they are telling you the top edge is the failure point and that the reinforcement is there partly because people take these things off and wash them.
So the honest answer to whether you can wash a shower curtain is yes, and a thin liner is at genuine risk of tearing at the grommets while a heavy one is not. If you have torn one in the machine before and concluded liners cannot be washed, it was probably the gauge rather than the method.
And the second number: temperature
Here the published advice openly contradicts itself. One national cleaning franchise says warm and specifically not hot. A cleaning expert quoted by a major morning programme says cold, to prevent melting or warping. A third source says cold or warm but never hot. A fourth just says cool.
They are all trying to solve the same problem, which is that these are plastics with a real heat limit, and they are hedging in different directions because the packaging rarely tells you which plastic you own.
The safe reading is cold to warm and never hot, and the reason to lean cold is that the consequence of being wrong is not a slightly less clean liner. It is a warped one.
Numbers worth knowing
Two towels in the load, not one and not four. They serve two purposes: they rub against the liner as the drum turns, which is the actual scrubbing action, and they balance the load so a light sheet of plastic does not simply plaster itself to the drum wall and go round without being washed. Every source that has thought about this agrees on the towels, which is unusual.
And once a month is the interval the professionals give, which is more often than almost anyone does it. The reason is that mildew on a liner is not dirt sitting on plastic, it is a colony growing in a permanently damp environment, and a monthly wash interrupts it before it establishes in the seams and hem.
Which leaves the material question, and that is where the advice about what to put in the machine with it becomes genuinely important rather than merely a preference.
Find your method in 3 taps
What it is made of, how thick it is, and what is wrong with it. Those three decide between a machine, a bath and a bin.
The one combination to avoid entirely
This section exists because of a pattern in the published advice rather than because of anything difficult about the task.
Read three or four guides on cleaning a shower curtain and you will be told to add bleach, and you will be told to add vinegar, sometimes in the same article a few paragraphs apart. One expert quoted in a national outlet specifically recommends bleach for killing mould spores. Several other sources recommend a cup of vinegar at the rinse cycle for odour and soap scum. Both pieces of advice are reasonable on their own.
Together they produce chlorine gas. One cleaning franchise states it plainly and most sources do not mention it at all, which leaves a reader who has skimmed two articles reaching for both bottles.
So pick one, by the problem
Bleach for mildew. Black spots are living growth and bleach kills them. Use it on clear or white liners only, since it lightens colour. Around half a cup with a little mild detergent, on a cool gentle cycle.
Vinegar for soap scum and smell. The cloudy white film is soap reacting with minerals in your water, and vinegar is mildly acidic so it dissolves mineral deposits. Bleach does not. A cup at the rinse cycle, and safe on colour.
If you have genuinely got both problems, wash twice on separate days rather than combining them. That is slower and it is the only version that is not a chemistry experiment in a confined room.
And a third one worth knowing
Vinegar and bicarbonate of soda together do not produce anything dangerous, and they do cancel each other out. One is an acid and the other an alkali, so combining them in the same wash gives you salty water and neither active ingredient. Several guides recommend adding both, which is the fifth time this particular error has come up across the cleaning advice I have worked through.
Use bicarbonate as a dry scrub on the liner before it goes in, or vinegar in the rinse. Not both in the drum at once.
The pink slime is not mould
That orange-pink film along the bottom hem is Serratia marcescens, a bacterium rather than a fungus, and it feeds on soap residue rather than on the plastic. Which explains two things people find puzzling: why it grows along the bottom where water and soap collect, and why it returns within days of a thorough clean. The wash removes it; the soap you use puts the food back. Switching from bar soap to body wash or a non-soap cleansing bar makes a bigger difference than any cleaning product.
