20 Uses for Lemon Juice

I've mentioned lemon juice in an earlier blog as a great cleaning solution, but it's useful for so many other things I thought I'd dedicate a blog to this wonderful fruit! It's applications go from as a beauty product to cleaning to medicinal. Basically, always keep a lemon or two handy!

Beauty Uses

To brighten nails. Squeeze a fresh lemon into a bowl and soak your nails in the juice for a few minutes. They'll appear brighter (especially if a little yellowed from too long under nail varnish) and with regular treatment will become stronger too. Add some olive oil to the mix for an extra boost to your nails' strength.

As a deodorant. Sounds mad, but rubbing citric acid on your underarms reportedly kills the bacteria responsible for causing BO. You could use this as an eco-friendly way to ditch deodorant altogether, but I think I'll save it for emergencies only!

To lighten age spots or freckles. This isn't a proven theory, but apparently rubbing lemon juice on your age spots or freckles once a day for many, many weeks will slowly lighten them. You'd have to really hate them to be this dedicated though.

To get rid of dandruff. It won't cure the causes of dandruff, but it will get rid of any flakes present in your hair which is useful if you're going out. Rub lemon juice into your scalp and leave for 10 minutes, then wash your hair as normal.

To highlight your hair (requires a sunny day). Mix 1/2 cup of lemon juice with 1/2 cup of water in a spray bottle and spray to the hair you want highlighted - either small sections or all over for a lightened effect. Then sit in the sun for an hour or two and let it work its magic!

To prevent spots. Lemon juice is quite astringent so it will get rid of excess oils and tighten your pores. Just apply it to your skin using a cotton ball like you would any other facial treatment. Mix a little bit with salt for an all-natural exfoliator. (Be careful if you have dry skin as this could dry it out further. Be sure to moisturise well afterwards.)

Practical Uses

As an insect deterrent. Insects are extremely sensitive to smell, so spraying a little lemon juice anywhere they might get into your home (around windows, under doors, cracks in floorboards etc.) will make them think twice about coming in! Adding lemon juice to your floor cleaner will double the effect.

As a food preservative. Fruit and veg will take longer to turn brown if a little lemon juice is sprinkled over them. You can also perk up droopy lettuce by soaking it in a water & lemon mix for an hour.

To eliminate bad smells. Rubbing lemon juice on surfaces that have come into contact with garlic, fish, or even yucky stuff you find in your bin, will act as a deodoriser. You can also add it to the water of any smelly vegetables you're cooking to stop them making the house smell, or even just simmer a water/lemon juice mix on the hob to freshen things up.

To clean glass. Use straight lemon juice on a sponge for tough marks, or a water & lemon mix in a spray bottle for your average clean. Lemon juice gets off even the toughest marks on windows and if you use newspaper to dry them off after you'll be left wondering if the window is even still there!

To remove stains. Almost any stain can be removed with lemon juice. Hardy fabrics will respond best to having pure lemon juice rubbed into the stain while delicates will respond better with being soaked in lemon juice for a little while and then being washed as directed.

To clean the toilet. When mixed with household borax (not the insecticide variety) to make a paste, lemon juice can remove even the toughest rust stains. Rub the paste onto the stains using a sponge or toilet brush, leave for 2 hours and wash off.

As a metal polisher. Cut a lemon in half, dip it in salt and rub it on metal to make it gleam!

As a rice de-sticker. A little squeeze of lemon juice into the water when you're cooking rice will stop it sticking to the pan so easily, making washing up a lot faster.

To brighten your washing. Lemon doesn't just remove stains, it will also brighten your whites! Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to your washing machine and it'll work its magic. For even better effects, hang the washing out to dry in the sun afterwards.

Medicinal Uses

To relieve heartburn caused by too little acid. Not to be confused with too much acid, or the results will be pretty painful! If you're experiencing heartburn due to weak stomach acids drinking a little lemon juice & water solution will relieve your discomfort. If you're not sure what's causing the heartburn, best to avoid this one.

To soothe a sore throat. Put 1tsp lemon juice into 1/8 cup of water and gargle to kill off nasty bacteria and reduce swelling in your throat. Hot water with lemon and honey will also have a soothing effect and is good for the immune system too.

As a metabolism booster. A lot of advice about using this tip comes from starvation diets, which is a big no-no in my book. BUT lemon is full of Vitamin C which is a fab antioxidant and water keeps you hydrated, so as long as you're drinking it AND eating I don't see any harm in adding this tip to your daily intake.

To soothe itchy skin. Undiluted lemon juice applied to an itchy rash (such as poison ivy) will soothe the skin and also stop the rash from spreading.

As a hangover cure. Not strictly medicinal as hangovers are self-inflicted, but we'll put it here anyway. If you can face it, lemon juice mixed in hot water will rehydrate you, replace the Vitamin C you've lost in the binge and even balance your body's pH levels back to normal. That's pretty cool if you ask me!


So there you have it, 20 uses for lemon juice that aren't simply drinking it! Although that's good for you too - it's absolutely packed with antioxidants. I can personally vouch for it as a cleaning solution and I'll be trying it out on my nails sometime soon so will update you on that when I have!

1 comments:

Annie said...

Fascinating :) xx

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