About soaking in hydrogen peroxide...

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23 May 2012 @ 11:25 am

I hzave had my cups for roughly 2 years, some a little over a year. Staining never really bothered me but my lunette Diana wasn't looking as pretty green as when I first received so I soaked it in a 50/50 hp and water solution and it came out looking brand new. Now since I have done that I just feel like de-staining the rest.

In my research beforehand though I noticed some of you say you soak it in the peroxide. Is this straight 3% peroxide or a dilution with water? Also I came across a post of some sort saying peroxide wasn't good to use on silicone. Is this true? Has anyone experienced ill effects with using peroxide or a peroxide solution to remove stains? Tia!

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savannahjan on May 23rd, 2012 04:28 pm (UTC)

Oh crap. I am really interested in the answers to this.

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tisiphone on May 23rd, 2012 04:51 pm (UTC)

You won't be able to buy straight hydrogen peroxide in a retail environment, it's always a solution of 3% to 5% (depending on where you are).

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kitsunenomizu on May 23rd, 2012 04:56 pm (UTC)

I should have clarified that question by saying "straight 3% hydrogen peroxide or diluted with water." I diluted mine.

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tisiphone on May 23rd, 2012 05:00 pm (UTC)

Oh, right, sorry. I'm not reading for content today apparently. I don't dilute it usually, as it's not very strong in the first place.

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kitsunenomizu on May 23rd, 2012 05:05 pm (UTC)

I didn't word it very well to begin with. Haha Thank you. Now I am not worried about damaging my cups

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kuradi8 on May 23rd, 2012 04:53 pm (UTC)

http://www.ozoneservices.com/articles/004.htm says that compatibility with 10% solution is excellent and then downgrades to good at higher concentrations. Since the hydrogen peroxide you get at the first aid aisle is only 3%, then I would assume it is even (technical term) "more excellent" than at 10%.

Another thing about hydrogen peroxide is that just like soda loses its fizz when left open, H2O2 becomes just plain H2O (water) when it is left open. So that 3% gets weaker as time goes by -- for example during an overnight soak.

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kitsunenomizu on May 23rd, 2012 04:57 pm (UTC)

Awesome. So you just soak yours in it without diluting with water then?

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kuradi8 on May 23rd, 2012 05:14 pm (UTC)

Yeah. Straight out of the bottle. No diluting.

My Lunette is fairly resistant to staining but all I have to do is whisper "blood" at my (old) UK Mooncup for it to turn dingy. The Mooncup gets a bath far more often than my Lunette. It fits into a large shot glass, then I fill it with HP and leave it overnight -- or longer if I forget about it, which I often do.

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ohletmetelu on May 23rd, 2012 09:35 pm (UTC)

Love the thought of soaking in a shot glass! Will have to try that.. hehe

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hiriel1804 on May 23rd, 2012 07:58 pm (UTC)

I'll just add that I did dilute my 3% hydrogen peroxide the one time I soaked my cups, because it is INSANELY expensive in Norway. I probably diluted it at least 1 to 4, and it was still effective on my LadyCups :)

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mjsp on May 27th, 2012 09:16 am (UTC)

If you buy it in a "Jernvarehandel" instead of the apothecary it is cheaper. ;)

M @ www.menskopp.org

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rainbowkiwi on May 23rd, 2012 08:55 pm (UTC)

I usually dilute my peroxide(3%)in half, just for the sake of saving money. I soak overnight, and my diva looks brand new the next day.

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necromance on May 24th, 2012 12:05 am (UTC)

I remember someone in here emailing a medical grade silicone manufacturer and they said that hydrogen peroxide can make silicone swell slightly, but so slightly that you wouldn't notice it for cup use. Like it's only worth noting for implants for joints and things like that where a millimeter is a mile.

So you're good to go! I've used straight 3-5% hydrogen peroxide and even 10% bleach solutions (with rinsing afterwards) with no ill side effects and it's been three years with a cup now.

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chamekke on May 24th, 2012 05:14 am (UTC)

For the handful of people using Meluna cups... I checked the Meluna FAQ and sure enough, it's OK to use hydrogen peroxide for their TPE cups as well, "up to 12% concentration" to be precise.

Just in case anyone was wondering if it was safe to use hydrogen peroxide to clean TPE as well as silicone!

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kitsunenomizu on May 24th, 2012 11:49 am (UTC)

Thank you all for your input. I just soaked two of my other cups too. Didn't realize how stained my green fleur was until it came out looking great. Now all but my yuuki have been soaked.

How often do you all give them an hp bath? Just when they show signs of staining or... more often?

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arrow_bright on May 24th, 2012 03:40 pm (UTC)

I generally only do it when mine is showing signs of staining, but my flow makes it so that it's generally showing staining at least every other cycle. I don't mind soaking, though. I sure beats the trouble of boiling.

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okwaho_okara on May 26th, 2012 01:23 am (UTC)

I'm glad that you posted this!! I was wondering as well :)

My small blue Fleurcup is finally staining a little bit (mostly around the rim) after 4 cycles... I think I will soak it in HP at the end of my next cycle... the staining isn't that big of a deal to me personally, after all, it's up in your vag collecting blood lol, but still makes me be like, ick.

I'm happy to know that I can safely de-stain it, and also it will sanitize it in the process :)

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who_was_on_fire on May 26th, 2012 07:12 am (UTC)
recent experience

After 6 or so months with my Diva cup, I was really annoyed by the staining. I'd read here that peroxide helps with stains, but I wanted to use as little as possible, so I went with a mix of water and 3% hydrogen peroxide...80% water, 20% 3% hp.

I let it sit for less than 5 hours (but more than 4), and it came out SO white, like it was new again.

I don't think using more harms it, but just for economic reasons, why not dilute it if it works at even lower concentrations, right?

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okwaho_okara on May 26th, 2012 11:22 pm (UTC)
Re: recent experience

Sounds good to me too!

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kitsunenomizu on May 27th, 2012 11:37 am (UTC)
Re: recent experience

Same here. :-)

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