Best Homemade Window Cleaner (Streak-Free Glass Cleaner)
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This No Streak Homemade Window Cleaner (known on the internet as Alvin Corn) is super easy to make, is much safer than a lot of the store-bought options, and leaves your windows and mirrors streak-free.
Plus it costs almost nothing to make, so it's easy on the budget too.
I personally think that it is so important to get Home Care and Personal Care Products that are toxin-free so that we, our families, and our world can be a lot more healthy.
Plus, you can save a TON of money by making these things yourself.
And it doesn't have to take a TON of time.
Benefits of Making Your Own Homemade Glass Cleaner:
1. Reduce Toxins In Your Home
Do you really want these things in your home?
propylene glycol
2 Hexoxyethanol
Ammonium Hydroxide
Mirapol Surf S-210
Viden EGM
Sodium C14-17 Sec-Alkyl Sulfonat
Fragrance Palette (The term fragrance can hide artificial fragrances are not healthy)
Liquitint Sky Blue Dye
Ick.
Yes, those are the ingredients in one of the more popular glass cleaners on the market.
Even if those chemicals don't make you feel bad, there's a lot of evidence that they aren't healthy, so it's a good idea to do what you can to remove toxins from your environment as much as possible.
2. Save Money
You can make your own cleaner for way less money than you'd spend on a commercial cleaner. Even if it's not cheaper, I'd still prefer to make my own for the other benefits.
3. Clean Up the Environment
Do you really want to add these toxins to our already toxically overloaded environment? I am convinced that one of the main problems regarding the onslaught of autism, auto-immune disorders, and cancer is the prevalence of toxins in our world. Every time you can use a toxin-free product over a toxin-laden one, you help the environment.
I used to use just plain vinegar to clean our mirrors and glass. Truth be told, we didn't really clean our windows often. Just didn't really think about it.
We'd put some plain vinegar on a piece of newspaper and wipe it all over the mirror.
It worked OK, but it did leave some streaks that were a little hard to get off.
This cleaner, however, is great. I found it on a number of sites all over the internet (not sure who created it, but it's called Alvin Corn) and I must say, it's a real winner.
This cleaner does contain isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, which some people may wish to avoid, but you can use vodka instead. It'll just cost more that way.
What's the Purpose of the Cornstarch?
One of the things you'll notice in this formula is that it has cornstarch in it.
Wondering what it's doing in there? Me too…
Here's what one reader shared with me:
On a microscopic level, glass is not perfectly smooth. When you spray water on it, the water molecules get caught in the pits on the glass surface. Water also clings to itself through hydrogen bonding – the hydrogen atoms from two molecules cling together. Water stuck in the glass + water stuck to more water = streaking. Cornstarch (or dish soap or oil-even a couple drops of essential oil) disrupts the hydrogen bonding, thus preventing streaks!
Cool beans! A DIY house cleaning recipe and science lesson in one!
How Much Can You Save?
A ton.
Vinegar: costs about $.59 for 32 ounces at Aldi. So even if we double the price, let's say it costs $.04
Rubbing Alcohol: Based on current Rite Aid pricing – $.25 for 1/4 cup
Cornstarch: A local Midwest grocery chain has it for $1.39 right now. If the tablespoon per pound info I got is correct, then the cost for 1 tablespoon is about $.04.
Water: I am just going to call this $0.00. The current approximate cost per gallon in my city is $.002 per gallon :-).
So – it costs a total of $.33 to make 2 1/2 cups of Glass Cleaner.
How To Use
- Windows
- Mirrors
- Glass Appliances
- Stainless Steel
- Chrome
- Aluminum
- Ceramic
- Plastic
- Do NOT use this on marble or coated eyeglasses, however!
Recipe Notes
- Shake: The spray needs to be shaken well each time you use it since the cornstarch might settle to the bottom or clog up your spray nozzle otherwise.
- Corn Alternatives: Though you're not eating this (please don't), if you need to avoid corn, other starches like tapioca or arrowroot should work as well.
- Cloth Options: You can use microfiber cloths or rags to wipe your surfaces clean. I prefer these options or newspaper to paper towels since paper towels leave lint and are more wasteful.
