Toilet seat stains are a common hassle and can pop up from a variety of sources including product build-up, splashes of urine or instances of fake tan gone wrong, not to mention dead skin, mineral accrual, and certain abrasive cleaning agents. 

Tints can vary widely ranging from orange hues to a spectrum of yellow through to brown or even green, each shade hinting at the nature of the culprit responsible for the discolouration.

Regular toilet cleaning helps to prevent the build-up of stubborn stains. However, for those who've neglected this task for a while, they may need some guidance.

Nancy Emery, a bathroom and cleaning expert at Drench, has offered advice on how to remove toilet seats from the bowl and clean the stains on them.

She explained: “Most modern toilets will have a button at the centre of the toilet seat when you lift the lid and seat. These are known as quick-release hinges and pressing the button will enable you to easily lift off the toilet seat.

“You can then give the seat a thorough clean and reach areas on the bowl that are inaccessible with the seat still attached - ultimately providing a much more hygienic and efficient clean.

“However, if your toilet seat hinges are older or more traditional, you won’t have this button feature and it will be harder to remove the seat. You’ll need to use a screwdriver to unscrew the screws and completely lift the seat away from the bowl, but it's still worth doing to gain the access required for a really deep clean.”

The next step is to tackle the stains. For this Nancy claimed that a “natural solution” would work best as “the stains won’t budge” with bleach.

She advised: “I recommend mixing up a solution of baking soda and white vinegar and applying the paste directly onto the troublesome stains.

“If you leave it working for three minutes, then wipe clean with a microfibre cloth, the stains should lift. For deeper, older stains you may need to repeat the process.”

White vinegar and baking soda are inexpensive and readily available at supermarkets. Nancy noted that the combination of these two ingredients totals 94p.

However, if you have a wooden toilet seat, a vinegar solution might not be the best choice as the acidic nature of the vinegar can “eat away at the finish”.

For wooden toilet seats, it’s recommended to use warm soapy water and a non-abrasive cloth.

Vinegar, being highly acidic, is capable of tackling other bathroom problems like limescale and soap scum.

Baking soda is also beneficial as it aids in breaking down dirt while possessing deodorising properties. Nancy claimed that the combination of these ingredients “works wonders on tough stains” such as those found on the toilet seat.