Scrub Daddy vs. Scrub Mommy: Experts Weigh in on These Game

Dec 11, 2023

Whether you’re scrubbing with a sponge, a cloth or steel wool, cleaning your casserole dishes, utensils, pots and other kitchenware often requires a bit of elbow grease. Or it did... until the invention of Scrub Daddy—a miraculous smiley faced sponge that rose to fame after being featured on Shark Tank. Since its introduction to millions of people on the show, the scrubber has gone viral for its scratch-free cleaning power that requires little effort.

Now, the brand has introduced a new family member, the Scrub Mommy. It’s another smiling sponge with its own impressive cleaning abilities. Here, we asked top cleaning experts (who have no affiliation with the company) about their experience with the scrubbers and the obvious questions: Are they worth the hype? In the match-up between Scrub Daddy vs Scrub Mommy—who is the winner? Read on for the need-to-know info, cleaning tips and more!

Scrub Daddy is a smiley-faced sponge with thousands of 5-star reviews on Amazon and more than 77,000 posts on Instagram. It's made from a polymer foam called FlexTexture. This special foam allows the sponge to become firm in cold water (for tough scrubbing) and soft in warm water (for lighter cleaning). It’s also scratch-free on more than a dozen surfaces (including glass, stainless steel, cast iron and nonstick coatings).

“Scrub Daddy was featured on Shark Tank and took off very shortly after. What makes Scrub Daddy different than a regular sponge is its unique ‘temperamental’ foam material," says cleaning pro and Airbnb cleaning specialist Whitney White in Denver, Colorado. "Using hot water on Scrub Daddy creates a soft sponge for easy cleaning, while dunking it in cold water creates a more abrasive sponge for tougher cleaning jobs.” Also nice: The sponge is lab-tested to remain odor-free for up to 8 weeks. And Scrub Daddy’s "eyes" provide an ergonomic grip — two fingers can easily hold on and the sponge molds into corners and cups, while his "smile" is perfectly sized to clean both sides of spoons, spatulas and other utensils.

“Scrub Daddy and Scrub Mommy are much better at keeping their shape than your standard sponge (if you decide to swap to a Scrub Mommy or Daddy, here are 10 other uses for kitchen sponges) and they last much longer — there are no bits falling off and they are top-rack dishwasher-safe,” says professional cleaner Lynsey Crombie, known as The Queen of Clean, and author of The 15-Minute Clean: The Quickest Way to a Sparkling Home.

What is the difference between the Scrub Daddy and the Scrub Mommy? At first glance, both sponges have the same signature eyes, hairdo and smiley mouths, but the sponges are made of different textures. While Scrub Daddy is made fully of the FlexTexture foam, Scrub Mommy has one side made of FlexTexture; the other side is a firmer foam that the company calls ResoFoam. It’s a bit more dense, absorbs more water and gets sudsier, according to our experts.

“They are both also stain-resistant, so they always look clean sitting by your sink whereas some sponges look stained and dirty,” says Crombie, who declares herself a big fan of both products but says she especially loves the versatility of the Scrub Mommy. “Scrub Daddy is one material, whereas the Scrub Mommy has the flex texture side and a soft sponge side, so when cleaning you can scrub with the flex texture and then simply flip her over, suds up your pot, rinse and leave a nice clean finish.”

Want a visual of both scrubbers in action? Check out the Scrub Daddy vs Scrub Mommy video from professional cleaner and Youtuber Brandon of Clean That Up, below. Although Brandon is a fan of both scrubbers, he says Scrub Mommy produces a richer lather: “The other thing I love about this ResoFoam is that it helps your cleaners go a very long way. You simply put a few drops of dish soap on Scrub Mommy and it creates suds for days. It works really well at prolonging and giving you a lot of use out of a little bit of soap. But all in all, it’s really hard for me to say which one is better — I keep both of these in my cleaning kit and I like to use them to clean almost anything!” Tip: When you need a very coarse or firm texture, immerse Scrub Daddy in a small bowl of water with a handful of ice cubes. Or you can keep a Scrub Daddy in the fridge or freezer so a coarse scrubber is always ready for use!

The short answer: Yes! “They both work great for cleaning a multitude of things and surfaces from kitchen countertops to pots and pans to — surprisingly — car wheel hubs,” says Crombie. “In my home, I use them in both the kitchen and the bathrooms — they are great at removing soap scum and limescale off shower doors and scrubbing dark bathtub stains. Used with a tiny drop of liquid dish soap or your favorite cleaner, they thoroughly clean up dishes, frying pans and the like with ease. Plus, the happy faces bring a bit of fun to the mundane task of cleaning — even the kids are happy to pitch in with clean ups!”

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