13 Surprising Uses for Hydrogen Peroxide

13 Interesting Ways to Use Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is a great product. It’s easily accessible in most supermarkets, it’s cheap, and let’s be honest, watching it foam and bubble is just kind of cool!

The thing is, for such a common houshold item, most people only use hydrogen peroxide for one thing: cleaning wounds and preventing infections. And, while it’s great for that, there are actually a lot of other uses for hydrogen peroxide that you may have never heard of.

You’ll have to keep reading in order to find out what those uses are, but I’ll give you some hints: it can whiten teeth, clean stains like nobodies business, and you can even use it in your garden! Keep on reading to learn how.

1. Remove Stains from Clothes

This is one of the best homemade stain remover recipes and I use it all the time for stubborn stains! It’s super easy and cheap to make (only 3 ingredients), and it’s gotten rid of every stain I’ve thrown at it so far.

You’ll have to be careful about using this on some fabrics though because the hydrogen peroxide can cause bleaching, so make sure to test a spot first.

2. Remove Carpet Stains

Just as you can use the hydrogen peroxide mixture above to remove clothes stains, you can also use a bit of a different mixture for carpet stains.

This DIY carpet stain remover uses one less ingredient than the clothes stain remover, and it works on even the toughest of stains (I used it to get out a huge red nail polish stain).

Once again, make sure to test a small area first before using it on your carpet as it could cause bleaching!

3. Freshen Bad Breath

If you’ve ever had bad breath that just lingers no matter how well you brush or floss, you may want to try something a bit stronger. Since hydrogen peroxide fights and kills bacteria, it can be a really effective solution!

To make a hydrogen peroxide mouthwash, all you need to do to is mix equal parts hydrogen peroxide and water and swish it around your mouth for a minute max. You can also gargle it to get the bacteria near the back of your throat/tonsils.

Another benefit to gargling the peroxide mouthwash is that it can help relieve a sore throat and loosen the mucus near the back of your throat.

Now, although this is generally completely safe, it’s important that you never swallow the mixture and you shouldn’t use it too often either. If you notice that your teeth are becoming more sensitive or your gums are getting bleached, try diluting the solution further or using it less.

This hydrogen peroxide rinse can also help treat those annoying (and painful) canker sores that sometimes show up in your mouth.

Note: You may want to talk to your dentist before trying this solution.

Source: DailyOralCare.com

4. Whiten Teeth

Using the hydrogen peroxide rinse mentioned above will help whiten your teeth on its own but if you want to take it a step further, using a hydrogen peroxide and baking soda toothpaste can help even more.

To make this, you’ll want to mix a bit of hydrogen peroxide with a few teaspoons of baking soda, then keep adding baking soda until you get a nice paste. Once you have a paste, apply it to your toothbrush and brush for about 2 minutes.

The most important thing to do after using the paste is to make sure you rinse it all out of your mouth.

Source: Healthline.com

5. Whiten Nails

Just as you can use hydrogen peroxide to whiten your teeth, you can also use it to whiten your nails! If you’ve ever taken off your nail polish to find yellowish nails that you can’t seem to get clean, this is the best solution!

All you need to do is mix a few tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide with about a half cup of warm water and then soak your nails in it for a couple of minutes. After the soak, dip a toothbrush into the solution, scrub your nails, then rinse the solution off and they should be nice and clean!

Source: MarieClaire.com

6. Clean Your Toothbrush

Not to gross you out, but did you know that your toothbrush could have millions of bacteria on it? Yep, the thing that you put in your mouth could have things like E. coli and even fecal matter on it. Yuck!

There are some steps you can take to prevent this sort of bacteria build like keeping your toothbrush far from the toilet, closing the lid before flushing, and replacing your brush every 3-4 months or so, but it’s also important to clean your toothbrush regularly.

To do this, simply soak your brush in 3% hydrogen peroxide overnight. This will eliminate germs, fungus, bacteria, mold, and more. Once it’s done soaking just give it a rinse and you’re good to go!

