(no subject)

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Today's entry in Things That Are Way More Fun Than They Have Any Right To Be: using hydrogen peroxide to get bloodstains out of clothing. I always come away with the unhealthy thought: "Dang, that was neat! What else can I bleed on?"

Comments

[nobleplatypus]

I KNOW, RIGHT?? It is miraculous!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Like MAGIC! With BUBBLES!

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

No, no. You're supposed to use someone else's blood.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

+1!

[michellerz.livejournal.com]

OMG YES!

*fizzzzzz*

[sphynxle.livejournal.com]

We use it all the time at the clinic to get it off of animal fur :D

[tinyplasticmeat.livejournal.com]

And off our scrubs, and our bodies, and our glasses, and our floors...

Oops. Not the floors at my current hospital. For some reason, the geniuses who built it decided that the floors at an ANIMAL HOSPITAL where BLOOD AND POOP AND OTHER NASTY STUFF GET ON THE FLOOR ALL THE TIME should be absolutely impossible to clean with anything other than this specific floor cleaner, to the point that if alcohol or hydrogen peroxide dribble even a little bit on it they make a PERMANENT WHITE STAIN THAT NEVER GOES AWAY.

So, not the floors here. But everything (and everyone) else gets the H2O2 treatment and we laugh at the fizzing.

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

Why not go crazy with the alcohol/hydrogen peroxide and preemptively make everything white? XD

[tinyplasticmeat.livejournal.com]

I'd love to (and someone has already made a head start by "accidentally" dropping a couple bottles of each nearest to the refilling stations) but the owner is completely crazy-cakes and we keep getting these memos about how angry she is that the floors aren't perfect anymore.

They remind me of the Passive-Aggressive website. "PLEASE DO NOT USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE SUPERDEEDUPER FLOOR CLEANER ON THE FLOOR. NO ALCOHOL, NO BLEACH, NOTHING BUT THE FLOOR CLEANER. THX SANDRA"

[tay421.livejournal.com]

Huh. I hadn't thought of that...

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

Apparently warm salt water also works in case you have more delicate clothes, but hydrogen peroxide fizz is fun too :3

It's also a differential test for bacteria! Some have the enzyme catalase which breaks hydrogen peroxide down into water and oxygen gas (which is also the enzyme in red blood cells that makes blood fizz) so in microbio lab we'd take a glop of some bacterial colony, smear it on a slide, drip a little H₂O₂ on it and watch them go. >:D
(Relatedly, it's debatable how useful hydrogen peroxide is on cuts and wounds, because your blood's catalase is more likely to neutralize it before it can kill bacteria. But it definitely causes pain and tissue irritation, which can release factors that recruit white blood cells to rush over and go ZOMG BACTERIA NOM NOM NOM.)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I did not know that! I kind of knew that it wasn't really useful in cleaning cuts, but I didn't know why. I just use soap and water and then Neosporin, the latter of which probably doesn't help, but it makes me feel better.

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

It occurred to me that I don't actually know what goes into Neosporin, so to the Wikimobile! And apparently it's actually pretty good and has three different strong antibiotics in it. The nice thing about topical antibiotics is that they can be super-strong and kill EVERYTHING EVER because they go on your skin, rather into your system (especially your GI tract, in the case of oral antibiotics) which could potentially kill off all the nice bacteria you actually need in order to live.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

*facepalms*

[bkwrrm-tx.livejournal.com]

I *love* doing that! It was the best part about working in the nursing home. Old folks bleed at the drop of a hat.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Especially the ones on coumadin!

[bkwrrm-tx.livejournal.com]

God, I'm warped.

But at least you're right beside me on the bus to Hell. :-)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I admit, a bit of Dad's ER-doctor gallows humor is contagious, yes ...

[bean-bunny.livejournal.com]

I'd been using cold water all these years, I like yours better.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

It's certainly more entertaining!

[nixve.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is really good to know!

[acrossthelake.livejournal.com]

Just remember not to use gasoline or you will be covered in negative scratches and deprive the world of your good looks which could otherwise have been used to, uh, raise children.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Good point. Even if I was not horribly disfigured by the animated fire, my head would morph into the hideous visage of a Careless Gnomeskull!

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

wait-- H2O2 gets bloodstains out? Good to know! I've always relied on borax.