By material, and what each one takes
The dryer column is the only one where every source agrees, and it is worth reading before anything else.
| Material | Machine | Water | Bleach | Dryer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PEVA or EVA plastic | Yes, gentle | Cold to warm | Clear or white only | Never. It melts |
| Vinyl or PVC | Yes, gentle | Cold to warm | Clear or white only | Never |
| Polyester fabric | Yes | Warm | Pure white only | Low heat, yes |
| Cotton or linen curtain | Check the tag | Warm | Pure white cotton only | Low, expect shrinkage |
| 4 gauge, any plastic | Yes, but it may tear | Cold | Clear only | Never |
| 8 to 12 gauge plastic | Yes, repeatedly | Cold to warm | Clear or white only | Never |
The two bottom rows are the same plastic doing different jobs, which is the point of this table. A liner sold as disposable-thin and one sold as heavy duty get identical advice in every cleaning article, and they behave differently in a drum.
And the fabric rows are the exception that catches people the other way: a polyester curtain genuinely can go in a dryer on low, which is the one thing every guide tells you never to do because they are all thinking about plastic.
Numbers worth knowing
PEVA has largely replaced PVC on the shelf and the reason is chemistry rather than performance. PEVA is chlorine-free and releases significantly fewer volatile organic compounds, which is why a new PEVA liner has almost no smell while a new vinyl one has that unmistakable plastic odour. If your liner still smells after a wash, that is the material off-gassing rather than dirt, and washing will not fix it.
The other detail worth looking for when you replace one is a weighted hem, either magnets or stones sewn into the bottom. Manufacturers describe magnets as keeping the curtain in place and away from your body, and that second part is the useful bit: a liner that clings to you is a liner that stays wet longer and grows mildew faster. It is a mechanical fix for a biological problem.
The wash, step by step
- Take the hooks off rather than pulling the liner through them. The grommets are the failure point and dragging plastic past a hook is how the first tear starts.
- Pre-treat any visible mildew. A paste of bicarbonate and water scrubbed onto the spots, or a spray of vinegar solution left a few minutes, both work. Do this now rather than relying on the cycle to handle it.
- Load it with two bath towels. They rub against the liner as the drum turns, which is the scrubbing, and they stop a sheet of plastic plastering itself to the drum wall and going round unwashed.
- Gentle cycle, cold to warm water, mild detergent. Never hot. If you are treating mildew, add about half a cup of bleach on a clear or white liner. If you are treating soap scum or smell, add a cup of vinegar at the rinse instead. One or the other, never both.
- Take it out as the spin finishes. Leaving wet plastic compressed in a drum sets creases that never come out.
- Hang it straight back on the rod, spread wide. Not folded over a rail, not bunched on the hooks. It dries in an hour spread out and stays damp all day bunched up, and damp is the whole problem.
Two habits that do more than the washing
Spread it out after every shower. A liner pushed to one end holds water in the folds for hours. Spread across the rod it dries in under an hour. This is the single most effective thing on this page and it costs nothing.
Run the extractor fan for fifteen minutes after you finish. Not during only. The liner is the wettest object in the room and it dries at whatever rate the air allows, which is why a bathroom with poor ventilation gets through liners faster.
When to stop washing and replace it
A liner is not permanent, and one manufacturer says so on their own product page: all shower curtains get dirty, wear out and will eventually need replacing. The practical signals are a tear at any grommet, since they spread; discolouration that survives a wash, which means the growth is in the material rather than on it; a persistent smell once dry; and creases that hold water no matter how you hang it. At that point washing is maintenance on something already finished, and a heavier gauge liner will outlast three thin ones.
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The one that survives washing: 8 gauge with a weighted hem
If your liner has torn at a grommet or you are replacing one that never really recovered, this is the specification to buy rather than the cheapest clear sheet on the shelf. Eight gauge is twice the thickness of the thin ones, and the reinforced header exists specifically so the top edge survives being taken down and put through a machine.
The three magnets in the hem do a job people underestimate. The manufacturer describes them as keeping the curtain in place and away from your body, and that second part is the mildew fix: a liner that clings to you stays wet far longer than one that hangs straight, so the weighting is a mechanical solution to a biological problem.
It is PEVA rather than PVC, so it is chlorine-free and has none of the plastic smell that makes a new vinyl liner unpleasant for a fortnight. Twelve rustproof metal grommets rather than punched holes, which is the other half of surviving repeated washing.
Worth it or skip: Worth it if you intend to wash the liner monthly, since a heavy one goes through many cycles and a thin one does not. Skip it if you genuinely prefer replacing a cheap liner twice a year, which is a legitimate choice and works out at a similar cost with less laundry.
