Many toothpaste brands claim to whiten your teeth as they contain hydrogen peroxide. This ingredient is also used as a hair lightening agent in bleaches and dyes (1). In salons, hair colorists use hydrogen peroxide solution to lighten or bleach the hair before coloring. This is one reason why people put toothpaste on their hair strands to lighten or bleach them. Does that mean using any toothpaste with hydrogen peroxide can lighten the hair? Not necessarily. First things first, toothpaste is not meant to be applied to the hair. The concentration of hydrogen peroxide required for teeth whitening is way too low than you need for bleaching. Hence, leaving toothpaste on your hair for long may slightly fade the hair color, but the results may not meet your expectations. Moreover, it is not safe to apply toothpaste to the hair. Most toothpaste formulas contain baking soda and other antibacterial ingredients that may dry out the hair and cause breakage (2). While applying toothpaste to the hair is messy, removing dry toothpaste from the hair is tough. In the next section, we discussed easy ways to remove toothpaste from your hair.
How To Remove Toothpaste From Your Hair
Separate the hair section with dried toothpaste and clip it away from the rest of the hair. Use warm water to soften the dried toothpaste and comb the section gently with a wide-toothed comb to remove the product. Shampoo your hair. Leave it on for a few minutes to dissolve toothpaste residue. Wash off the shampoo and repeat 1-2 times if the hair feels sticky. Detangle your hair with a wide-toothed comb after washing.
Can vinegar lighten hair? Yes. You may use apple cider and distilled white vinegar as diluted hair sprays and leave for around 30 minutes to lighten your hair to some extent. Can saltwater lighten hair? Yes. People who swim in the ocean find their hair lighter as the saltwater alters the natural keratin in their strands. Can toothpaste and cinnamon lighten hair? No. Toothpaste and cinnamon do not have any hair-lightening effect. Can honey lighten hair? Yes. Raw unpasteurized honey has hydrogen peroxide that may help lighten your hair. However, you should mix honey in water or apple cider vinegar (in a 4:1 ratio) and leave it on for 2-8 hours to achieve noticeable results.
