Help me to get the 'swish' back in my Swish curtain rail!

rosie383

After some DIY, including new plaster on the ceilings and painting, my swish curtain rails have lost their swishiness.
I have cleaned them but they are still sticking badly. I am constantly having to hook the curtains back up in places as you really have to yank them when opening and closing them.
I'd be happy to get rid of them but as they are in a bay window I don't have any other affordable alternative.

I have looked online but can't find a solution. Preferably something which doesn't cost me a penny :D:D
Thanks in advance for all the helpful replies.

spadoosh

Cotton wool and a bit of nail polish remover.

Nail polish remover contains acetone which dissolves plastic (guessing its plastic) if you use it sparingly it should level out and remove most stickyness. Wash down with water after.

It does dissolve plastic so be careful! try it on one of the the little clips first to see.

Alternatively a more safe way would be something like WD40, works well at cleaning plastics and its a lubricant.

lovinituk

A thin coating of Vaseline should do the trick.

AimingForBetter

Tip I was given by a curtain maker is a little spray of furniture polish on a cloth and wipe along the track will make it run smoothly.

flipper_72

silicone based furniture polish does the trick, I did my dad's while he was on holiday once and he couldn't believe the difference, he had been inching them open closed

grunnie

All my rails are swish and over 40 years old. You cleaned them and that would have removed the traction so no swish. I just take a cloth soaked in polish and run it over the back and front of the rail and that will sort it out.

PasturesNew

Cheap furniture polish is often used to 'lubricate' things that you don't want oil to get near to. Really cheap stuff....

rosie383

Thanks so much for all the suggestions.
As most of you have suggested furniture polish I will give that a go and report back. And in true MSE style, the one I have is dirt cheap!

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Silicone based cleaner. Best one is a quick spray of WD40 onto a paper towel, and then lightly run along the rail.

rosie383

Thanks. Missed the bit about the silicone based. Just used cheap polish and they are so much better. Might give WD40 a wee go on my upstairs ones and see which is best.

rosie383

Reporting back that I used the WD40 upstairs and it was so good that I came down and did over the downstairs ones too with it. Definitely if you have WD40 hanging around it is much better than the polish, although the polish did work okay.