No one in this whole thread knows how to use a toilet brush and it’s boggling my mind.

Start with an empty toilet bowl. Maybe there’s some skiddies - that’s fine. Just don’t have any solids or toilet paper. 

Squirt toilet cleaner gel around the inside of the bowl. Leave for 15 minutes.

Scrub the inside of the bowl with the brush. Flush the toilet. Rinse the head of the brush under the flushing water. 

Prop the brush between the seat and the rim of the bowl. Let it air dry and then put it back in the holder. If you’re exceptionally hygiene minded, spray the handle thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol. 

Toilet cleaner gel is mostly sodium hypochlorite and colour. That’s bleach. You’ve just soaked the head of your toilet brush in bleach, rinsed it, and let it dry. Any germ that can survive that process should be studied in a lab. Even if it did survive, unless you’re eating off your toilet brush, it shouldn’t be a problem.

If there’s unmentionables stuck in your toilet brush, adjust the way you use it. There shouldn’t be hair and biowaste on the rush. 

Toilet brushes are probably the hardest to keep sanitary OP. My solution would be to just use A toilet wand with disposable cleaning heads. Clorox makes a good one. It's not just about having a long lasting brush but having something that is more sanitary to use and I find the disposable ones better at that.

I always rinse thoroughly after scrubbing the toilet. Usually that involves a second flush and agitation focused on just cleaning the brush head. If needed, you could always add a bit of bleach to the toilet bowl and then swish the brush head in the diluted bleach. (DON'T MIX CHEMICALS.)

Also, OXO toilet brushes have replaceable heads. https://www.oxo.com/toilet-brush-replacement-head.html

Most regular toilet brushes should have replaceable heads that you don't need to replace that frequently. The Clorox one is certainly more wasteful.

I know disposable is not great but for the bathroom I can't handle the idea of anything not being disposable when used to clean a toilet. The Clorox wand thing is great

I just use basic ones from target, I’ve had them for years and they’re totally fine. I sanitize them with the toilet bowl cleaner. Nothing stuck on them. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Found these replacement handle parts on eBay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/316521929251?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gzer9uzlraq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=VVTX2mr1QVe&var=615058148225&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I'll see if I can manage to avoid breaking/dethreading them at the rate I have been

Dollar store or pound store. Just look at the design of the brush. And do a image search

I am house sitting and the owner has a toilet brush I just hate. The holder is tall & narrow and silver and I’ve knocked it over twice this month. But, the bristles are stiff and black and jamming it into the outflow/drain took care of this film. Scraped it right off. I also put BKF in the loo, so that may have helped. If you don’t have a stiff enough brush bristle, maybe a green scrubby with BKF on it? Good luck

Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner is the best stuff I’ve found for cleaning hard to clean bathroom gunk buildup.

I use pumice stones that are on a handle and made specifically for this purpose. I don’t know what they are called but I got them from Amazon.

Oh! Then drain your toilet, fill it with vinegar (add a smidge of baking soda/sodium bicarbonate to help lift the stain) and let it soak for at least 4 hours

I use a 1 liter bottle of white vinegar you can probably get away with a lot less. Pour it all inside.

Leave it overnight a day where you are not home, or during work hours.

After that you just brush it and it goes away like it's nothing.

At least that's my experience

Pumice scouring brick. "Pumie" in most grocery stores in the US.

We have very hard water also. I discovered putting a denture tablet in the bowl helps to keep the water stains from forming.

White vinegar mixed with baking soda or alone is amazing on hard water. Use it all the time

Your enemy’s toothbrush works well. So I’m told anyway.

If you're in Canada, Canadian tire has stuff that's supposed to work really good. It's called C.L.R., It comes In a gallon jug. If you're from the U.S. I'm not sure they have it there

If it were me, because I'm nuts, I'd replace the toilet no matter what because other people used it. But that's me because I'm cuckoo.

Abrasives like a pumice stone will leave scratches that will then stain easier.

The cleaning professional in me would first try bleach because that's what I have a lot of on hand.

If that didn't work I'd try hydrochloric/muriatic acid in an empty bowl.

BUT, and this is a big but, DO NOT use bleach and acid together, make sure you completely rinse any bleach you may have tried before the acid.

Also, open a window when using acid and do not use a brush or anything that could splash the acid on you. It won't kill you but it will tingle.

And wear safety glasses.

Pop a couple of denture cleaner tablets in the bowl and let sit for 10 minutes then clean. It works, it got rid of the limescale on the bottom of my toilet bowl

Try CLR. Then go back over with a pumice stone if this is still there.

Citric acid works well for limescale

Does it come off if you scrape it with your fingernail?

