by Eve Price

Created on: February 15, 2011

Lemon juice is loaded with Vitamin C.  Apart from its obvious health benefits; lemon juice is a natural household helper.  It contains 5% acid, so it works well in many household or personal uses.  The benefit of using lemon juice as opposed to a commercial household product is that it reduces harmful chemicals in your home or on your body.

As an odor fighter:

· Combine equal parts of lemon juice and water in a spray bottle and spray your home’s air. 
· It is safe to spray diluted lemon juice on annoying odors, such as soiled laundry.  Careful though, do not use it on colored clothes, as it works like bleach to whiten.
· Cut a lemon in half.  Put the two halves into two separate shallow bowls and leave them both in your refrigerator.  This works better to control food odors than baking soda.

As a cleaner:

· Mix one cup of lemon juice with one-half of a cup of borax to clean your toilet bowls.
· If you like cleaning with vinegar, but hate the smell, adding lemon juice to your vinegar mixture helps to neutralize the vinegar smell.
· You can also clean with equal parts of lemon juice and water, without the vinegar.
· Heat a bowl of water and lemon slice in your microwave for about a minute.  Wipe the oven with the heated solution. Your oven stains will clean easier and old food odors will vanish.

As a health and beauty aid:

· Use straight lemon juice on poison oak rashes, bee stings, or other skin irritants . It works to alleviate itching, and stops any bleeding.  It does sting a bit if you use it on open cuts.
· Mixing equal parts of lemon juice and water will make a natural hair rinse.  The acid in the lemons will strip your hair of any left over hair products for squeaky-clean hair.  Over time, a lemon juice rinse on your hair will also lighten your hair. Blond-haired people benefit the most from this natural hair lightener.  All hair colors will be shinier after using this rinse.

· Lemons have natural antioxidants in them, which are good for your skin.

1. Make a face cleaner by combining one-half of a cup of plain yogurt with two teaspoons of lemon juice.
2. Scrub the face thoroughly with the mixture.  Rinse with warm water.  It exfoliates cleans and moisturizes all in one use of it.

· Make a wrinkle cure that has been used by women in France for centuries.  Lemon juice has that Vitamin C in it that also improves collagen in the skin.

1. Mix together 1 cup of milk, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and one tablespoon of brandy.  Bring the mix to a boil. 
2. When the mixture cools to a lukewarm temperature, spread it over your face and neck with a pastry brush. Let it dry, and rinse with warm water.

There seems to be no end to the multiple benefits and uses of lemons and lemon juice.

 

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