where do you get food-grade h2o2?

[jenP]

I want to dilute it to use it for my hair.
I only just found out that drugstore hydrogen peroxide, although it is NOT listed on the label, contains "stabilizers" which are some nasty things. And I always thought it was pure, just water and oxygen!!
Since I try to stick to "if you wouldn't eat it, don't put it on your body," and I wouldn't want to eat those stabilizers, I guess I need to find the food-grade stuff, but our local health-food stores don't stock it. The internet is full of sources but it seems they all accuse the others of selling an impure product! How to tell which ones are truly pure?

Just for background: I have been using henna on my hair for ages and I love it. It takes my grey hairs (actually white) and makes them golden and takes my dark brown hair and makes it dark reddish-brown. However, lately I've had a yen to have REALLY red hair, like ginger or copper red, and that is going to require lightening first. I still want to use something natural, so I'm thinking peroxide (maybe mixed with honey and coconut oil to minimize drying out) and then (maybe a week later and after a deep conditioning) a nice red henna. (Don't worry, I'll be doing strand tests first! - I could see it turning out fluorescent orange...) SO I figured peroxide is a pure, natural product that I even use in my mouth so I wouldn't feel bad putting it on my hair, it isn't animal tested or made from petroleum and disposing of it doesn't seem to hurt the environment. Sounded good - until I found out about the hidden ingredients in drugstore peroxide!

Thanks for your help!!

Jen

[~D~]

Did you find anything yet?? I was thinking using lemon juice to lighten it first?? Probably have to do it a few times though... Let us know how you're coming along =)

http://www.pureh2o2forhealth.com/home.htm
Found this, but not sure if that's what you meant in the OP...

[Chamomile Girl]

If you have henna on your hair now it may not work since you have to strip the henna before you can lighten. I'm not sure how to do that since I have always had to cut the henna out when I want a change.

Have you checked out the hennaforhair website?

[jenP]

Yes, I did check out hennaforhair! Also the Long Hair Community forums. It seems you definitely can use peroxide and then henna. The one that was described used beauty-store peroxide but I'm sure you could use food-grade and dilute it to the same concentration. BUT I am leaning towards NOT bleaching after all because I forgot - roots! And then someone at hennaforhair pointed out that since my previous henna mixture undoubtedly contained indigo, bleaching is a no-no: the henna would mostly bleach away but the indigo would not and it would leave the hair stained GREEN!
But I still think I can get much redder than I have now, and here's how:
1-honey lightening. Found directions at the Long Hair Community. Seems it is a very gentle and slight lightening. The honey, when diluted a certain amount, naturally produces some hydrogen peroxide. I think I can get just slightly lighter with this; not enough to make roots a problem and not enough to lift away my other color to the point where the green stain from the indigo would be a problem
and then
2- better quality, longer-lasting, redder henna and with no indigo. This should give a redder result, and one where the red won't fade away in a month like it currently does (I am left with a dark brown with golden-brown highlights; pleasant, but not reddish like when it is first treated.)

So, slight lightening with honey and a better, redder henna I think will give a nice result. I will report back! (but it will probably be several weeks before I do all the steps.) I just got some henna samples so I will be doing some strand tests and deciding which one to use for my whole head. If I do it this way for a few years then I will figure anything that had indigo will have grown out and then I may decide to take the bleaching further.

Thanks for the replies!

Jen

[jenP]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I have a ton of gray hair, so that will show up nice and red.

Jen

[mk12]

Originally Posted by jenP

I only just found out that drugstore hydrogen peroxide, although it is NOT listed on the label, contains "stabilizers" which are some nasty things. And I always thought it was pure, just water and oxygen!!
Since I try to stick to "if you wouldn't eat it, don't put it on your body," and I wouldn't want to eat those stabilizers, I guess I need to find the food-grade stuff, but our local health-food stores don't stock it. The internet is full of sources but it seems they all accuse the others of selling an impure product! How to tell which ones are truly pure?

I always thought stabilizers had to be listed in the ingredients. The bottles of H2O2 I used to buy listed them.

I eventually switched to Publix brand H2O2 because it only lists purified water under inactive ingredients (and 3% H2O2 under active ingredients.)

A 3% dilution probably doesn't really need to be stabilized.

I occasionally use it as a mouth wash or spray it on fruit to kill any mold, and then wash it off.

Am I wrong to believe that the ingredients listed are the ingredients included?