(Note – microfiber is plastic so I'm not really a fan, though it does tend to clean pretty well. A helpful reader commented that rags work pretty well as long as you don't use fabric softener on them (which, by the way, typically has lots of toxins in it like artificial fragrance, so here's another reason not to use it!) - Label Recommendation: As you make more and more non-toxic home cleaners you will know what is what. This handy dandy Chalkboard Contact Paper is great for label-making.
- Color It: Add natural food coloring to the bottle so kids will know it's not water. Beet juice (from canned beets) is one inexpensive natural color or you could drop a bit of powdered beet juice in as well but just a bit so it doesn't cause clogging.
- Prevent Streaking: Some readers have had streaking issues. This may be from impure essential oils or hard water. If you have streaking issues, please share in the comments what brand of essential oils you used and if you have hard water. I recommend only using pure essential oils even for house cleaning because even though it's “just” for cleaning, you still are breathing in oils (and whatever “else” might be in the oils. Another option is to leave out the cornstarch and see how that works.
- Use Two Cloths: To avoid streaking, use two cloths: one to wash and one dry cloth for drying.
- Eyeglass Warning: You can use this Homemade Glass Cleaner on your eyeglasses, but only if they are plain glass. If they are coated, avoid using this since alcohol will cause crazing (small surface cracks) in polycarbonate plastic. It can also cause the lens coating to deteriorate, resulting in less durable glasses that are easily scratched.
- Avoid Marble: Do not use this cleaner on marble as it might cause damage.
- The key to making this mixture perfect is to be sure the water is warm enough to dissolve the cornstarch, but not boiling or super hot. Also, don’t add the cornstarch to the water, add the water to the cornstarch in the bottle. If you don’t do that you’ll end up with film over your glass.
After “perfecting” Alvin Corn, I added 2 extra tablespoons of alcohol (totaling 1/4 cup alcohol) to make Alvin Corn dry quicker (for less streaking) and make it easier for it to pick up gunk.
Homemade Window Cleaner
Ingredients
- 1/8 cup white vinegar (apple cider vinegar will work as well)
- 1/4 cup isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol (vodka is a safer choice)
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch (reduces streaking)
- 1 cup water
- 4-5 drops essential oil of choice (optional. Lemon, orange, or another citrus would be my choice here, but lavender or others would be nice as well.
- A good glass spray bottle
or quality BPA-free plastic spray bottle.
Instructions
- Boil the water. Let it cool a little bit.
- Add the cornstarch to the bottle. Then add the water to the bottle. Shake well to dissolve.
- Add the rubbing alcohol and vinegar. Shake again to dissolve.
- Shake well before each use to prevent the cornstarch from clogging the nozzle.
- Spray onto glass surface and wipe clean.
Notes
- Shake: The spray needs to be shaken well each time you use it since the cornstarch might settle to the bottom or clog up your spray nozzle otherwise.
- Corn Alternatives: Other starches like tapioca or arrowroot should work as well.
- Best Cloth to Use: You can use microfiber cloths or rags to wipe your surfaces clean. I prefer these options or newspaper to paper towels since paper towels leave lint and are more wasteful. (Note – microfiber is plastic so I'm not really a complete fan, though it does tend to clean pretty well. A helpful reader commented that rags work pretty well as long as you don't use fabric softener on them (which, by the way, typically has lots of toxins in it like artificial fragrance, so here's another reason not to use it!)
- Label your bottle: So as you make more and more non-toxic home cleaners you will know what is what :-). This handy dandy Chalkboard Contact Paper is great for label making.
- Color It: Add natural food coloring to the bottle so kids will know it's not water. Beet juice (from canned beets) is one inexpensive natural color or you could drop a bit of powdered beet juice in as well.
- Prevent Streaking: Some readers have had streaking issues. It's possible this is from impure essential oils or hard water. If you have streaking issues, please do share in the comments what brand of essential oils you used and if you have hard water. I recommend only using pure essential oils even for house cleaning because even though it's “just” for cleaning, you still are breathing in oils (and whatever “else” might be in the oils. Another option is to leave out the cornstarch and see how that works.
- Use Two Cloths To avoid streaking, use two cloths–one to wash and one very dry cloth to dry.
