Health Benefits of Hydrogen Peroxide

Health and Beauty Benefits in a Humble Brown Bottle

YOU’D BE SURPRISED WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH HYDROGEN PEROXIDE

By Dylan Roche

You’ve probably got a bottle of hydrogen peroxide sitting in your medicine cabinet in your bathroom right now. As it turns out, this multiuse chemical product has plenty of uses when it comes to feeling and looking your best. Because hydrogen peroxide is simply water with an extra oxygen molecule (its chemical makeup is H2O2 instead of simply H2O), it is generally regarded as safe for most uses—though you do have to be careful in some situations, as we address later in the article. That extra oxygen molecule gives hydrogen peroxide the power to oxidize, thus killing germs and bleaching color out of porous surfaces.

Wondering what you can safely do with hydrogen peroxide? Here are the top uses:

Use it as a mouthwash by creating a 1:4 combination of hydrogen peroxide to water. Swish it around in your mouth for up to a minute. Do not swallow. Spit it out and rinse well with water. This mouthwash solution kills germs and can help prevent gum disease.

For superior whitening action on your teeth, combine hydrogen peroxide with baking soda in a 2:1 ratio so that it forms a thick paste. Apply this paste to your teeth and allow it to sit for one minute. Rinse with water. Repeat twice a week, but no more than three times a week—hydrogen peroxide can break down your tooth enamel if used too frequently.

Use hydrogen peroxide to bleach your hair by mixing it with equal parts water (1:1 ratio). Put in a spray bottle and spritz onto your hair, taking caution not to get the hydrogen peroxide in your eyes. Use high heat to stimulate bleaching, either by going outside in the sun or by drying your hair with a hot blow dryer.

Sanitize your makeup, nail, and other beauty tools by soaking them in a 1:1 mixture of peroxide and water for one to two minutes. Rinse with plain water and dry thoroughly.

Dilute hydrogen peroxide with water in a 1:1 ratio and put it in a spray bottle. Spritz your armpits with this mixture to naturally deodorize.

Create a footbath with a 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide per gallon of warm water. Soak your feet to prevent toenail fungus and keep infections like athlete’s foot away.

While these methods are generally considered safe, there are some uses for hydrogen peroxide that have permeated our culture despite the fact that these uses aren’t very good for us. Do not ever use hydrogen peroxide to:

Fight pimples. Although benzoyl peroxide in a common ingredient in many acne treatments, it is not the same as hydrogen peroxide, which is too harsh for your skin and can end up leaving rashes or burns, thereby making breakouts even worse.

Clean wounds. Generation after generation has used hydrogen peroxide to clean cuts, scrapes, and other wounds. It turns out this isn’t healthy. Hydrogen peroxide can irritate the skin and make your wounds take longer to heal.

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