Source: ToothAdvocates.com

7. Clear Earwax

Ear wax buildup can cause discomfort, hearing problems, and even ear infections if it gets really bad. However, before you go jamming cotton swabs into your ears (which I don’t recommend doing), try using a homemade hydrogen peroxide ear drop solution!

Note: Check with your doctor before trying this as it can be dangerous for those with ear damage or ear infections.

All you need to do to make this solution is to mix equal parts of water and hydrogen peroxide. Then just lie down on your side, drop 2-5 drops in your ear, let it sit for five minutes and then let it run out.

Source: MedicalNewsToday.com

8. Clean Produce

Although we love using our DIY salt and vinegar homemade vegetable wash, you can use hydrogen peroxide to clean your fruits and veggies as well.

To do this, you’ll need one spray bottle with white vinegar and another with 3% hydrogen peroxide. You’ll then just spray the produce with the vinegar, and then the hydrogen peroxide, and then just rinse with plain water. It’s that easy!

Source: EHow.com

9. Soak Your Sponges

Ok, I have another nasty fact for you (Sorry!). Did you know that your kitchen sponge could have as much (or more) bacteria on it as your toilet? Ok, that’s really gross.

At some point, it becomes time to say goodbye to your sponge and get a new one but if you want to extend the life of your sponge, a hydrogen peroxide bath can help kill off the bacteria. All you need to do is fill a bowl with peroxide, drop your sponge in and let it sit (flip it after a few minutes for full coverage).

Once you feel it’s been thoroughly soaked, cleaned and disinfected, rinse it with tap water and squeeze all the remaining hydrogen peroxide out.

Source: Instructables.com

10. Freshen Your Feet

If you have a case of smelly feet or athlete’s foot, a quick hydrogen peroxide foot bath can help you freshen up and can even remove fungus on your feet. Just fill a tub with equal parts warm water and hydrogen peroxide and soak your feet for a few minutes each day.

Since this will use up quite a bit of hydrogen peroxide, you can reuse the same tub for a couple of soaks to save money. You could also just spray your feet if you don’t have time for a full soak.

11. Disinfect Things

My favorite way to quickly clean and disinfect children’s toys is to use this simple vinegar solution but it requires putting the toys in the dishwasher so it’s not always an option. That’s when hydrogen peroxide comes in handy!

Since peroxide is a non-toxic disenfectant it’s safe to use on your kid’s toys and it’s a really fast solution too! Just spray the peroxide onto any toys you want to disinfect, let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe the toys clean.

You could also do the same thing on doorknobs, counters, cutting boards, and more!

12. Help Your Garden

This is probably the most surprising ways to use hydrogen peroxide. I would have never thought to use it in the garden! Turns out though, it’s actually really good at getting rid of pests and fungus, and it can treat root rot and other conditions as well.

To learn more about how to use hydrogen peroxide in the garden, read the full guide at DenGarden.com!

13. Treat Acne

I don’t know if I’d use this one myself but I’ve heard others swear by it so I’m including it on this list. If you have sensitive skin, I wouldn’t try it!

To make a hydrogen peroxide acne treatment, take your 3% hydrogen peroxide and dilute it down to 1% by mixing 3 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of peroxide. Then apply the mixture onto your face with a cotton swab (avoiding eyes, eyebrows and hair) and rinse it off 5 minutes later.

Source: Healthline

Have Any Other Hydrogen Peroxide Uses?

As you can see, hydrogen peroxide has a lot of different uses around the house, in the bathroom, and even in the garden! If you’ve only been using it to treat wounds your whole life you’ve been missing out!

Just remember, you should never swallow hydrogen peroxide and you should be careful when handling it as it could bleach your skin. Other than that, be safe and enjoy this cheap but effective product!

Now it’s your turn:

Have any other hydrogen peroxide uses you’d like to share? What’s your FAVORITE way to use hydrogen peroxide?