Hydrogen peroxide is one of the popular substance that is a blessing to every home. What do you use hydrogen peroxide for in your home? Cleaning? Cleansing? Home remedy? Many people use hydrogen peroxide for sanitizing small cuts and as a whitener for delicate items. But there are some amazing uses for hydrogen peroxide that you’ve probably never thought of.
If you’ve been a good keeper of hydrogen peroxide in a cabinet somewhere in your house, here is an opportunity for users to put it to more use. And if you never had one, you’ve got to know the reason why every home should have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
29 Magical DIY Uses For Hydrogen Peroxide
Here are some of the amazing and magical 29 DIY uses for hydrogen peroxide.
1. Disinfecting Small Wounds
Hydrogen peroxide is a natural antiseptic, and it is safe to apply on small wounds to prevent infection. So, your first aid box may be incomplete without a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
2. Sanitize Sponges
One of the hygiene habits to keep is to continually sanitize your kitchen sponge. Sanitizing your sponge using hydrogen peroxide will help to kill the germs or bacteria in the sponge. Soak sponges in a (hydrogen peroxide) warm water solution, allow the sponge to soak for a while, then rinse it off.
3. Mouthwash
Hydrogen peroxide could be a great alternative to Listerine. One of the uses for hydrogen peroxide is for mouthwash. You can mix equal quantities of hydrogen peroxide and water to rinse your mouth. However, be careful not to swallow the solution. This mouthwash will help kill germs in the mouth to prevent bad breath.
4. Tooth Whitener
Looking for a home remedy for yellow teeth? Hydrogen peroxide will surely help out! Just like using as a mouthwash, you can rinse with it to whiten teeth. You must also be careful not to swallow it.
5. Bleach Your Hair
Hydrogen peroxide is more gentle than household bleach. So, you could also lighten your hair with it. To lighten your hair, you can spray your hair with a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water after you wash.
Comb this spray through your hair and leave to dry. This does not bleach your hair drastically like commercially lightening mixtures do. It gradually lightens the hair, but you can reapply every few days to get the effect you desire.
6. Disinfect Toothbrushes
Kill the germs and bacteria present in your toothbrushes by simply soaking them in a hydrogen peroxide solution. It is one of the most straightforward hacks to maintain perfect oral hygiene.
7. Whiten Your Nails
Oh Yes! Looking for a natural way to whiten your nails? It is simple! Just soak fingertips and toes in hydrogen peroxide to reveal sparkling white nails.
8. Foot Fungus
Another way to use hydrogen peroxide is to use it as a foot soak. Peroxide solution aids softening of calluses and corns while disinfecting minor cuts. It also cures athlete’s foot or toenail fungus.
To use to soak your foot, mix a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and water, soak your feet in it once a day. This solution will combat the fungal problem. You can repeat the soak every night for several days for a fast result.
9. Whiten Clothes
Rather than use bleach on your white clothing, your hydrogen peroxide could do the job better. You can make your white clothes look bright by adding about 1/2 to 1 cup of Hydrogen Peroxide to your laundry. After washing with it, make sure you rinse off properly. Hydrogen peroxide is excellent for removing hard stains from white clothes.
10. Clear Up Acne
You can use a mild solution of hydrogen peroxide as a face rinse to kill the bacteria that cause acne and help clear your complexion.
11. Help Heal Boils
For boil treatment, hydrogen peroxide could come in handy. You can add Pour half of a bottle (about 8 ounces) of hydrogen peroxide into warm bath water and soak to treat boils.
12. Remove Ear Wax
To remove wax from the ear, put two or three drops of hydrogen peroxide into the ears, wait a minute or two. Follow up with two to three drops of olive oil. Hold on for a minute more, now, drain fluid from the ears.
13. Relieve Ear Infections
To clear up ear infections, add 6 – 8 drops of hydrogen peroxide in each ear. It helps to alleviate symptoms and clear infections.
14. Clean Tile Surfaces
Old and stubborn stains on your tiles may make your floor look dirty even after a thorough clean. To give your tiles a sparkling clean look, you can spray hydrogen peroxide directly onto the tile to remove dirt and stains.
15. Clean Toilet Bowls
Washing toilet bowls with regular detergents and brush may not give you the super clean look you want. You can make the washing of toilet bowls easier using hydrogen peroxide.
Pour about half a cup of hydrogen peroxide into toilet bowls and let it soak for at least 30 minutes to clean and remove stains. It will not only clean and remove stains, but it will also disinfect.
16. Remove Tub Scum
Tub scum could be a hard problem to deal with in your bathroom. But with hydrogen peroxide, remove tub scum is as simple as ever. Spray hydrogen peroxide on the scum, dirt, or stains in your bathtub. Let it stay for about 30 minutes. Rinse to loosen grime and ease up cleaning.
