Bleach is a good stain remover, but you can't use it on everything. It's not good for spandex, wool, silk, or leather.
While chlorine bleach is recommended for disinfecting many common household surfaces, it should not be used on the following materials and items: Metals, including stainless steel and aluminum. Sealed marble, granite, and natural stone. Painted wood.
Not everything is bleachable. Remember to check the label. I don't recommend bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, spandex and non-colorfast colors.
Don't mix bleach with ammonia, acids, or other cleaners. Mixing bleach with common cleaning products can cause serious injuries.
Bleach can also brighten and whiten fabrics and help remove stubborn stains. Sodium hypochlorite bleaches (also called chlorine or liquid household bleach) are the more powerful laundry bleaches; they disinfect, as well as clean and whiten. They work on many whites and colorfast washables - but not on wools or silks.
Solution dyed fibers, including acrylic, nylon, polyethylene, and polypropylene, and high-energy polyester exhibit strong colorfastness when exposed to bleach. Polyurethane-based fabrics can also be treated with a finish that enables them to withstand both bleach and high concentrations of rubbing alcohol.
Bleach rapidly degrades in the presence of light and when mixed with water. 4. Bleach solutions require a full 10 minutes of contact time to ensure complete disinfection.
In an alkaline environment (the pH of bleach is 11–13), polymerization of these melanin-like metabolites causes a brownish/red discoloration of urine after methyldopa ingestion.
OxiClean™ Odor Blasters™ Versatile Odor & Stain Remover is a chlorine-free bleach with odor-removing properties. It does double duty against tough odors, such as sweaty and musty gym towels, as well as stains in laundry and all around the house.
Put on protective gear when diluting or using bleach as it irritates mucous membranes, the skin and the airway. Cold water should be used for dilution as hot water decomposes the active ingredient of bleach and renders it ineffective.
Well water with very high iron and sodium hypochlorite bleach are just not very compatible. The bleach active reacts with the iron and changes it to the chemical form as rust. This new yellow/red discoloration then deposits on clothes, causing discoloration.
Bleach can irritate the skin and eyes. Breathing in bleach over a long period of time can increase your risk of cancer. A dangerous gas can be formed when bleach is combined with certain chemicals (like ammonia). Bleach causes the buildup of chloroform in the air.
Also, note that undiluted bleach is mostly water – as the water evaporates, eventually salt crystals will remain.
Taking a shower or hot bath should be relaxing, not stressful. Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach kills 99.9% of germs, making it the perfect choice to clean and disinfect the bathroom so you can enjoy the space. Using a bleach and water solution in the tub or shower is simple.
While it's important to take your time when bleaching at home, using heat also speeds up the process. It may seem like a shortcut, but using heat responsibly should be your priority. When used incorrectly or too hastily, it can lift moisture from your hair, resulting in dryness.
Tip 6: Don't Wash Your Hair Before Bleaching It
Stylists advise that bleach does not need to go on clean hair, and that it's actually healthier for your hair to be a little oily when you bleach. In fact, the oils in your hair help to protect your scalp during the bleaching process.
"Any item that includes wool, silk, mohair, leather, or spandex is not safe for chlorine bleach, regardless of the color of the item," she says.
Mixing bleach with other substances can also create harmful situations. Adding ammonia to bleach creates chloramine, another toxic gas. Bleach plus hydrogen peroxide creates oxygen gas so violently, it can cause an explosion. “One should not mix household cleaners as a general rule,” Langerman says.
It is safe to mix with chlorine bleach and detergent, which has been proven to improve the cleaning power of both. Think of borax as a maintenance product that will keep white things white. Paired with chlorine bleach, it turbocharges bleach's whitening power.
It can be stored for about 6 months at temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. After this time, bleach will be begin to degrade at a rate of 20% each year until totally degraded to salt and water.
“Chlorine bleach” uses sodium hypochlorite as the active ingredient. Clorox® Bleach and Clorox® Scented Bleach are chlorine bleaches. Cotton, polyester and cotton/poly blends can be safely washed with Clorox® Bleach or Clorox® Scented Bleach.
How you use bleach is the key to either making or breaking its cleaning power. By using hot water instead of cold/tepid water to create a solution, you can render the active ingredients in bleach ineffective. So for bleach that works, always make sure you dilute it in cold/tepid water.