'MR MUSCLE' I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, WILL YOU MARRY ME PLEASE?! (Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner)

Member Name: totalserenity

Product:	Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner
Date:	19/05/09 (337 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: DISTINTIGRATES THOSE NITEMARE STUBBORN BURNT ON OVEN STAINS!

Disadvantages: OVER-POWERING ODOUR; IDEALISTIC IDEA OF JUST 'WIPING' THE GRIME OFF - PAH!

Well who wouldn't want to marry a spouse who loves to do the jobs you hate?

Please note though, I had the more caricaturist well-endowed (with a 'muscular' frame, peeps, honestly!) 'Mr Muscle' male representative version in mind, rather than the cutely nerdy, but rather weedy original actor, Rob Mansfield, when I proposed!

Right folks, now as much as I would love to take all the glory for doing that most hideous of household chores - scrubbing the dreaded oven out, *Bob* the boyfriend actually did all the hard work last weekend at tackling the burnt on grime!

As much as we all have our favourite brands in cleaning products, the famous family company S C Johnson Ltd's oven cleaner, has always been my own oven cleaning spray-on foaming solution of choice - as I have always favoured the idea of leaving a powerful self-scouring formula overnight to work its wondrous magic!

Might as well use this hard surface cleaner's inbuilt strength rather than my own beleaguered muscles, folks!

On a more serious note, as an arthritis sufferer, I do tend to deviate towards the more powerful solutions on the market that I can just spritz on, and then leave to do their self-scouring jobs without straining my own already sore muscles; hence my Mr Muscle product choice as I believe this is the best at what it does...

My 300ml tin costing £1.89 has 'Powerful Cleaning Action' emblazoned across the top of the tight splinter-packed plastic label, along with the characteristically bright orange plastic click-on wide child resistant lid - with an illustrated picture of an abnormally gleaming oven near the bottom of the long, tall can!
Whilst certainly not the cheapest option on the market, I do get a two separate applications out of the contents - so if like me you clean your oven every couple of months, it doesn't work out at too bad a deal?

'Mr Muscle', the trademark name, is again highlighted across the middle in a vivid orange shade, and if you look closely the 'u' is in the shape of a flexed upper contracted bicep, hmm...clever, eh?

The blurb on the back of the colourful label promises it 'Removes burnt on grease and food spills effectively. Leave a sparkling clean oven. No scraping required', as well as a multitude of warnings regarding the ultra-caustic Sodium Hydroxide contents.

Use of rubber gloves is recommended to avoid any contact with the skin, in addition to turning off the oven's electrical supply.

Protect surrounding areas from the mist's finely abrasive element as it needs to be sprayed 20-30 cm away from the intended target, and after closing the oven door leave for no longer than 30 minutes, are some of the instructions for use.

As I stated earlier, I actually leave mine on overnight as it used to be the advised activating time.

However, after numerous well-publised complaints to the manufacturers, the solution was repackaged to be left on for a much less allotted recommended time, due to the fact some staining of glass surfaces or chrome finishes can occur.
The advice actually says not to use on exterior surfaces, microwaves, hot and self-cleaning ovens, aluminium, zinc, copper, plastic, or polished/lacquered surfaces, also.

Covering all the bases there then Mr Muscle!

Being a propellant by nature, its solvent properties include the gases Butane and Isobutene, so again be careful...

The main chemical components that cut through the toughened, burnt on edibles in our hot household food furnaces, are methylisothiazolinone and 5% Anionic surfactants which work on the hardened greases and grime that form over time, transforming the unwanted into carbon sooty solid residue that theoretically wipes off easily...

So the burning question is does this white foam work?

In my opinion, the simple answer is 'Yes, indeed it does'.

According to the makers own website 'It works by emulsifying the baked on grease food and spills which allows you to simply wipe it away with a damp cloth, no scraping required'.

Hmmm, don't think I would go 'that' far with my outlandish claims, although the spray does dry into a power-like form which seems to literally eat into the entire excess grunge left behind from multiple uses of the oven's general functions.

(And if anybody dares comment that they religiously clean the oven out every week - well baby I don't believe you, okay!)

Whilst it would be wonderful in 'La La Land' to just gently wipe your crystallised gunk up with a dainty cloth - the truth is there's still a dirty job to be done in that there oven with a Brillo in one hand and a basin of hot, soapy water in the other!
Undoubtedly the Mr Muscle can's contents does a fine job in dissolving the worst of the stains into a more removable residue, but undeniably there's still a lot of back-breaking work to be done...

(*Bob* charges £10 per scouring hour if anyone's interested?!)

On squirting the horrendously cloying caustic spray, make sure you well ventilate the room first as the solution is so powerful it can be lung-chokingly cuttingly strong. I always bury my mouth in a cloth of some sort, otherwise end up gagging as I gingerly apply the frothy substance after shaking it vigorously; wiping any surplus squirts off my white kitchen cupboard fronts as I go.

The sharply acerbic smell is overpowering, hence I apply mine last thing at night then leave the kitchen door closed, plus with the window part open.

My daughter is a life-long Asthmatic, so I try to avoid even doing this dreaded chore when she's around as it's a killer on a weakened chest - so please bear that in mind when using this powerful chemical cleaning creation.

Despite all the product's sensible written warnings, it is a necessary evil for most of us when doing a heavy job of this type; just have plenty of old cloths at hand along with a decent pair or Marigolds, and you'll be fine!

For my review today I am going to award S C Johnson's brainchild a gleaming 4 stars, as it is a great help when scrubbing the burnt on oven nasties away.

However, it does lose a shiny star as I think the instructions simplify an inherently messy job.

Most of us need some elbow grease scraping when doing this household chore, and not only the wipe of a cloth will suffice, no matter how long the Mr Muscle has been left on for to disintegrate those stubborn scorched on stains!

Summary: MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE OVEN CLEANER - AND YES I HAVE TRIED A FAIR FEW TYPES!