6 Things Not to Do With Hydrogen Peroxide
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Hydrogen peroxide offers a host of handy uses. It’s great for cleaning minor wounds and infected sores. It works for improving dental health and whitening teeth. It even helps remove stains from some carpets (color test first!) and clothing—as well as whitening whites in the laundry. But, it’s not the perfect solution for every situation. In fact, it can be dangerous in the wrong mix.
Types of Hydrogen Peroxide
The first thing to understand is that not all hydrogen peroxide is created the same, and each type has its own uses as well as cautions.
Food grade hydrogen peroxide is 35% H2O2 and 65% water. It’s used by food manufacturers in some of the foods we eat. There’s also a 90 percent H2O2, used at the industrial level to bleach paper and as an ingredient in rocket fuel.
Within the home, six to 10 percent H2O2 is used in hair bleaching products, and three percent H2O2 is the standard household variety found in most drugstores and medicine cabinets. Many of the pointers here apply more to risks when encountering the higher concentrations (perhaps at work), but some apply to household hydrogen peroxide too.
Swallow
While a small amount of highly diluted hydrogen peroxide likely won’t cause more than irritation to the mouth, throat, or stomach, anything above that 3% version can cause serious internal damage. Even if you use hydrogen peroxide as a daily dental rinse or toothpaste, try to avoid ingesting it.
The household variety may not be of high concern, but it can cause vomiting or stomach upset. Higher levels can cause internal burns, and the highest levels can cause loss of consciousness or death.
For your pets, hydrogen peroxide can be used to initiate vomiting.
Skip the Gloves
When using hydrogen peroxide as a cleaning aid, wear gloves. It may seem benign, but especially hair-coloring and higher grades can burn the skin. So while using it to scour out the oven or for bringing your cookie sheets back to new-looking condition, wear those colorful rubber gloves. If you do come into direct contact, symptoms may range from skin irritation to discoloration to burns and blisters.
Mix with Vinegar
Unless the goal is to create peracetic acid, avoid mixing hydrogen peroxide with vinegar of any kind. It’s okay to clean using one before the other, but never mix them in the same container. Acid means bad things for your skin, eyes, nose, throat, and lungs.
Swap Bottles
Hydrogen peroxide is sold in a brown bottle for a reason, and it has nothing to do with marketing ideas. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down when exposed to light, heat, and air, leaving nothing behind except water. To make sure your hydrogen peroxide is still effective, watch for the tell-tale fizz when cleaning counters or teeth. Always store in the original bottle in a cool place.
Use on Deep Wounds
Most households keep hydrogen peroxide around as part of their first aid arsenal. After all, it’s been used for generations to clean and sterilize wounds. While this may be an effective treatment for minor cuts, keep the hydrogen peroxide away from deeper wounds.
Over recent years scientists have discovered that while the heavily-relied on cleaner does kill bad bacteria, it also kills healthy cells that may be working to heal you. Some of the information is inconclusive, but doctors now typically recommend skipping the hydrogen peroxide for deep cuts, at least after the initial clean.
Lighten Skin Spots
While hydrogen peroxide has its place in the world of dermatology, using it as a home cure for dark skin spots is problematic. There’s just not enough evidence it works and health professionals feel the risks are higher than the rewards for the particular DIY home remedy. In fact, avoid using hydrogen peroxide on any of your skin.
Conclusion
While it’s great as a disinfectant and whitener, as well as for oral debriding, it’s not as innocent as the colorless, scentless look might indicate. So enjoy the virtues of a clean garbage can, elimination of odors in the litter box, and even discouraging algae in your pond, hydrogen peroxide does have its limitations.
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![Dawn Hammon]()
Dawn Hammon has thrived in freelance writing and editor roles for nearly a decade. She has lived, worked, and attended school in Oregon for many years. Dawn currently spends her days convincing her children she is still smarter than them while creating new experiences with her husband of 24 years.  Her multiple interests have led her to frequently undergo home improvement projects. She enjoys sharing the hard-earned knowledge that comes with it with the audience of DoItYourself.com. Dawn and her sister make up a power-tool loving duo that teaches classes to local women with the goal of empowering them to tackle their fears and become comfortable with power tools. Tapping into her enthusiasm for saving money and devotion to sustainable practices, Dawn has recently launched a passion project aimed at connecting eco-friendly products and socially-responsible companies with consumers interested in making conscientious purchases, better informing themselves about products on the market, and taking a stand in favor of helping to save the planet. When she is not providing stellar online content for local, national, and international businesses or trolling the internet for organic cotton clothing, you might find her backpacking nearby hills and valleys, traveling to remote parts of the globe, or expanding her vocabulary in a competitive game of Scrabble. Dawn holds a bachelor's degree in psychology, which these days she mostly uses to provide therapy for her kids and spouse. Most recently, I worked for a small local professional organizing and estate sale company for four years where I learned a ton about organizing and/or disposing of just about anything. She was raised in a tool-oriented, hands-on, DIY family. Her dad worked in the floor covering business and owned local floor covering businesses, so of course selling floor covering was one of her first jobs. Her brother was a contractor for about 30 years and site supervisor for Habitat for Humanity. I worked with him often, building decks, painting houses, framing in buildings, etc. With her sister, she holds power tool classes to empower women who are scared or have never used them. Not quite homesteaders, she did grow up with a farm, tractors, motorcycles, expansive gardens, hay fields, barns, and lots of repairs to do. Plus she and her family preserved foods, raised cattle and pigs, chopped and hauled firewood, and performed regular maintenance on two households, outbuildings, fencing, etc. As an adult, she has owned two houses. The first one she personally ripped out a galley kitchen and opened it up to the living area, plus updated every door, floor covering, and piece of trim in the place. In her current home, she's tackled everything from installing real hardwood flooring to revamping the landscape.
