There’s just something about a home cleaning hack that feels satisfying, like the spirit of Martha Stewart has inhabited your body. A recent viral video has viewers celebrating, of all things, dish detergent spray.
Popular TikTok creator Jordan (@jordan_the_stallion8), who often shares hacks and restaurant secrets with his 10.9 million followers, posted the video on Wednesday. It has 1.3 million views and more than 230,000 likes.
@jordan_the_stallion8 #stitch with @Julien Blanc #fypシ ♬ original sound – Jordan_The_Stallion8
The video springboards off a TikTok from creator @rex_king01, who asked people to share something they learned that blew their minds.
Jordan displays a spray bottle of Dawn-brand Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray to the camera. “If you’re running low on this type of dish spray, you do not have to go and get another one,” he says. “You can refill it, and it’s super easy.”
Jordan shows viewers a recipe to combine inside the empty bottle: Fill it a third of the way with regular dish soap, then add “two Mississippis worth” of regular rubbing alcohol. The rest of the bottle should then be filled with hot water.
Jordan sprays the mixture on a paper bag to demonstrate. “Got the same old foam to it,” he says.
The creator also says that adding a couple of drops of peppermint oil to the solution will deter ants and roaches.
The comments section was full of viewers appreciating the hack. “U just saved me $150 bucks,” one person commented.
Another viewer cautioned in the comments, “It has to be dawn platinum dish soap if you want it to be as strong as the original.” Another commenter replied, “Yes! Dawn Platinum has more surfactants than regular Dawn, as does the Power Wash. That’s what makes it work so well.”
“This man is saving my life from failing at adulting,” one comment read.
“Will now be finally purchasing this since it’s not a million bucks every time,” another one read.
Some viewers weren’t so sure. “Doesn’t work the same when u refill it like that,” one commenter added; another viewer wrote, “I’ve literally just been doing like 1/3 dawn 2/3 water without the alcohol it still works.”
The same refill hack is all over the internet, from wikiHow to Frugally Blonde to Reddit, so Jordan isn’t the only one touting the workaround.
Dawn’s official product listing for Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray links to its ingredients, which include water, denatured alcohol, and a slew of hard-to-pronounce things like C10-16 alkyldimethylamine oxide, which is a surfactant.
It also includes ingredients not found in regular Dawn dish soap, like hexyl ethoxylate (a surfactant), dipropylene glycol butyl ether (a solvent that helps cut grease), and more. So: You might not get the same effect as the original formulation if you try the hack.
A 16-fluid-ounce Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray costs around $5 to $6 online via Amazon, Target, and similar retailers. Dawn sells 16-fluid-ounce refills for the dish spray, which run around $4 when purchased online. You can get a 38-fluid-ounce bottle of the regular Dawn for a little under $6 on Amazon—so, if stretching your dollar is the goal, the math on Jordan’s hack works out.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jordan and Dawn’s parent company, Procter & Gamble, via email.
