A janitor in a white lab coat peers into your toilet bowl, probing carefully with a flashlight and angled mirror.

 

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"I see you haven't been brushing regularly," he remarks.

"But brushing is so much trouble," you complain. "My brush just doesn't seem to clean well."

"If you don't start a routine of brushing, you could end up with scum disease," he says gravely. "Start by getting a good brush."

What kind of bowl scrubber would a good D.D.S. (Dirty Dilemma Solver) recommend? A quality bowl tool (recommended by 4 out of 5 janitors) should have firm but flexible plastic bristles, an all-plastic head, a pliable plastic handle, the right contours (shape of brush) and no metal to mar the toilet surface.

What about a nylon bowler? A nylon "scrubbie" is delightful for dishes, but the thick-pad-on-a-stick can't dish it out in the bathroom bowl. The flattened surface with a supportive inner plastic "backbone" scours effectively under the rim, but pad shape and lack of bristles make for ineffective general cleaning.

Give the brush, likewise, to the "puff ball" (yarn cleaning head) swabbers. A soft swab for that bowl job creates toil in the toilet since it's too "mushy" to flick off tough deposits, and soils easily.

A horseshoe-shaped bowler (no such thing as a lucky bowl brush) can be workable, but has drawbacks. The wire framework often bends and rusts, and the metal can leave scratch marks as your brush becomes matted. Scratch this type and get a "continental" scrubber.

The "continental" or "European" brush is the toilet tool of enlightened pros with its quick-drying plastic bristles set in an all-plastic, flexible handle. The rounded head scrubs away tough soil and effectively plunges water down and out of the commode for "bare bowl" cleaning (important if you have ring around the toilet). Easy to use and very durable, this brush will give you a "flush" of exhilaration.