- Eyeglass Warning: You can use this Homemade Glass Cleaner on your eyeglasses, but only if they are plain glass. If they are coated, avoid using this since alcohol will cause crazing (small surface cracks) in polycarbonate plastic. It can also cause the lens coating to deteriorate, resulting in less durable glasses that are easily scratched.
- Avoid Marble: Do not use this cleaner on marble as it might damage it.
More DIY Healthy Home Recipes
Are you an avid frugal DIYer like me? Here are some more ideas of simple things you can make for your home to reduce your exposure to toxins and save money while you're at it!
Homemade Natural Cleaning Products
Natural Dishwasher Rinse Aid
Homemade Foaming Soap
DIY Scrubbing Cleaner (like Soft Scrub)
Best DIY Fruit Fly Trap
Easiest DIY Weed Killer
Homemade Cleaning Paste
Homemade Laundry Detergent
The images in this post were updated in Jan 2020. For reference, here's one of the original images.
What do you use to clean your mirrors and windows?
“We’re going streaking!!!!! Through the quad and into the gymnasium!!!! Won -hoooo!!! It’s cool! You can bring your green hat!” -Hank the Tank
Sorry! I know this isn’t YouTube, but I couldn’t resist when I read “streaking issues”.
My apologies.
I wanted to add to the list if I may. I’ve found that once I’ve gotten the glass clean, or so I thought, it can get even ten times better, however, this involves chemicals and is nowhere near being ecomnomical. However, the glass glows and is so soft after you apply this final step, it’s hard to resist once you’ve tried it. It also repels water, already has oils in it to prevent streaking, and also works great on marble, granite, polycarbonate, mirror, all metals, polished fiberglass and really anything with a high gloss finish. Obviously, this is not a home made product, so I only use it maybe 5 times a year, or for special occasions. You can choose whatever kind you wanna buy, as I’ve yet to find one that will disappoint. My personal favorite is, NuFinish! The car detailing polish that is advertised as ” the once a year car polish”. The stuff is incredible! It’s actually addictive it’s so vibrant! I’ve heard that the 5 star hotels use this on every surface they can to give it that 5 star look, and it works. As a matter of fact, if you’re in a hurry, and I don’t suggest this as a solution at all times, because the point is to find a really good home made cleaner, and not a chemical, but just if you find yourself with only water and some car polish, don’t even bother with the water. You can apply the polish, let it sit, wait for it to turn cloudy, or haze, and then simply wipe away the haze. It takes off everything, similar to rubbing alcohol, but generally speaking, it doesn’t hurt any surfaces that I know of besides wood. It will bloat or impregnate softer woods, but other that, I can’t think of anything else that it can’t be used on, although, in sure there are more. Again, this diverts from the original idea. This is not at all cheap, has chemicals, and may cause irritation. I guess it all depends on how far you’re willing to go to get invisible glass, and it is most definitely that after using NuFinish. To be honest, I’ve never even looked to see what all is in it. It could be even more harmless that originally thought, but the scent is fairly pungent, almost as bad as Brasso, but sweeter.
One other side note! For white teeth, and whiter whites when doing laundry, trying adding a 1/4 cup white vinegar, this is for laundry, not teeth), a 1/4 cup of baking soda, a tablespoon of coconut milk, and a touch of any citrus that is agreeable with you for tough stains or really dingy whites. Amazing! It works wonders on colors too! Especially white’s!
Recipes for whitening teeth using these same ingredients can be found online, but just a word to the wise, when using this for teeth whitening, do not exceed more than once a week. The vinegar and citrus are both highly acidic and will remove healthy enamel from your teeth. I typically do 2 times a month and my teeth have never been healthier. My last dentist visit, I did this right before I went in, and when the dentist looked at my teeth, he was blown away at how clean my mouth was. He even said that my mouth was the cleanest he had ever seen .that is an awesome compliment to get from.your dentist, but had he seen me a week.later without the rinse, it’s doubtful I would’ve gotten the same response. To keep the doctor away, I take a whiskey shot if Apple cider vinegar every 3 days. I haven’t been sick since I started taking it 6 years ago. Eveypry 3 days is just right. Any more and you may suffer some gastrointestinal or esophageal issues. I recommend diluting it with water when you begin to see what you can handle first.
Thanks!
Super interesting! Why are you concerned about damage from diluted ACV in the esophagus etc??
