Uses Of Hydrogen Peroxide For Laundry (2023)

Add 1 part Dawn dish liquid to 2 parts peroxide into a spray bottle. Swish it around (don't shake!). Spray on stains immediately before washing. I've gotten out stains even after the clothes have dried occasionally. Do NOT spray ahead of time and let the clothing sit. I ended up with what looked like a tie dyed shirt that way because the peroxide bleached it.

Do you put them in a spray bottle?

I use peroxide on my whites & they have never been brighter.

Do the math. 35% peroxide is $75 for 5 gallons. A simple google search reveals the other commenter's ratio of 11:1 is correct for dilution. So 5 gallons of 35% makes 55 gallons of 3%. A gallon of 3% is around $10, or $550 for 55 gallons instead of $75.

I make cleaning products and also in laundry as a stain remover and in place of chlorine bleach. Use on countertops.

It does work but rinse with cold water because it can affect the fibers of the fabric. I worked in surgery and we would use H2O2 alone it seemed to thin the fibers in the area your rubbing but if you take a second cloth with cold water it works like a charm. I am a RN and we used it all the time even on colors

I used vinegar, dish soap(dawn), peroxide, hot water -presoaked my grandsons baseball pants. I presoaked in small bin for 1hour (pants are really dirty-from dirt/muddy) or longer then wash machine.

Does anyone think it's necessary to run an extra rinse cycle when washing with peroxide?

To get rid of urine smell, put white vinegar in with your clothes. I pour it on top of the clothes and then put it in with my container that holds whatever type of stain remover I am using. For those who are complaining about down comforters smelling from the washing machine, this will take care of that smell too.

Go to any beauty supply and get stronger (yes its safe on most fabric) bottles of peroxide often called "developer" for hair color. It comes from 10 Volume to 100 Volume read Volume as percent. 10 Volume is 10 percent peroxide and 100 Volume 100%. They may not sell the 100 volume to a non professional as it could be used to make a hydrogen bomb. It's much cheaper and sold in bulk 40 Volume is fine for bloody clothes or protein stains. We use it in the salon all the time for laundry.

I've found it does indeed work very well to remove blood. However, on a number of occasions my items came out of the wash with holes in them after treatment. I used the same concentration, same soaking time as on other items, so it must be that it reacts differently with different kinds of fabric. Unfortunately, you'll only know this after washing, once the item is already ruined.

In the late 90's I slice my index finger pretty badly on a broken ceramic coffee mug. It took ten stitches.

My jeans I was wearing were completely covered in blood. Shortly after my RET visit most of my clothing had been packed into storage. Including my blood soaked jeans. 18 months later I finally was able to find them. I wasn't sure if I could get 18 month old blood out of my jeans. I put my jeans in a dish pan and filled it with cold water. Soaked them so when I emptied out the water the wet jeans could them absorb the peroxide. I filled the run to cover my jeans About 3 16 oz bottles. I cover it in plastic wrap. I soaked them for 2 weeks. Washed them,adding more peroxide to the wash load. They came completely blood free no stains. Peroxide is an amazing solution.

Will peroxide work on old chocolate stains on carpet? A young niece squirted chocolate syrup on my tan carpet. We immediately used Dawn & vinegar and it got most of it up, but the carpet is still stained and it drives me nuts each time I see the spot. Just wondered how I should attempt to remove it for good. Thanks.

I was witness to a neighbor man walking his senior dog when they were attacked by a pit bull. It was terrifying. As horrific as the stories are seeing it in real time is worse.
I did the most brilliant thing, I backed my minivan out of the driveway and down the road to the attack. I opened the sliding door and yelled get in. The man grabbed his dog, jumped into the van, and slammed the door. I sped away from the area and drove the man home.
All survived but my back seat was a bloody mess. Peroxide cleaned the blood from my vehicle without staining the seats. It works on both human and animal blood.

Very nice tips! I love the idea of using products from around the home to clean! Thank you!

I normally go to beauty supply stores. They sell it by the gallon at different volumes.

Yes, I do have some tips for this common problem. Here's my page with tips for removing blood stains from carpet!

My husband bleeds easily due to blood thinners. Any suggestions on how to remove blood stains from carpet?

Where can I find large bottles of peroxide instead of the small ones found in grocery stores? Like gallon sized ones.

I had a couple yellow spots on a white skort. I treated the spots with peroxide then put it in the sun for extra bleaching power. Now everywhere the peroxide ran is yellow. I guess putting it in sun was wrong. Any way to fix my mistake?

I am the mother of eleven children and don't believe there is a laundry stain I haven't met or a laundry smell that hasn't passed under my nose. For the one mother, I too have a special needs child and buy OdoBan for laundry. I put the OdoBan in the wash cycle and not the rinse cycle because my child has sensitive skin and it works fine. I've used it for years. I live in Indiana and buy mine at Sam's Club for just over $10. There it comes with a diluted concentrated mixture attached in a spray bottle. It is a disinfectant and kills 99.9% of germ. So you get 2 for 1.

Even if you don't get the spray with it you can make your own and it has a nice fragrance. Hope this info helps.

One to ten ratio of Dawn dish liquid with hydrogen peroxide. Use in clean spray bottle to remove stains on clothing. Wash in cold water with like colors.

