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This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
A while back, I wrote about the many uses of vinegar. Julia even gushed about vinegar in a video. More recently I haven’t been able to live without hydrogen peroxide. It all started after my dental emergency. Below I share 25 uses for the liquid in the brown bottle, H2O2. (It’s usually sold with a 3% active ingredient concentration.)
DISCLOSURE: I’m not attempting to give medical advice. You should consult your dentist or doctor before using hydrogen peroxide to treat ailments.
- My dentist suggested I soak my toothbrush in hydrogen peroxide between uses to keep it clean and prevent the transfer of germs. This is particularly helpful when you or someone in your family has a cold or the flu. I’ve been fighting a bug!
- Use hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash to freshen breath. It kills the bacteria that causes halitosis.
- Mixed with salt and baking soda, hydrogen peroxide works as a whitening toothpaste.
- It’s said to helps with early stages of gingivitis as it kills bacteria.
- Clean a wound with hydrogen peroxide.
- Use a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide to clean and freshen kitchen counters.
- Clean your cutting boards to kill salmonella and other bacteria.
- Sanitize your kids’ lunch boxes/bags.
- Wash vegetables and fruits with hydrogen peroxide. Add 1/4 cup of H2O2 to a sink of cold water. After washing rinse thoroughly with cool water.
- Dab hydrogen peroxide on pimples or acne to help clear skin.
- Use a mixture of 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 32 parts water to improve your plants’ root system. It’s said to help with rotting.
- Hydrogen peroxide helps to sprout seeds for new plantings. Use a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution once a day and spritz the seed every time you re-moisten.
- Use H2O2 instead of using chlorine bleach when washing a white load. Toss in half a cup straight out of the bottle along with your usual laundry detergent. Did you know it’s one of the main ingredients in Oxiclean? It works well against grass, blood and red wine stains.
- Remove yellowing from lace curtains or tablecloths. Fill a sink with cold water and a 2 cups of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Soak for at least an hour, rinse in cold water and air dry.
- Soaking your feet in a peroxide solution helps soften calluses and corns, and disinfects minor cuts.
- Spritz a weak solution of H2O2 on your hair to bring out your natural highlights.
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Can kill harmful bacteria, including E. coli, viral agents, and mold and mildew spores.
- Use it to remove ear wax. Use a solution of 3% with olive or almond oil. Add a couple drops of oil first then H2O2. After a few minutes, tilt head to remove solution and wax.
- Helps with foot fungus. Spray a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water on them (especially the toes) every night and let dry.
- Clean with hydrogen peroxide to remove mold.
- Spraying down the shower with hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria and viruses.
- Use 1 pint of 3% hydrogen peroxide to a gallon of water to clean humidifiers and steamers.
- Wash shower curtains with hydrogen peroxide to remove mildew and soap scum. Place curtains in machine with a bath towel and your regular detergent. Add 1 cup full strength 3% hydrogen peroxide to the rinse cycle.
- Scrub the toilet bowl with 2 quarts water and 1 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide. Let stand 30 minutes. Then scrub with brush.
- Use hydrogen peroxide to control fungi present in aquariums. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt your fish. Use sparingly for this purpose.
What do you use hydrogen peroxide for?
January 17th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Great tips! I’ve only used it for wounds, but now that I know what it can be used for, I will be using it for all of the above!!!
January 17th, 2012 at 10:27 am
@Susan Check out our list of the different uses for vinegar, if you haven’t already. These two are so useful and much less expensive than other cleaners.
January 17th, 2012 at 11:33 am
Wow,,, thanks for sharing I had no idea
January 17th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
@Yazmin ~ A word of caution if you plan to use hydrogen peroxide as a mouth wash: Never use it following gum surgery, or whenever there are mouth surfaces that are bleeding. This from both my dentist and my oral surgeon. Sadly, I inherited terrible teeth and gums from my father, so I’ve been through a lot of dental “stuff.”
Also, this product does not totally remove blood stains from clothing. I have yet to find anything that does remove it completely.
January 17th, 2012 at 1:12 pm
@EllieD My dentist told me to use it as a regular mouth wash. I didn’t have surgery so he didn’t say anything about that. Thanks for clarifying this out for other readers!
January 17th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Use H202 as a sub for ear wax solutions. A few drops in the ear for a minute, then flush with the hottest water you can stand. It works.
January 17th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Use for towels that have become musty smelling. 1/2 cup Peroxide and 1/2 cup vinegar let stand for 15 minutes wash as normal. Gets rid of the smell.