I like this recipe! I’ve been using it for a year now – and it works so well! Thank you so much! I do have a question… Can I use denatured alcohol instead of the isopropyl alcohol?
Yes, pretty sure you can!
I’ve been using this for a couple of years and works better than the commercial ones! Thanks for posting!
So glad to hear that and you are so welcome! More coming soon. I’m so behind but determined to get more recipes, etc. out. Thanks for coming back to comment!
I tried this today with distilled water (I have hard water) and it still made a streaky mess. Then I tried to do it without the corn starch and had better luck but still not great. I have tiny dogs and small grandchildren so there are a lot of prints. I think I will go back to what my professional window washers use which is plain water and a drop of dish soap and use it with a squeegie instead of wiping. It seems to work well for them.
Hi there. So sorry that it didn’t work for you! I am really confused about why this works fantastically for some and not for others. Will try to figure it out! Doesn’t the method you are using end up using too much water?
Have you tried in on the inside of car windshield? I’m looking for a solution for that.
I haven’t done that–but I can’t imagine why that wouldn’t work! Let me know!
Can u share the glass cleaning recipe that does not have alcohol in it and perhaps no essential oils too.?
Working on it–stay tuned! You can subscribe for updates if you like. I have a DIY Laundry Detergent coming soon too!
You claim to be research based but you didn’t bother to find out whether or why vinegar damaged marble (instead of just taking someone’s word for it.) Makes me pretty skeptical of everything on your website.
Hi ANne – thanks for reading. I’m really confused by your comment. I stated in the post the following “I’ve found out that you shouldn’t use vinegar on marble as it can cause it to corrode”–why are you saying that I didn’t bother to find it out? I did and the point was valid. I didn’t just take someone’s word for it.
Hope that helps. I am not perfect (like no one is) but I did research this and I research quite a bit of things and I suspect it’s more than the average blogger. If you have other concerns, feel free to bring them up :).
Best glass cleaner ever! It works better than the commercially made glass cleaner. I love it when natural, good-for-you ingredients work better than the toxic stuff!!
I did use distilled water, because I had it on hand and it seems to work a bit better on my glass. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Thank you! Working on another option too–you are so welcome!!
I always use this homemade recipe. I have a grandson that now lives with us and another on the way. I want to use natural cleaning DIY recipes as much as possible and this is the best for us! Thank you!
You are so welcome and glad to hear it!!
Let’s start with WOW. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I ran out of cleaner this morning and, since I live a little ways out, I didn’t feel like taking 45-minutes or longer of my time, just for glass cleaner. This is assuming that I didn’t find a whole cart full of stuff I probably didn’t need right now. My husband hates when I shop alone!
I’ve made some other DIY’s in the past, but for some reason or another they didn’t work for me. This did.It scared me a bit however. It seemed much heavier on the glass and when first wiping, it looked wetter. I used a 2-sided microfiber cloth specifically for glass and wiped with the cleaning side and then wiped again with the buffing side and BAM! There it was, instant shine! No need for a second spray or even a little elbow grease. It worked on the gross bathroom mirror, totally my husband’s fault, and the ancient shower door that hates being cleaned. It was a great find. I thought I’d leave the brands and types of products I used that may help others, especially if they have very hard water.
1/4 cup white vinegar- I used White House All-Natural Cleaning Vinegar. It has a higher acidity of 6% compared to the normal 5%. This gives it more cleaning power. And it’s lemon-scented—well, sort of.
1/4 cup isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol- I used Member’s Mark (Sam’s Club) 91% rather than the normal 70% Why? Because it’s more effective for disinfecting, and cleaning things like glass or stainless steel. It also dries much faster too. 70% is much better as a first aid remedy for rubbing on the skin in this more diluted strength.
1 Tbsp non-GMO cornstarch- I used good ol’ Argo
2 cups water- I have well water that’s very hard, but it all goes through the water softener first, and, in this case, the refrigerator filter too.
8-10 drops essential oil of choice – Not that the scent matters much to anyone but me, I used 5 drops each of lemon and grapefruit Now 100% Pure Essential Oils
So glad to hear this! Thanks for taking the time to share all of that! Laughing about the shopping alone part of your comment :). Hope to see you around again!