I use one that I ordered from Amazon. (I generally don’t recommend Amazon for obvious reasons, but it is convenient af when you have very little local options.) It’s a wood handle with coir bristles, so every part is compostable or recyclable. After scrubbing the toilet with vinegar or baking soda, I rinse it off with straight hot water and — like another commenter said — spritz it with peroxide, leave it under the seat to dry, then hang it on a hook on the side of the tank near the back. The outside of the toilet, I wipe down with one of my “nasty towels” (ones that I use for dirty/germy jobs) and usually vinegar.

Toilets are one of the few things I use paper towels for (the other is really nasty/greasy messes you can’t wash out of a rag), including inside the bowl. I just can’t fathom reusing something that cleaned my toilet. I just can’t get past it.

I have a plastic toilet brush, but I chose a model that has a replaceable head and I try to keep it in really good shape (so that it will last as long as possible). I dump some baking soda into the toilet above the water line, use the brush to mix in some water to form a paste, and then scrub it around the bowl. When I'm finished cleaning the toilet, I shake the excess water off the brush and mist it with hydrogen peroxide to disinfect, then close it under the toilet seat (like this) so it drips dry before I return it to the holder.

Yes clean it.

I also, when bleaching the loo, leave the brush in the toilet water to give it a bleaching too.

Open a webshop for your used ones, buy a new as demand dictates.

Clean the little cup you store the brush in. And buy a new one like every year or when you feel like

You clean it with your toothbrush

Just kidding

OP is asking for a friend

Look to the Lehman’s catalog. They have lots of natural boar bristle brushes for many purposes. They will still wear out, depending on what chemicals you use in your toilet, but at least they aren’t plastic.

Here’s a different set of questions though: do you have a lot of people using a single toilet? Are you doing a deep scrub every day? How much bowl cleaner product are you using per wash?

Most folks have 2-4 people using a single toilet, and scrub it once a week. One coating squirt of bowl cleaner around the bowl aimed at the rim. Let it sit and do it’s job for at least 5 minutes. In this scenario the cheap plastic toilet brush lasts a couple years. If you are using straight bleach, or too much cleaner, or letting your brush sit in cleaner/bleach, it will wear out a lot faster.

Also, if you are on septic, you really should be using the minimum amount of cleaner to do the job. Bleach snd other strong cleaners can make a septic tank not break down material like it’s supposed to. When using cleaners, flush a lot of water into the system with/ after the cleaner to kerp the septic happy.

Not to be a bummer, but I use old timey rubber gloves and a sponge. Hard to beat elbow grease

If you just want to scrub something, would a loofah be sufficient for you?

If you need something hard and spiky to scratch stuff up, chestnut shells might be something you can think about reusing.

Just use some branches as handles and toss them into your compost when it gets dirty.

Personally I don't even like toilets 😂 save that poop for your lumber trees / firewoods

Others have suggested loofah--it's a really great suggestion, because you can grow it and dry it yourself (you can even eat the young ones). Loofahs are great for scrubbing lots of things, and they're compostable. You can put it an a stick if you want.

That said, I use rags or crochet cloths for just about any cleaning task, because brushes just don't get all of it.

We splurged on an oxo toilet brush several years ago and it’s still in good shape. I soak it in a strong bleach solution a few times a year rather than replacing it like they recommend doing.

Have you tried a pumice stone? That'd be my go-to here.

I do at least one toilet like this every day, so what I do is quick, safe and effective.

1. Drain the water using a sponge and bucket. Leaving the water in dilutes whatever product you're going to use.

2. Pour in a product containing hydrochloric acid (in the UK Domestos Zero Limescale is 8% HA)

3. Wait about 30-45 mins

What you do next depends on how much time you have. If you have all the time in the world just leave the acid in there for hours, and swirl it around occasionally to make sure it's sat on the limescale. If you're in a rush, do this:

4. Get a normal sponge with scourer (not wire wool) and have a go on the limescale. Looking at the pic it'll probably all fall off quickly. If it doesn't, put a bit of effort in, but not too much.

5. If it remains, use a stanley/craft knife to flick off the big bits. Don't worry if it leaves grey lines - you're not cutting the ceramic you're actually leaving bits of blade on there. Then use the sponge again.

6. It'll all be gone. If grey marks remain, pour in some more product and leave for 15 mins and they'll have all gone. Total cleaning time is about an hour with this method and only uses off the shelf, safe products and won't damage the toilet.

For toilet you would typically use a strong acid. Muriatic acid works extremely well, but can rust metals in the room. Citric and acetic acids are weaker options. Sulfuric may or may not work (make gypsum). Remove the water to make the concentration higher. Bleach is alkaline and works for grease, not rust and minerals.

Pumice stone. You’ll have to get down in there real good.

Pour in at least half a bottle of Coca-Cola and leave it for a few hours or overnight and scrub.