The dirty truth: Is the TikTok cleaning trend really aspirational or yet another way to feel bad about ourselves?

These days, cleaning is not just a chore — it’s an opportunity for social media content creation. Yet while some elements can be useful, it doesn’t always reflect our own realities

These days, cleaning is not just a chore — it’s an opportunity for social media content creation

Saoirse Hanley

You can’t scroll through TikTok on a Sunday without coming across a video of a glamorous person ‘resetting’ an impossibly gorgeous home for the week ahead. Usually, there isn’t much to clean. They’ll change the bedsheets, scrub an already gleaming sink or pop a few errant mugs into the dishwasher. So short is the to-do list that they resort to things like vacuuming designs onto the couch or chopping the decorative pillows so they are propped perfectly on the bed.

Welcome to #CleanTok, the corner of the internet where cleaning is a commodity. The hashtag on TikTok features over four million videos of people cleaning and organising their homes, or restocking products throughout the house. There is a video there for every cleaning interest, whether you like watching people declutter, stack their pantry or even clean a toilet with so many chemicals it’s something of a hazard.