January 17th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
I once read that you can use it on armpits, knees and elbows that have darkened skin but I haven’t tried it.
Also use in the ear when you have an earache. Just put a drop or two in your ear and let it fizz around a bit.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:50 am
Got blood on clothing? Soak in peroxide ASAP and much of it should come out. (Ladies, this one is a lifesaver)
January 19th, 2012 at 9:50 am
Hydrogen peroxide does NOT heal wounds! You can use to to initially clean a cut or scrape, but continued use of it actually is bad for the new tissue that’s trying to grow, makes it take longer to heal and can cause more scar tissue.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Mixed with a little blue Dawn and it will get stains out of almost any material – including red wine out of linen pants.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:25 am
after long use, the date stamper I use gets clogged, H202 will remove the inky funk clogging it.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:38 am
Never use H2O2 for any wound, ever.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:00 am
I use hydrogen peroxide to clean stains from the carpet. Simple pour H2O2 on the stain and then a little H2O. Dry the spot with a wash cloth. Worked on old dark stains with little effort!
January 19th, 2012 at 11:06 am
Actually, using H2O2 to clean wounds is a bad idea. It’s a very old, and very unwise treatment. Yes, peroxide (and rubbing alcohol) kills cells. Bacteria cells. But that also includes healthy cells. If you use either for cleaning wounds, you’ll also kill the healthy skin and white blood cells that heal wounds. So you’re actually slowing DOWN the healing process.
Wound care clinicians recommend plain soap and water, and even for bad wounds, sterile saline.
Stick with NORMAL soap and water – avoid antibacterial soaps and creams to combats antibiotic resistant diseases.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
I’m susceptable to staph and since I’ve been using H2O2 to clean any early sign of infection I haven’t had any re-occurances. A single cleaning does the trick 99% of the time.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
[...] plant’s root system (with a water mixture)? Soften calluses and corns? Clean a toilet? Gimme more. If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing [...]
January 19th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
I brush my teeth with it. My teeth have gotten whiter and my dental exams have gone so much better!
January 20th, 2012 at 8:28 am
I’m surprised you didn’t mention what I think of as the most important, lifesaving use of H2O2: as an emetic for pets. I’ve had a number of dogs get into nasty things like rat poison or seemingly innocuous (but potentially deadly) dark chocolate. A bottle of peroxide down the throat causes immediate and repeated vomiting which is precisely what you want for most poisons a pet would get into. That ~used to be~ the only reason I kept it around. Now I have 20 other uses!
January 20th, 2012 at 10:30 am
I’m pretty sure its not H2O2 but H2O5
January 20th, 2012 at 11:29 am
@Hank Thanks for sharing. Now we have one more to add to the list!
January 20th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
It’s very important to keep in mind that h202 comes in various forms, the kind you get at the drug store is pharmaceutical grade, a 3% solution (in the brown bottle) is mixed with metallic stabilizers to keep it’s its shelf life, and while it can be used externally in a pinch, the best kind for cleaning dishes, cutting boards, using on your plants, and ESPECIALLY internal use is a 3% dilution of FOOD GRADE h202. I would never give my animals the kind in the brown bottle from the drug store, it’s essentially contaminated for use inside the body.Just a tip I learned, if you want to make the most of that extra oxygen molecule that makes h202 so wonderful, only use it with distilled water because that greedy chlorine in most tap water just steals that extra oxygen that will suck the magic right out of your peroxide. Thanks for sharing
January 20th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
@hank @bargainbabe it’s a really really bad idea to induce vomiting in humans or animals when they’ve ingested poison. the poison has a good chance of aspiration and could cause more damage.
January 20th, 2012 at 3:11 pm
[...] to call it) as something in the first aid kit for disinfecting wounds. Yazmin Cruz, from the blog Bargain Babe, recently listed 25 great uses for hydrogen peroxide.Topping Yazmin’s list of ideas for this [...]
January 21st, 2012 at 8:29 am
My endodontist DOES NOT recommend using peroxide as a mouth wash. He said it creates free radicals in your mouth which are then absorbed through your blood stream or swallowed. Although people have used it as a mouthwash for decades, research has shown that free radicals play an important role in cancer occurence.
Also, never use it to clean a deep wound. Along with creating free radicals, it destroys tissue and will actually prolong deep wound healing.
January 23rd, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Wondering if using a diluted solution in a spray bottle would be an effective way to reduce the risk of skin infections for wrestlers? Any thoughts on this?