I was terrible at flossing regularly before I got my beloved water flosser, but now I use it every single night, and I’m sure my teeth and gums are doing much better for it! But that also means that I now have several boxes of string floss gathering dust in my bathroom drawer, so I did some research to figure out how else I could use it.
As it turns out, dental floss can help you solve all kinds of everyday problems around the house! Who knew? Learn about 10 unique uses for floss below.
10 Surprisingly Practical Uses For Floss
1. String Up Popcorn
Dental floss makes a perfectly sturdy material for stringing up popcorn or cranberries during the holidays. You could also use floss to make Cheerio garland or necklaces, or any other craft that requires string!
Related: 10 Holiday Decorations To Deck Your Halls With This Year
2. Shoelace Substitute
If you find yourself with a broken shoelace, floss can help! Replace the broken lace with a length of floss to keep it tied. The sturdy floss will keep your shoe on until you can find a pair of replacement shoelaces.
3. Cookie Helper
Use a piece of floss to help separate cookies from the tray after baking. Just slide the floss underneath the cookies, and it will free them without causing any smushing or crumbling. (Use unwaxed, unflavored floss to prevent wax and flavor transfer to your cookies.)
4. Cutting Or Slicing
Use a piece of floss like a knife to cut fruits, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, cakes, and more! You can even use floss to remove skin from fish. I always use floss when slicing cinnamon rolls before baking. It’s the best way to do it without smashing them! (Unwaxed, unflavored floss is a good choice here too.)
Related: How To Make Perfect Cinnamon Rolls
5. Start A Fire
You can use waxed floss to get a jumpstart on your next campfire! Just wrap a bit of waxed floss around some of your kindling, place it in your fire pit, and light. You’ll have a roaring fire in no time!
Related: 10 Easy Foods You Need To Cook Over A Campfire This Summer
6. Kitchen Twine
Certain recipes call for food to be wrapped with kitchen twine before cooking. If you don’t happen to have any twine on hand, you can use floss instead! Unwaxed, unflavored floss will work best, and you’ll get the same results as using twine. (And rest assured, it won’t burn or melt during cooking!)
7. Drip Silencer
Have a dripping faucet that’s driving you up the wall? You can use floss to silence the drip until you have a chance to get it repaired. Simply tie one end of a piece of floss around the end of the faucet, then guide the other end into the drain. As the water drips, it will cling to the floss and slide noiselessly into the drain. (How clever is that?)
8. Plant Support
Use floss to help provide support to climbing plants! Just use a short piece of floss to tie the plant gently to some kind of sturdy support, like a dowel or piece of rebar. Make sure to tie the floss loosely to allow room for movement and growth!
Related: The Best Houseplants For Cleaner Air (And How To Grow Them)
More Ideas You'll Love
9. Sewing Thread
Use a piece of floss as thread to fix a button, patch a hole, or for any other on-the-fly sewing job. Floss is much more durable than regular thread, so it’s perfect for reinforcing buttons that are susceptible to falling off. It’s also great for repairing torn screens, mesh, and more!
10. Fix Frizzy Hair
Frizzy hair driving you nuts? Try this hair floss hack: take a long piece of waxed dental floss and slide it down your hair from the roots to the ends. The floss will transfer just enough wax to your hair to keep it in place and frizz-free!
Looking For More Posts Like This?
- I’ve written dozens of blog posts about creative alternative uses for everyday items, and now there’s a quick and easy way to peruse them!
- Check out all of my “Uses For” posts here.
What other uses for dental floss would you add to this list?
Having lived my whole life in Maine naturally I’m an “outdoorsy” person. I like to pack waxed, unflavored dental floss in my survival kit. Dentel floss has a wide variety of uses, besides the cutting, sewing and fire starting you mentioned, it can also be used for building traps and snares, fishing line, lashings, bindings, and in extreme situations even suturing wounds. Dental floss usually comes in a handy plastic case that will keep it clean, and it has a built-in cutting device.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I used dental floss to hang two pictures in my hallway on a louvered door. I put the floss through the hanging piece that was on the back of the frame, threaded it through the a couple of the louvers and tied it in a knot back under the hanger on the back of the frame. The door was the entrance to a small pantry and where the furnace was stored so it was opened and closed several times a day and those pictures stayed straight and sound for the entire 16 years I lived in that house. It worked really well.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When my daughter started pointe, we learned that you have to sew the ribbons and elastic onto pointe shoes by hand. Needless to say, it’s a little difficult to sew through a pointe shoe, but I founded that waxed dental floss worked beautifully for this because the wax made it easier to glide through the fabric of the shoe, and was also very strong. You certainly don’t want the ribbons or elastic to break while dancing.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Please warn your readers NOT to put the floss-strung popcorn or cranberries out for the birds when the season is over! Push the tidbits off of the floss, and immediately put the floss into the trash.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Many well-intentioned people just hang the strings outside. Birds become entangled, strangled, and get the floss wrapped around their necks, wings and legs.
I’ve saved a few birds, but sadly have seen others die.
Thanks for the warning Dorothy!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When I was a teenage, years ago, I had a denim skirt with metal buttons. The buttons kept falling off. The metal seemed to be cutting the thread. Once I sewed them on with dental floss, they never fell of again and I never had to do a touch up sew again. So great if you need a heavy duty sewing solution. You can even touch up the white with a felt pen to match
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Wonderful for slicing sheet cakes. It doesn’t ruin the flowers or writing.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use waxed unflavored floss to slice a cheesecake. I have never found anything else as successful because you can just toss the ‘slicer’ afterwards.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Tried it with plants? That would be an asterisk for me, as it’s a little too “sharp”, even when tied loosely and gently. Old stockings are much kinder to plants.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.It’s also great for stringing beads. Floss will never break from weight and – don’t quote me – it will never deteriorate.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Although a water flosser can compliment your dental hygiene regime, there is no substitute for string floss. It should not be “gathering dust” in your drawer … you should be using it every night!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Since I was a teenager, I’ve used dental floss to restring broken costume jewelry.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use floss for cleaning around the corners of my sink. It works great for sliding in there to pull out gunk!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great tip!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I thought I was the only one who used it for kitchen twine! I used it one day with fingers crossed & now that’s all I use. Who knows where the twine is in the grocery store anyways? i love the one about using it for thread. I’m definitely using it next time I need to sew a button on my husband’s shorts! Regular thread never holds, no matter how much thread I use!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use dental floss to cut my cakes (made in two 8″ pans) into four sections after they have cooled.It is so much easier than a knife and you get the layers more uniform in size.I frost every layer so it makes a large cake.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Use dental floss for making leis, big at graduations, and much cheaper when you can make your own!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.How fun!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.can also be used to remove rings that have become to tight. Just wrap around finger and one end under the ring, then gently pull on end that is under the ring toward your fingertips and ring will come off even swollen fingers. Don’t have to cut the rings
This really worked for me! The doctor at urgent care did it for me when I got a bee sting on one finger.
I’m not sure I understand this, would like to know more! Do you wrap it around your finger under the ring or above it? How does this work exactly?
Look here for more information on how to do this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dental+floss+ring+removal