Hydrogen peroxide has been one of the most prevalent compounds used in industrial oxidation processes. Due to its strong oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is also used as a bleaching agent in various foods such as wheat flour, edible oil, egg white, etc.
But that’s not all it is used for nowadays. You’ve probably heard of people using it to bleach their hair or fade tattoos. If you’re wondering how it’s possible to use an industrial-grade chemical on something as sensitive as human skin, the answer is 3% hydrogen peroxide.
With the introduction of this watered-down concentration of hydrogen peroxide, the usability of this product has multiplied.
Another famous brand of stain removers you have probably heard of is OxiClean. Having many of the same uses as hydrogen peroxide, OxiClean cleaners can remove stubborn stains and trace odors and even be used as a sanitizer.
But be warned, if you’re thinking about experimenting around with both products to create some super solution, DON’T. OxiClean and hydrogen peroxide do not mix well and may leave disastrous results. Both products are made for individual use and can be reactive when in contact with each other.
If either product is not getting the job done and you’re looking for something more substantial, check out our article on hydrogen peroxide plus lemon juice.
What Is OxiClean?
Let us tell you a bit more about what OxiClean is. OxiClean is a company that produces a range of cleaning products, from stain removers to sanitization solutions. The brand has spread out globally and has branches in many countries around the globe.
They offer various cleaning products such as a versatile stain remover, laundry, home sanitizer, OxiClean™ Max Force™ Spray, and laundry stain remover spray.
Their range of OxiClean cleaners is highly recommended, especially in the US, as they have maintained their quality over the years and are much more effective than other cleaning solutions.
Why Do People Use OxiClean?
OxiClean’s most common household use is as a versatile stain remover. Having many of the same properties like hydrogen peroxide and pulling out stains from any surface, OxiClean is highly recommended as a stain remover around the house.
The stain removing solution is safe to use on any surface without worrying about bleaching the color. This is how OxiClean earned its reputation as the color-safe stain remover for laundry and almost any other surface in your house.
So we have been talking about how OxiClean is a great stain remover, but what can it be used on? Some common surfaces it is used on are laundry clothes, bath and kitchen fixtures, carpet, and furniture.
The reason it is so popular and often used besides other cleaners is its ease of use and high availability. This makes it the ideal cleaning solution for your average household’s cleaning requirements.
What Is It Made Up Of?
If you’re looking for the chemical combination behind this fantastic surface cleaner, it is a combination of several ingredients. The key ones are sodium percarbonate, sodium carbonate, surfactants, and polymer. After mixing these four ingredients plus some additional components, you have your OxiClean stain remover solution ready.
It is usually a good idea not to try this at home. Firstly, these compounds are not readily available on the market. Secondly, unless you have done thorough research and have an in-depth understanding of their properties, the compounds can cause you permanent harm if you are not careful.
Can You Mix Hydrogen Peroxide and OxiClean?
So remember we talked about how mixing hydrogen peroxide and OxiClean is NOT a good idea? Well, let us explain further. Hydrogen peroxide is a very reactive compound. Regardless of its concentration, its chemical properties are constant. OxiClean is also infused with various chemicals, each in different proportions.
Why is this important? If you mix a solution containing multiple chemicals with a highly reactive substance, the result is not very pleasant. This is the case for a reaction between hydrogen peroxide and OxiClean.
So, to reiterate, it is best to leave the experimentation to researchers and continue using both products as advised.
Harmful Products From This Reaction
We have already mentioned that OxiClean is a mixture of various chemicals whose chemical properties are too extensive to dive into right now. Hydrogen peroxide is also known for its toxic nature and is highly acidic.
This can be very harmful to human skin if exposed directly to it. Although both these compounds are dangerous on their own, the product of combining them is not any safer.
Why is that? That is because of the fumes emitted when both these surface cleaners are mixed. The fumes can be extremely hazardous to health and may cause severe health complications.
Adverse Effects Of Mixing Hydrogen Peroxide and OxiClean
Although everybody’s system reacts differently to these byproducts, here are some common complications that are faced when people attempt this experiment:
- Burning: People have reported having felt burning sensations in their eyes and nostrils immediately after inhaling fumes coming off the mixture.
- Rashes: When coming into contact with the solution itself, individuals have developed persistent rashes that are not easily removed over time.
- Respiratory Distress: As fumes are inhaled, they go and irritate your entire respiratory system. This can cause wheezing and shortness of breath, similar to the long-term effects of smoking.
- Corrosion: Both surface cleaners are designed to not permanently harm the individual even if they come into contact with their skin. But this combined solution may result in corrosion of skin and burnt patches.
These effects are only some of the common health issues people face while attempting experiments like these without supervision. The complications can be much more severe, sometimes resulting in death! Keep yourself and your family safe, and do not attempt anything like this at home.
