Savvy Secrest -New Uses For An Old Friend

Chances are when you were a teenage you had a bottle of this in the cupboard that you may have used to “lighten” your hair in the summer.

Countless teens have combed hydrogen peroxide through their locks every summer before heading into the sun in the hopes of lightening their hair “naturally”. You may not be lightening your hair by the beach or the pool any longer, but this old friend has some other very good uses we thought you might like to know about.

Have Discolored Nails? Try This

Fungi can transform your nails into yellowed, cracked fragments of what they used to be. Hydrogen peroxide can kill this fungus quickly and efficiently. In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup of hot water with one teaspoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide. For extra strength, include one teaspoon of baking soda.

Soak your nails in this solution for about ten minutes. If you don’t want your skin to soften, you can soak a cotton ball in the mixture and press it to your nails. If you need to, scrub stains off with a clean, unused toothbrush or a nail brush.

Soften Those Cracked Heels

Why spend your money on spa foot treatments when you have so many other things to pay for? If you have cracked, rough callouses on the edges of your feet, hydrogen peroxide can soften that skin by breaking down the tissue around it. 

Dilute two cups of hydrogen peroxide into two cups of hot water. Soak feet for 30 minutes. After you dry them off, scrub off all the dead skin. Then lather your feet with lotion, pop on some warm fuzzy socks, and hit the hay. Your feet will feel super soft in the morning.

Here’s How To Clean Your Toothbrushes

Have you ever thought about how many germs gather on your toothbrushes? The reality is that they attract plenty of bacteria, and yet most people never clean their toothbrushes. According to the Children’s Oral Health Institute, hydrogen peroxide is a safe method of disinfecting your child’s toothbrushes.

Pour 3% hydrogen peroxide into a cup, and place your toothbrushes into it bristles-down. Leave the toothbrushes in there until the liquid stops bubbling. Afterward, rinse the toothbrush thoroughly before use. Another method is to swish your toothbrush through a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide before use.

Beat That Bad Breath

Hydrogen peroxide not only whitens your teeth, but it also eliminates bad breath. Gargling hydrogen peroxide kills the bacteria in your throat, so it can also assuage sore throats and gum inflammation. Before you pour it straight into your mouth, dilute the peroxide in water.

Pour 3% hydrogen peroxide into water: one part peroxide per two parts water. This will lower the concentration to 1% hydrogen peroxide. Gargle and swish the solution around your mouth for 30 to 60 seconds and then spit it out. Do not swallow. Rinse your mouth afterward, and you’re ready to go!

Get Your Cutting Board Food-Ready

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If you think about it, cutting boards touch our food as often (if not more often) as our plates do. As your cutting board touches raw vegetables and meat, it’ll accumulate bacteria that can cause foodborne illness. Just washing the cutting board isn’t enough; you’ll want to disinfect it too.

After you clear your cutting board of food and water, rinse it thoroughly. Fill a container–large, glass baking pans should work–with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Leave your cutting board in there for ten minutes. Once you remove it, rinse it thoroughly, and look forward to your next meal.

We bet you might just still have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in your cupboard right now. Thanks healthygems.com for new ways for us to once again find uses for this old friend 🙂