How Often Should You Use Whitening Strips?

How often should you use teeth whitening strips? With our PAP strips, use one strip a day for 14 days, wear it for a minimum of 30 minutes each time, and once the course is finished, keep your shade topped up with 2 to 3 strips a week. On our strips, one strip a day means one set: a smaller strip on your lower teeth and a larger one on your upper teeth. If irritation occurs, the box says to stop and let it settle, and to see a dentist if it persists. Strips from other brands come with their own directions, and theirs are the ones to follow for their product.

The short answer

• During the course: one strip a day for 14 days, which on our strips means one set a day, lower and upper. A box of 28 strips is one full course.
• Each time: a minimum of 30 minutes. Longer is fine.
• After the course: top-ups of 2 to 3 strips a week to hold your shade.
• When to stop: if irritation occurs, stop and let it settle, and see a dentist if it persists.
• When not to start: if any warning on the box applies to you, such as gum disease, ulcers, exposed gums or recent oral surgery.

The sections below take each part in turn: what a day of the course looks like, how long each strip stays on, what changes after day 14, and when the box says not to use the strips at all.

How often to use whitening strips during the course

Pure Glow strips come 28 to a box, which is a 14-day course of one set a day, upper and lower. Daily use across the course is what the strips are designed for. Any time of day suits, and because the strips come off clean, a morning strip before work is fine. If you are counting back from a date, our guide to whitening before a wedding sets out how far ahead to start.

Each day, the routine follows the box directions, plus our guidance on eating and drinking:

1. Brush your teeth, then take the strips out of the sachet.
2. Dry your teeth with a towel rather than a tissue. Our strips grip even on wet teeth, but drying is part of the directions.
3. Apply the smaller strip to your lower teeth first, then the larger one to your upper teeth, and press firmly.
4. Leave them on for a minimum of 30 minutes.
5. Do not eat while they are on. A sip of water is fine, and so is swallowing saliva. Do not swallow the strips.
6. Remove them and rinse with water.
7. Then avoid coffee, tea, red wine and strongly coloured food for about an hour.

Our guide on how to use whitening strips goes through applying them step by step. If you wear Invisalign or a retainer, you can use the strips, but not while the aligners or retainer are in.

If your smile looks patchy partway through

Stains lift at different rates, so your smile can look patchy partway through a course. That is not a reason to change how often you use the strips. Carry on with one set a day and it evens out.

Measuring the course

The box includes a shade guide. Hold it up to your front teeth before your first strip and note the shade you start from, then compare again after day 14. "Up to 6 shades whiter in 14 days" is a ceiling that depends on where you start, not a promise, and the shade guide is how you see where you have got to. Our guide to reading a tooth shade chart explains how a shade is counted. If you would like a day-by-day plan to tick off as you go, there is one in our free teeth whitening guide.

How long to leave each strip on

The instruction is a minimum of 30 minutes each time. It is a minimum, not a range: 30 minutes lets saliva activate and break down the formula, and longer is fine and uses all the formula. Our founder often wears his for 45 minutes to an hour. That is his habit rather than the instruction, and the instruction stays a minimum of 30 minutes.

Wearing a strip for longer does not change how often you use one. The course is still one set a day, and our strips have a no-slip grip, so they stay where you put them for the time you wear them.

While a strip is on, the formula is at work. Our strips use PAP, which is peroxide free, and it still works on the coloured compounds inside the tooth, just by a gentler route than peroxide takes. There is more on that in how PAP whitening works and on our page about peroxide-free whitening strips.

How often to use teeth whitening strips after the course

Once the 14-day course is finished and you are happy with your shade, the routine changes from daily use to top-ups of 2 to 3 strips a week. That is how our strips are designed to hold a shade.

Staining does not stop when a course does. On how long tooth whitening lasts, the Oral Health Foundation says: "Smoking and drinks like tea, coffee and red wine can cause staining to return more quickly. Good brushing and regular dental cleaning help maintain the result." Our strips will not hold a result in place while you are still adding new stain, and the weekly top-ups are how they are designed to keep up with it.

