Lemon Juice Uses

You can polish copper with lemon juice and brass and aluminum plus cream of tatar, saving yourself the cost of expensive cleaners and polishers. You can even polish brass and stainless steel with just lemon juice and salt. And when you’re done with the lemon, throw the rind down the disposal to keep it smelling fresh.

You can whiten your whites with a homemade bleaching mixture of lemon juice and baking soda. In fact, there are a lot of laundry uses for lemon juice: you can add it to the wash to help brighten whites and remove rust or mineral stains, mix it with equal parts vinegar to get rid of underarm stain, use it on ink spots to help remove the stain (apply then wash as normal), or spritz it on white clothes (or tennis shoes) and place them in the sun to help brighten whites.

Write with invisible ink.

Use a Q-tip as a pen to write in lemon juice on a piece of white paper. Once it dries, hold the paper near a hot light bulb. The writing will turn brown.

Eliminate blackheads.

Rub lemon juice over blackheads before going to bed. Wait until morning to wash off the juice with cool water. Repeat for several nights until you see a big improvement in the skin.

• Create blonde highlights.

  Rinse your hair with one-quarter cup of lemon juice with three-quarter cup water.

• Deodorize a cutting board.

  Wash with lemon juice to rid a cutting board of the smell of garlic, onions, or fish.

• Remove fruit or berry stains from your hands.

  Rinse hands with lemon juice.

• Remove rust and mineral discolorations on cotton t-shirts and briefs.

  Use one cup of lemon juice in the washer.

• Clean a microwave oven.

  Add four tablespoons of lemon juice to one cup water in a microwave-safe, four-cup bowl. Boil for five minutes in the microwave, allowing the steam to condense on the inside walls of the oven. Then wipe clean.

• Whiten, brighten, and strengthen fingernails.

  Soak fingernails in lemon juice for ten minutes, then brush with a mixture of equal parts white vinegar and warm water. Rinse well.

• Stop bleeding and disinfect minor wounds.

  Pour lemon juice on a cut or apply with a cotton ball.

• Relieve poison ivy.

  Applying lemon juice over the affected areas should soothe itching and alleviate the rash.

• Clear up facial blemishes.

  Dab lemon juice on the blemish a few times a day.

• Eliminate odors in your humidifier.

  Pour three or four teaspoons of lemon juice into the water.

• Relieve rough hands or sore feet.

  Apply lemon juice, rinse, then massage with olive oil.

• Clean brass, copper, and stainless steel kitchen sinks.

  Make a paste from lemon juice and salt, scrub gently, then rinse with water.

• Relieve a cough.

  Mix four tablespoons of lemon juice, one cup honey, and one-half cup of olive oil. Heat five minutes, then stir vigorously for two minutes. Take one teaspoon every two hours.

• Train a dog to stop barking.

  Squirt some lemon juice in the dog's mouth and say "Quiet."

• Relieve constipation.

  Before breakfast, drink four tablespoons of lemon juice in one cup warm water. Sweeten with honey.