This is a great inexpensive way to pre treat shirt collars and cuffs as it breaks down the dirt as well as the perspiration/body oil that is especially a problem for collars. I think the dish soap portion of the mix does the most good on the collars. Just sponge it on, let it sit for 5-10 minutes before washing. I use it primarily on white shirts, but have also applied it to colored garments as well. For any of the mixture I have left after pretreating I just throw it in the washer with my detergent.

I have also discovered that it helps if you are trying to remove baby formula stains from your clothes as well as the baby's, because like blood, they are also protein stains. It is much cheaper than any of the store bought laundry pre-treatment products.

Does this homemade stain remover need to be added like a paste (scrub on with a toothbrush) or do you just add 2:1 to each load of laundry?

After falling on ice and having stitches in my head my doctor's nurse told me to use peroxide to take care of the blood spots on my new pink coat. IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When using the 2 parts peroxide with one part liquid dish soap, do you then apply it directly to the stain, spray it on, and then let it set or do you scrub it into the fabric?

Club soda will remove new stains. Don't know about old ones but great on new stains.

Will this work in an HE washer?

Would it work on the pet stains on my carpet?

Thanks for the info on bleaching clothes safely with hydrogen peroxide. I messed up a blue and white striped shirt by washing with blue jeans and was trying to figure out how to brighten the white again.

For those people who were writing in about urine and dog smells, I just wanted to share that I recently discovered a product called OdoBan Odor Eliminator, which is a colorless, concentrated deodorizer and sanitizer which you can add to the rinse cycle of the wash or simply spray on items (floors, countertops, furniture) mixed with water to whatever strength desired. Different concentrations do various things, from killing mildew, getting rid of pet smells or disinfecting. This is not a cleaner, but it really helps when nothing else works or you can't use hydrogen peroxide or vinegar. You can get a gallon of the concentrate for less than ten bucks at Home Depot or on Amazon for a little more. It comes in a fragrance called eucalyptus, which just smells fresh and clean.

Many white items are actually dyed. Most fibers are yellowish or grey and the manufacturer uses a blue dye to make it the bright white we are used to. Like the article said, if the dye wasn't "set" or was an organic dye, the peroxide will remove it. In my grocery store is a RIT product called bluing and it helps restore those bright whites.

If you've got hard water stains, or high iron content that is causing rust stains in your clothes, for example, I suggest using a product that has a higher acidity which is what helps remove these types of stains. You have to be careful what you choose though so you don't harm your fabric, so check out these hard water stain removal tips for ideas. (Make sure you look at the tips applicable to fabrics, and not those for hard surfaces!)

We have really hard water with high iron content. Would peroxide help keep the orange out of our clothes?

HELP!!! I used straight peroxide on a white outfit that turned the area yellow. What can I do to get the stain out?

Referring to the 35% solution of peroxide. If using, be very, very careful not to get on skin or counter tops, or wood shelves. I have learned from experience that this solution is very, very potent and dangerous.

Diana, I would suggest that you look on this removing urine stains and smells page for ideas of what might work best for this problem!

So I have a special needs child and his urine is a problem. Trying to remove the smell from his clothes and sheets. Would peroxide do the trick and if so how much would I use? Appreciate any input.(;

I have washed bloody clothes in the washer by just adding 1/4 cup to the wash cycle - comes out great every time!

I buy gallon jugs at a wholesale type store called Smart and Final. I don't know how wide spread the store is, but the cost savings is worth looking into.

Remember when nurses were required to wear white uniforms? I was one of them. We used hydrogen peroxide successfully to maintain the look.

Use this all the time. I have a well so between hydrogen peroxide and cream of tarter I have bright whites.

I'm at my wits end with a new duck feather duvet - smells like a stagnant pond! It's been thru a laundry washer with standard detergent & 3 hours of intermittent tumble drying,not to mention 2 weeks in and out of the sun in an attempt to air it. I have some 35% hydrogen peroxide which I can dilute and add to a wash/prewash/rinse.. not sure which .. any thoughts? Cheers! Jodie.

Hi Taylor,

I've been using the 3% H2O2 in my laundry using the bleach dispenser of my front loader washing machine for almost a year now. Not only has it done wonders for my laundry, it's cleaned out the dispenser part of my machine and so will help my machine last longer. I buy it by the gallon at Smart & Final - a commercial-turned-retail chain on the west coast. The gallon costs about $2 so is by far the most inexpensive way to go.

Thanks so much for your site, you've cleared up many questions I've had on various products and I appreciate the work you put into your site.

Best regards!

I use it on all fabrics all the time works great!

If you use it to treat a blood stain on a white shirt, you have to rinse it before laundering. I'm a nurse and it works every time-no yellowing.

I use peroxide straight on clothing that is blood stained. I have never had it bleach any clothes.

For me, it's only lifted color out if I let it sit on the clothing for more than 24 hrs before washing.

My clothes have never faded or been bleached when I used it.

I use a paste of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, a tiny bit of Dawn dish soap. Gets out almost any stain!

Hydrogen provide is especially great at pulling blood out of clothes so that they don't stain... great if someone had a bloody nose all over a white shirt or cut their leg and got it on their jeans or socks... not stains or color fading... just makes it look like it never happened.

Agreed! Hydrogen peroxide works better than anything and it has never bleached any of my fabrics. I use it on colors, carpet, everything. It's just fantastic.

I love hydrogen peroxide for laundry stain removers! Works great on getting whites white without using bleach!