What is CitriStrip?
CitriStrip is a product claimed to remove paint more safely. I had initially rejected using paint strippers due to the harmful chemicals in the products. However, after messing the wood up on a cabinet I decided it was time to purchase something.
Disclaimers and Thoughts
Okay, to get started some important points need to be said first. First, while I am sure the product is safer I have no way of testing the claims of the product being a safer alternative to other products. Second I have not purchased other less harsh paint strippers to compare to this product. All I can offer is my thoughts on the product and whether it is something a person should purchase or not.
I understand that my posts are often more subject than object as I give my opinion on whether a project is worth doing or a product is good without objective testing. That said I did some testing for this product but did not purchase paint strippers to compare to it. If that is something people are interested in I can buy other paint strippers and do my best to give an objective assessment of the products.
My subjective thoughts
Flaws which could be subjective is the product makes the paint sticky and glob together which is better and worse for clean up. How the paint flakes off is subjective but not using the product creates a ton of tiny paint chips which is a pain to clean and could cause respiration problems. However, the sticky paint globs also are hard to clean as they stick to my concrete floor and require being scraped off. Personally, I will take the sticky paint globs but neither scrapping with or without the product leaves an easy-to-clean pile of paint scraps.
Another subjective opinion is that the gel consistency of the CitriStrip is a pain to spread across the work surface. The instructions recommend a paint brush which I used but I still could not spread the product evenly enough for my liking. For example, the product left the edges of the piece with not enough to make the product effective. I say this flaw is subjective because how easily the product is spread on a work surface has some level of skill to it and I do not possess that skill.
The Better Part of the Post (Objective Part)
I am going to try to be as objective as possible for the rest of the blog to give the CitriStrip the most fair review possible but I felt my overall thoughts would be helpful to start the review with. Before I talk about the object performance of the product I will say that despite its subjective flaws the product works. Although saying a product works seems like a low bar to set one would be surprised as to how many things do not work to strip paint.
I tried many at-home remedies to remove paint as I did not want to purchase a product for the project and I also wanted to keep it as safe as possible since my workspace is not separate from the rest of my home. I tried gentle things like coconut oil, GooGone, rubbing alcohol, and even nail polish remover. Althoug memory fails me, I possibly even tried more products but nothing the internet said would remove paint naturally actually did for me. In addition, I let the natural alternatives sit for the same amount of time as I did CitriStrip and still nothing. The only product that kind of had very mild results was the coconut oil strangely enough.
Despite not testing CitriStrip against other products designed for paint stripping compared to at-home remedies CitriStrip was a clear winner but it was not without its objective flaws. The biggest flaw CitriStrip has is that it does not leave a clean finish but the product does kind of state that the results would not be the cleanest. The instructions state to use mineral spirits to clean anything that remains on the surface, but I did not have much success with the mineral spirits. However, with some extra scraping later with a metal blade, I was able to get decent results.
Comparing the Results
I found using no product was marginally better than the CitriStrip with two passes and the no product was significantly better than using than single pass with the product. These results would make one assume that the CitriStrip is not worth it. However, while I would agree to some extent there is more to the story than the picture would let on.
First using the product greatly reduces the chances of damaging the project as a plastic scraper can be used to remove the paint. Whereas using a plastic scrapper would not have worked on the untreated surface. Although using a plastic scraper is a benefit of the product I did find using a metal scrapper worked better with the CitriStrip as I kept breaking the replaceable plastic ones.
The second reason which was not communicated by the picture was the time involved. Although I was able to get a better result without using the product it took me far longer to do so] In addition taking a second pass later with the metal scraper gave me similar results to the product with no paint stripper applied panel and still took less time and effort There is a big caveat to the results and that is I was able to use a metal scrapper. On previous panels, I was not able to use the metal scrapper as it was too sharp and would have shaved wood off. However, throughout the project, the scrapper became dull enough to use but did need occasionally sharpened as when it was too dull it would have required too much force thus denting the wood.
The last objectively bad thing about the product is the limited time frame a person has. The CitriStrip bottle states it takes up to 24 hours to work and in my testing with a cabinet door with 3 to 4 layers of paint, it needed the full time to work. If one forgets the project and the product starts to try too much the product does not work nearly as well. I would say that having to wait is a flaw but the time frame is more my fault as I had forgotten about the project on several occasions and besides the bottle does warn against using it after 24 hours has passed by.
Now to the Conclusion
Normally I would give my opinion to try to help inform the reader but today I am going to take a different approach. First is an opinion but it is based off of testing and is not related to the product review. My opinion is please do not try natural home remedies as they do not work and are often messy. Objectively the product works with some negatives such as not removing all of the product the first time through.
Lastly, as mentioned the product for me took the full 24 hours to work which can slow a project down. If the flaws are acceptable then please feel free to purchase the product below. However, if the product seems like too much of a hassle then feel free to leave a comment and I will try to test other products so you don’t have to waste your hard-earned money.
Get the CirtriStrip here: https://amzn.to/4g5miv