If coffee or tea is part of your day, we have looked at why coffee and tea stain teeth in a separate guide. The hour after each strip still applies during top-ups: keep coffee, tea, red wine and strongly coloured food back for about an hour after you take a strip off.

Top-ups use strips beyond the course itself. Our 28 strip box is one full course. The 56 strip bundle saver is two boxes of the 28, so the bundle saver covers a course and a second box for top-ups.

When to stop, and when to see a dentist

How often you use the strips comes second to whether you should be using them at all. These are the warnings on our box:

• Not suitable for children under 12.
• Do not use with gum disease, ulcers, exposed gums or recent oral surgery.
• Check the ingredients for allergies.
• If irritation occurs, stop and let it settle, and see a dentist if it persists.
• Do not swallow strips.

So if irritation occurs, the answer to how often is not at all until it settles, and if it persists, the next step is a dentist rather than another strip. The ingredients are printed on the box, and the full ingredients are also on our facts page.

Our strips are peroxide free and clinically tested for zero sensitivity. There is more on that on our page about strips for sensitive teeth.

Two more situations call for a check before you start, rather than a change in how often you use the strips:

• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. There is no safety data for using our strips in pregnancy or while breastfeeding, so check with your dentist or midwife first. There is more in our guide to whitening strips while pregnant.
• Dental work at the front. Our strips cannot change the base colour of a crown, veneer, filling or bonding, but they can lift staining that has built up on top of it, so a restoration that matched before can stand out afterwards. Speak to your dentist first if that is a concern.

If you are using a different kit

The schedule in this guide is for our strips. Strips from other brands come with their own directions, and theirs are the ones to follow for that product.

A whitening kit from a dentist is a different product with its own routine. The NHS describes a dentist prescribing "a kit which contains a whitening gel and small trays which are made to closely fit around your teeth, like a mouthguard". It says you will usually have an appointment to check the trays fit and "explain how often to wear them", and adds: "You then wear the trays at home for around 2 to 6 weeks to gradually whiten your teeth." The Oral Health Foundation says that with trays made by your dental team you "wear them as instructed, usually for a set time each day or overnight", and that "Treatment usually takes 1 to 2 weeks."

Both sources are describing trays made for your teeth and prescribed by a dental professional, so neither is a schedule for strips, ours included. If your dentist has given you a kit, how often to use it is set by your dentist.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I use teeth whitening strips?
With our strips, one strip a day for 14 days, worn for a minimum of 30 minutes each time, then 2 to 3 strips a week to top up. One strip a day means one set, lower and upper. For another brand's strips, follow the directions on that box.

Can you use whitening strips every day?
Yes, during the 14-day course. Our strips are safe for daily use across the course, which is what they are designed for. After day 14 the routine drops to 2 to 3 strips a week. The box warnings still apply every day: if irritation occurs, stop and let it settle, and see a dentist if it persists.

Can I use more than one set of strips a day?
Our directions are one set a day, worn for a minimum of 30 minutes. Longer wear of that one set is fine and uses all the formula. The directions do not include a second set on the same day.

Do I need to keep using whitening strips after 14 days?
Only to hold your shade. The top-up routine is 2 to 3 strips a week. On how long whitening lasts, the Oral Health Foundation says: "Smoking and drinks like tea, coffee and red wine can cause staining to return more quickly."

What should I do if irritation occurs?
Follow the box: stop and let it settle, and see a dentist if it persists.

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Related reading:

• How long teeth whitening lasts
• Keeping teeth white after whitening
• Teeth whitening at home
• Brushing before or after strips

Sources:

• NHS, Teeth whitening, page last reviewed 19 August 2025. For the dentist's home kit and how long it is worn.
• Oral Health Foundation, Tooth whitening, last reviewed 17 April 2026. For trays from your dental team and for staining returning after whitening.