Three more, by the problem you keep having
A mildew-resistant two pack, so one can be in the wash. The reason liners get left up dirty is that taking one down means a shower with nothing in front of it. Two solves that, the same way two mattress protectors do. These are treated to resist mould and mildew, have a weighted bottom and reinforced grommets, and work alone or behind a fabric curtain. See the two pack →
A 6 gauge PEVA, if the plastic smell is your complaint. This one spells out the material difference on the packaging: PEVA is chlorine-free, contains no dangerous fumes and has no chemical smell, unlike PVC vinyl. If you have ever hung a new liner and had to leave the window open for a week, that was vinyl and this is the answer. Twelve rustproof grommets and three weighted magnets. See the 6 gauge PEVA →
Magnets and suction cups, for a liner that will not stay put. If yours billows inward every time the shower runs, it spends the whole shower against you and the whole day drying. This has magnetic weights along the bottom and eight small suction cups to hold it to the tub wall, which fixes the billowing rather than working around it. Anti-mould treated, with rustproof metal grommets. See the version with suction cups →
A liner that keeps going mouldy is usually telling you about the room rather than about itself. I go through what the humidity should read and where the moisture comes from in where the water sits.
Washed it and something went wrong? 2 taps
The quiz above is for planning. This one starts from what happened, and the second question usually explains it.
People also ask about washing shower curtains
Can you put a shower curtain in the washing machine?
Yes, including plastic and vinyl liners. Take the hooks off, add two bath towels for scrubbing and balance, use a gentle cycle with cold to warm water and mild detergent, and hang it straight back on the rod to dry. Never use the dryer, at any setting. The one variable nobody mentions is the gauge: liners are sold from 4 to 12 gauge, and a thin one has very little material around the grommet holes, which is where they tear. If yours has torn in the machine before, that was the thickness rather than the method.
What temperature should you wash a shower curtain at?
Cold to warm, and never hot. The published advice genuinely splits here, with some sources saying warm and others insisting on cold to prevent melting or warping, and the reason is that liners are plastics with a real heat limit that the packaging rarely states. Leaning cold is the safer reading, because the consequence of getting it wrong is not a slightly less clean liner but a permanently distorted one, and distortion creates folds that hold water and grow mildew.
Should you use bleach or vinegar on a shower curtain?
One or the other, never both, because combined they produce chlorine gas. That matters here specifically because different guides recommend each without mentioning the other, so somebody who has read two articles may reach for both bottles. Use bleach for black mildew spots, on clear or white liners only since it lightens colour. Use vinegar for soap scum and odour, added at the rinse cycle, since it is mildly acidic and dissolves the mineral deposits that bleach does not touch. If you have both problems, wash twice on separate days.
Why does my shower curtain get slimy at the bottom?
That pink or orange film is Serratia marcescens, a bacterium rather than mould, and it feeds on soap residue rather than on the plastic. That explains both why it appears along the bottom hem where water and soap collect, and why it returns within days of being cleaned: the wash removes it and your soap puts the food back. Switching from bar soap to body wash or a non-soap cleansing bar makes more difference than any cleaning product, since most bar soaps are what create soap scum in the first place.
Shower curtain FAQ
How often should you wash it?
About once a month, which is considerably more often than most people manage. The reason is that mildew on a liner is a colony growing in a permanently damp place rather than dirt sitting on plastic, and a monthly wash interrupts it before it establishes in the hem and the folds. Spreading the liner wide after every shower does more than washing it twice as often.
Why do I need to add towels?
Two reasons and both matter. The towels rub against the liner as the drum turns, which is the actual scrubbing action, since a sheet of plastic on its own just moves through the water. And they balance the load, so the liner does not plaster itself to the drum wall and go round unwashed. Two bath towels is the number every source that has thought about it gives.
What is the difference between PEVA and PVC?
PEVA is chlorine-free and releases significantly fewer volatile organic compounds, which is why a new PEVA liner has almost no smell while a new vinyl one has that unmistakable plastic odour. PEVA has largely replaced PVC on the shelf for that reason. If your liner still smells after washing, that is the material off-gassing rather than dirt, and no amount of laundering will change it.