You Don’t Need to Mix OxiClean and Hydrogen Peroxide!
Who says you have to mix OxiClean and hydrogen peroxide in the first place? These products are highly effective surface cleaners and can be used independently without any additional requirements.
Now we’re going to tell you how you can use hydrogen peroxide independently to get rid of those troublesome stains.
Using Hydrogen Peroxide to Remove Tough Fabric Stains
Fabrics are a widespread material used in almost every part of our life as a daily necessity. From our clothes to table cloths, everything is made up of fabric. The downside? Fabric stains are one of the most common stains to date. But don’t worry. They are also one of the easiest if done right.
The reason behind the high number of fabric stains is that they are a part of our everyday routines. Whether you step in a puddle on your way to work or spill ketchup on the tablecloth while having dinner, all of these are included in fabric stains.
Even the blood your clothes soak after receiving a cut is classified as a fabric stain.
This leads us to our next point. If there are so many types of fabric stains, can hydrogen peroxide be used to treat them all? The answer is yes.
Due to hydrogen peroxide’s bleaching property coupled with its being an antibacterial, it not only removes any type of stain from your clothes but also cleanses them of any remaining bacterial residue.
What You Need
- Cool water
- Hydrogen peroxide
How To Use
For fabric stains, the procedure is fairly simple as this can become a daily chore very fast. Firstly, you have to mix hydrogen peroxide with cool water to make a slightly diluted solution. After that, you will want to place your laundry into the tub or machine, whichever suits you better.
Leave the fabric to sit in the solution for 1-4 hours before removing it. Rinse it with water once more to remove residual hydrogen peroxide as that can be harmful to your skin. The longer you leave it stirring in the solution, the better results you are bound to get.
After rinsing, you should see that the stain has completely disappeared and did not even leave a trace.
The thing you should be cautious about is bleaching. Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful bleaching agent and can easily pull the color out of anything. Do not remove stains from color-intensive clothing as it might bleach off the color for safety.
Using Hydrogen Peroxide to Remove Carpet Stains
Carpets are a part of every household, but how often do we wash them out? It is a cesspool of bacteria and other microbes due to the constant interaction without feet.
At least it’s not that bad, even if you’re doing it occasionally. But what about when you have stained the carpet with any food or beverage and need to remove it before it worsens? Hydrogen peroxide can help with that.
Hydrogen peroxide is a great surface cleaner for carpets as it gets between the fibers and can flush out any staining molecules that could promote bacterial growth. But fortunately, hydrogen peroxide also takes care of bacterial invasions with its antibacterial properties.
These properties allow the hydrogen peroxide to remove the stains and keep your house’s carpet clean.
What You Need
- Water
- Hydrogen peroxide
How To Use
The procedure is straightforward if you want to try this out on your carpet. The first step would be diluting the hydrogen peroxide, making it safe for human interaction with the skin. Once you have done that, pour some of it on the affected area and ensure it seeps in.
Unlike standard fabrics, carpets have several layers of material to insulate the feet. This purpose can backfire when bacteria move downward between the layers. Hydrogen peroxide is an excellent choice for cleaning carpets, and it requires a more powerful solution for thorough cleaning. It can easily get between the layers and kill any germs or microbes that might be hiding down there.
Using Hydrogen Peroxide to Remove Floor Stains
Floor stains. We all know how annoying it is to walk over a stain and feel that Grimey, sticky feeling on the sole of your foot. Floor stains are probably the most irritating types of stains as they require a bit of effort to clean up. On top of that, anyone walking over just spreads it all over the place!
That is why we are here to tell you how to get rid of stubborn floor stains in one swift go. Using hydrogen peroxide should solve all your floor stain issues as hydrogen peroxide’s properties as a disinfectant and antimicrobial can clear any surface of stains without leaving a trace.
The best part about it is that it also acts as a deodorizer, meaning it removes any trace of smells left behind by the stain. When you are getting clean, spotless floors with just one product, why think about anything else?
What You Need
- ½ cup of hydrogen peroxide
- 1 gallon of hot water
How To Use
We know that cleaning up floor stains can be a nuisance because they take a bit of effort to get rid of. But that does not mean the process is confusing in any way.
All you’ll want to do is mix your half cup of hydrogen peroxide into the gallon of hot water to form a mixture. Pour the resulting solution on top and around the affected area and start scrubbing. It should get rid of any stains and leave behind a sparkling surface.
Floor stains do not only comprise food and beverage stains.
At times, grout can also form on top of floors that are a bit harder to get out. Simply pour the hydrogen peroxide directly on top of the affected surface without mixing it with water for grout.
If you feel like it is not working, you can always mix in some baking soda to form a paste mixture to scrub the grout with. This should hopefully work and get rid of the hardest of stains without any add-on products.