17. Clean Glass Surfaces
Is it your sliding windows or doors, glass table surfaces, mirror, decoration bowl? Just name it! Any glass surface in your home will surely look superb and clearer with a touch of hydrogen peroxide. Spray the chemical on mirrors and other glass surfaces to loosen grime and dirt. Wipe away with a clean, lint-free cloth.
18. Disinfect Countertops
This is also one of the uses of hydrogen peroxide in your home. You can clean the countertops in your kitchen and bathroom using this substance too. Spray it on bathroom and kitchen countertops to clean and disinfect.
19. Washing Dishrags
Your dishrags and sponges need to be constantly cleaned and disinfected. Remember, you use them on the plates and other dishwares you use to eat or drink. An excellent way to ensure that your dishrags and sponges are free from germs and dirt is to use hydrogen peroxide.
Leave dirty rags and cleaning sponges in a peroxide solution and let them soak for about 15 – 30 minutes for disinfection.
20. Disinfect Cutting Boards
Countless germs and bacteria live and shelter themselves on cutting boards. So, it is in your best interest to constantly disinfect your cutting board using hydrogen peroxide. Spray hydrogen peroxide on cutting boards to get rid of germs and bacteria from raw meat and some other foods that may remain on the surface of the board.
21. Clean Your Refrigerator
The dumping and removal of food and drink items over weeks could have probably caused some spillages in the fridge. You should make it a habit to clean your refrigerator occasionally, at least twice monthly.
The cleaning could be made better using hydrogen peroxide. Spray hydrogen peroxide on the surfaces inside your refrigerator then leave it to soak for a couple of minutes. Wipe with a clean cloth to disinfect.
22. Clean Carpets
Carpets cleaning in your home is one of the basic chores that makes your home smells and look fresh. Dirty carpets could emit some unpleasant odor over time if not cleaned. You can freshen your carpets and rugs using hydrogen peroxide as well as remove stubborn stains on them.
Spray hydrogen peroxide on light-colored rugs and carpets to remove stains. But you have to keep in mind that hydrogen peroxide may bleach some fabrics. So, before using, you can do a test on a little hidden part of the rug.
23. Refresh Re-useable Bags
It is not hygienic to keep on using re-usable bags again and again without cleaning, washing, or disinfecting them. You can do the cleaning by spraying hydrogen peroxide inside your re-useable cloth shopping bags to clean, disinfect, and remove food odors.
24. Disinfect Lunchboxes
Every weekend, get your kids’ lunchboxes, spray some hydrogen peroxide into them, let it sit for a few minutes then wipe away to clean and disinfect. You can leave open for some time to air properly.
25. Cleanse Dehumidifiers
Yes! It is also one of the uses of hydrogen peroxide. Add a pint of hydrogen peroxide to one gallon of water and run the solution through humidifiers to disinfect and remove any mold or mildew that may be growing inside.
26. Remove Organic Stains
With hydrogen peroxide, it is easier to deal with organic stains like coffee, wine, blood, sweat, and so on. Mix two parts hydrogen peroxide with one part dish detergent and apply to organic stains on fabrics. You must, however, be careful because it could bleach some fabrics.
27. Tile Grout Cleaner
With the 3% hydrogen peroxide, you can speed clean your dirty tile grout. Although this may require a bit of scrubbing.
Mix white flour with hydrogen peroxide to form a thick paste. Apply to grout and cover with plastic wrap overnight. The following day, scrub and rinse with water for a cleaner grout.
28. Disinfect garden pots, tools, and greenhouses
If you have a garden in your home, hydrogen peroxide is one of the most essential garden items to have. It is highly effective to disinfect seed trays, pots, and other containers before they are reused.
You can also dip pruning tools in the hydrogen peroxide solution before use, and between plants, to reduce the risk of introducing pathogens into the wounds. Hydrogen peroxide works well against viruses, fungi, and most types of bacteria. You can also use it in preventing mildew and mold from clouding glass panes of greenhouses.
29. Disinfect growing medium
Improve the chances of germination with the use of hydrogen peroxide. The use of hydrogen peroxide can help to start a growing medium for seed starting and in propagation trays in a sterile way.
If you disinfect with hydrogen peroxide, you can use washed river sand instead of perlite and vermiculite. When you make your potting mix with compost, sand and other additives added to garden soil, use this chemical solution to destroy soil pathogens, including nematode worms that can harm your plants.
Soak the sand or soil thoroughly, mixing it with a 3% to 6% solution, then cover it with a plastic sheet loosely. The chemical will kill even the eggs of worms when exposed to this chemical. Give the chemical some time to completely decompose, (preferably overnight) turning the mixture well once or twice.