Can I wash the fabric curtain and the liner together?
Yes, and they count as your load rather than needing separate towels if the fabric curtain is heavy enough to provide the rubbing action. Wash on the settings the plastic needs rather than the fabric, meaning cooler and gentler, since the fabric will be fine either way. Hang both to dry, or tumble only the fabric one on low.
Do mildew-resistant liners actually work?
They delay it rather than prevent it, which is a real benefit and not the same as immunity. A treated liner in a bathroom that stays wet will still grow mildew, just later. The two things that matter more are spreading it wide to dry after every shower and running the extractor fan afterwards, and a treated liner on top of those habits genuinely lasts noticeably longer.
When should I just replace it?
When there is a tear at any grommet, since those spread rather than stopping. When discolouration survives a proper wash, which means the growth is in the material rather than on it. When it smells once genuinely dry. Or when it holds creases that no longer drop out, because those folds hold water permanently. One manufacturer puts it plainly on their own product page: liners get dirty, wear out and eventually need replacing.
The shower curtain cheat sheet
The wash
Hooks off. Pre-treat mildew spots. Two bath towels in the load.
Gentle cycle, cold to warm, never hot. Mild detergent.
Out as the spin finishes. Hang on the rod spread wide, not bunched.
Never the dryer. No setting is safe. Fabric polyester is the only exception.
Bleach or vinegar. Never both
Together they make chlorine gas. Different guides recommend each without mentioning the other.
Bleach for black mildew. Clear or white liners only.
Vinegar at the rinse for soap scum and smell. Safe on colour.
The number nobody mentions
Gauge. Liners run 4 to 12. Thin ones tear at the grommets; heavy ones have a reinforced header built to survive being taken down and washed.
If it tore in the machine, that was the thickness rather than your method.
The two habits that beat washing
Spread it wide after every shower. Bunched it stays damp all day; spread it dries in under an hour.
Run the fan for fifteen minutes afterwards, not only during. The liner is the wettest thing in the room.
Free printable
The Cozy Home Starter Checklist
The jobs that keep a home feeling fresh are mostly small, monthly and easy to forget entirely, which is exactly what a list is for. This printable walks you through room by room, catching the things that quietly matter.
Keep reading
- Where the Water Sits Tells You Which Problem You Have
A liner that keeps going mouldy is reporting on the room. What indoor humidity should read, and where the moisture comes from. - Satin and Semi-Gloss Are Not Fixed Things
The walls around the shower have the same moisture problem, and the finish name on the tin is not the specification. - Stiff Towels Have Three Causes. Vinegar Only Fixes One
The two towels you just put in with the liner have their own residue problem, and it is fixable. - Four Different Things, and Two of Them Ruin a Machine
The same logic elsewhere in the house: a washable layer protects the thing you cannot wash, and heat destroys it. - Washing Foam Is Easy. Drying It Is Where Sofas Die
What happens when something stays damp somewhere you cannot see, and the 48-hour clock attached to it.
Wash it, and then look at the folds
Yes, it goes in the machine, and most people do not know that, which is why liners get thrown away by the million. Two towels for the scrubbing, a gentle cycle, cold to warm water, and straight back on the rod to dry. Never the dryer, which melts plastic into something you cannot hang.
Two numbers decide how it goes, and neither appears in the usual advice. The gauge, which is the thickness, determines whether the grommets survive the drum, and the range on the shelf runs from 4 to 12. And the temperature, where the published guidance genuinely contradicts itself because these are plastics with a heat limit the packaging rarely states. Cold to warm and never hot covers both.
One safety point worth repeating, because the advice is scattered across different articles. Bleach kills mildew and vinegar dissolves soap scum, and putting both in the same drum produces chlorine gas. Pick the one that matches your problem, and if you have both, wash twice on different days.
And then do the thing that actually works, which is nothing to do with laundry. Spread the liner wide across the rod after every shower instead of pushing it to one end, and run the fan for a quarter of an hour after you finish. A liner that dries in an hour does not grow anything, and it is the cheapest habit in this house.
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