Using Hydrogen Peroxide to Clean Toilets
Toilets are quite possibly the dirtiest places inside our homes or at least a contender for first place; besides the evident fact that it is highly unhygienic, cleaning the bathrooms can be a major inconvenience due to the intoxicating smell.
Having to go all-around toilet scrubbing and looking for stains, people can quickly turn heads at the thought of performing this task.
But unfortunately, no matter how much you avoid it, cleaning the toilets is a mandatory job, and someone’s got to do it. We are here to make that easier for you. If you are tired of constantly scrubbing to get pesky stains out, simply use hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide has unique bleaching and disinfectant properties that make it perfect for the bathroom. Acting as a bleaching agent, hydrogen peroxide can remove any type of stain in one go. Hydrogen peroxide also acts as a natural deodorizer which is a plus point to kill that stench that drives people away from using the bathroom in the first place.
What You Need
How To Use
Cleaning your toilets with hydrogen peroxide is simply pouring the hydrogen peroxide over the surface you want to clean and scrubbing it for a while.
Unlike most store-bought cleaners, hydrogen peroxide can rid your toilet of any stains in the first go. Be it mold, soap scum, or other stains we don’t talk about, hydrogen peroxide gets the job done.
Once you are done with the cleaning aspect and have thoroughly made sure no stains remain, rinse the entire surface with water to get rid of any hydrogen peroxide residue.
Why Hydrogen Peroxide Can Work Perfectly Independent of OxiClean
We have talked about various uses of hydrogen peroxide working independently without any other surface cleaner. But why is that? What makes hydrogen peroxide so special? And, can it take care of all types of stains, regardless of the stain’s nature? Let us give you all the answers.
Unprecedented Oxidative Properties
Hydrogen peroxide is renowned as an industrial-grade oxidizing agent. Commonly used in industries to progress various processes, hydrogen peroxide’s oxidative properties remain unmatched.
Due to its low manufacturing cost, it can be used in bulk without becoming a financial burden. How does this quality play into its effectiveness as a surface cleaner?
Well, the mechanism through which hydrogen peroxide removes stains is highly dependent on this property. Once in contact with the surface, hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the stain, which in turn bleaches the surface, removing the stain altogether.
Without this key property of hydrogen peroxide, it would lose much of its value as it is a popular bleaching agent as well. As stated above, this is also the property that makes it such an effective stain remover.
Top-of-the-Class Disinfecting Abilities
When looking for a surface cleaner, how well it can disinfect the surface plays a major role in your decision.
Hydrogen peroxide is an excellent disinfectant used to remove bacteria. Stains can quickly develop bacterial growth, giving rise to mold or other microbial colonies. This can be easily stopped with hydrogen peroxide when in contact with a surface.
Harmless Byproducts
Almost all surface cleaners nowadays are imbued with tons of synthetic chemicals. These chemicals may clean your floor and leave it spotless, but it is not without drawbacks. The fumes or residue, when they come in contact with skin, may cause allergies or rashes.
Hydrogen peroxide is different as it breaks down into two simple byproducts, oxygen and water. Once used on any surface, hydrogen peroxide does not leave toxic residues and is not detrimental to health.
Hydrogen Peroxide vs OxiClean – What Should You Use?
If you look at the bigger picture, both hydrogen peroxide and OxiClean are great surface cleaners. But if you’re going for one, our recommendation would be hydrogen peroxide, and here’s why.
Firstly, hydrogen peroxide is much cheaper compared to OxiClean. OxiClean surface cleaners are branded and may cost you more compared to locally made hydrogen peroxide, which is available at almost every pharmacy or general store.
Secondly, OxiClean is made up of various chemicals that can be harmful to health if you come into contact with them. On the other hand, hydrogen peroxide decomposes into totally harmless byproducts, which are oxygen and water, meaning you never have to worry about any negative reaction.
If you’re looking for a specific concentration of hydrogen peroxide to go for, we would recommend 3% hydrogen peroxide. 3% hydrogen peroxide has been deemed safe for domestic use and does not have severe repercussions even if it touches the skin. This is the same concentration used for bleaching hair or fading tattoos.
OxiClean can also deteriorate health over time if used excessively due to its fumes. If used, small children should be kept away until it has dried up.
Final Words
Now that we have broken everything down for you, it is up to you which surface cleaner you’d like to opt for. The ultimate goal for everyone is to get such a product that is reasonably straightforward to use while also being highly effective.
Moreover, it should also be compliant with basic health protocols and should not inflict harm to any living thing, or even other material.
In that regard, both are great surface cleaners that can work on their own. However, due to ease of use and being more safe, hydrogen peroxide is preferred. Nonetheless, remember not to try to mix them under any circumstance!
If you find yourself interested in hydrogen peroxide(which you should be!), order your own set now!
