I Tested The Pink Stuff Cleaner to See If It Truly Works Miracles

I've lived in my current apartment for nearly three years, and I'm ashamed to admit that I've never once cleaned the inside of my oven. And it's not as though I hardly use it. Frequent baking, broiling, and roasting have coated the interior with baked-on spills and grease splatters, so when I finally decided to clean it, I knew I'd need to be armed with a heavy-duty cleaner. Through social media, I'd heard about The Pink Stuff cleaning paste. It has more than 450 million views on TikTok (#thepinkstuff), and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

Buy It: Star Drops The Pink Stuff Miracle All Purpose Cleaning Paste ($6, Amazon)

Made by UK-based Star Brands, The Pink Stuff is a mildly abrasive paste cleaner (and yes, it's pink!). You apply it using a soft cloth or sponge, gently rub it onto the surface, and rinse it off with clean water. It promises to remove stains and rust from most hard surfaces, including cooktops, saucepans, sinks, ceramic tile, and more. The vegetable oil-based formula is nontoxic and made with 99 percent natural ingredients, including baking soda, quartz, and soap. It has a mild fruity scent that reminded me of berry-flavored yogurt, which sure beats the harsh chemical smell of many other cleaners.

You can find the cleaning paste for about $6 for a nearly 18-ounce container, and most of the more than 55,000 reviews rave about its ability to remove limescale around sinks, erase stubborn stains on glass stove tops, and make greasy ovens look like new.

Before tackling my dirty oven, I decided to test The Pink Stuff on a few other areas first. I started with my bathroom sink, which had some gross buildup around the edges of the sink basin and faucet that my usual all-purpose cleaner wouldn't budge. With a dollop of paste and a quick scrub using a soft-bristled toothbrush, the grime easily lifted away. Next, I headed to the kitchen, where I dipped a sponge in the paste and used it to speedily restore shine to my stainless-steel sink. (Though admittedly, my sink wasn't that dirty, and I can usually get the same results using my go-to vinegar and baking soda solution.)

All in all, I was fairly impressed, but cleaning my oven would be the true test. After slathering some of The Pink Stuff across the inside of the grease-spattered door, I let it sit for about five minutes before starting to scrub. For some of the edges and corners, I used my trusty used toothbrush, and for the rest, I scrubbed with a sponge. As I cleaned, I could see the sticky brown residue start to lift away, and after several minutes of effort, I decided to check my progress.

It took a while to wipe off all the remaining paste, and when the surface was clear, I could still see a few stubborn grease spots stuck to the door. After the second round of smearing, scrubbing, and wiping, it still wasn't perfectly clean, but compared to where I started, the difference was pretty remarkable.

So after all my trials, I'm a Pink Stuff believer—kind of. Sure, it got my gross oven door (mostly) clean, and it smells much better than other harsh cleaners. But be prepared to put in some elbow grease. This is definitely not one of those "spray and walk away" cleaning products; it takes some serious scrubbing to remove the toughest stains. And since it's an abrasive product, you have to be careful not to scrub too hard, or you'll end up damaging your surface. I wouldn't use this product on anything plastic, highly polished, or painted, such as walls, doors, or furniture. And you might want to think twice before using it to scrub down any ceramic, glass, or porcelain surfaces that can scratch easily.

The bottom line: The Pink Stuff works well if you don't mind working up a sweat while you clean, but I'd stop short of calling it a miracle.