7 Chlorine Bleach Substitutes That You Must Try For Your Laundry
We all love to wear classic white clothes. Wearing a white shirt brings a whole different level of grace to one’s personality. But it is not easy to keep them cleaned, the fabric loses its whiteness with each wash, and in every household, bleach comes in handy.
An old habit of splashing bleach into laundry is not so easy to get rid of. There is no denying that bleach whitens the clothes and makes them look shiny and neat but it has drastic and harmful effects on human health. It has harsh chemicals which makes it tricky to use for laundry. Bleach not only causes damage to human skin, but also affects colored clothes, and even just a peck of bleach touches your colored shirts and pants, it completely changes the color.
It is not necessary to use bleach for whitening, as we are bringing in many bleach alternatives that are easily available in your kitchen cabinet, and also safer to use without any harmful side effects.
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Fresh Lemon Juice
Surely Chlorine bleach has a good smell, but can it beat the smell of freshly-squeezed lemons? You got the answer, didn’t you! Fresh lemon not only smells good but also has high acidity levels that make it best for cleaning products. All you have to do is squeeze some fresh lemons in a cup of water, and mix it with your normal cleaning detergent while doing your laundry. You can also try rubbing the freshly cut lemons on strains and let them dry for a while and rinse it with fresh water.
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Natural Clothes Whitener - Vinegar
Are you looking for one of the best alternatives to chlorine bleach, then let me tell you White vinegar is your answer. It is best for removing stains from dirty colors and whitening the shirts. Unlike chlorine bleach, it does not harm colored clothes and hence it is highly recommended. You all have vinegar bottles in our kitchen, don’t we? You might be among those people who abhor vinegar’s smell, but the smell becomes quite noticeable after drying.
So, pour a few drops of vinegar with your normal cleaning detergent and immediately get rid of stains and yellowish from your favorite white clothes.
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The Most Powerful Bleach Alternative - Hydrogen Peroxide
Completely banishing bleach from your laundry ingredients seems difficult. But we recommend you not to use chlorine bleach, and here is the most powerful substitute for it - Hydrogen Peroxide. It is a non-chlorine bleach thus safer to use, with no such harmful side effects. It works wonders just like normal bleach, and all you have to do is pour half a cup of hydrogen peroxide into your pile of laundry with a normal cleaning detergent. It is also used to kill bacterias in the dress and bed sheets as it acts as a disinfectant. About 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide is required to apply on a piece of fabric, and it kills salmonella bacteria.
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The Convenient and Easy Bleach Substitute - Baking Soda
The great and the most easily available bleach alternative is baking soda. It is considered one of the best whitening agents, and helpful for removing stains from clothes and sheets. It is eco-friendly and all you have to do is add about a half cup of baking soda to your laundry detergent and wash the clothes. It can also be added with chlorine bleach, but for that, you have to mix it with bleach with more quantity of baking soda. It works as a catalyst with bleach, thus improving and enhancing the cleansing process.
There is another way of using baking soda. For hard stains, the only way baking soda works best is when its paste is applied directly on the stain, let it be absorbed for about fifteen minutes, and then washed with warm water.
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An Essential Oil Alternative - Tea Tree Oil
For centuries, essential oils have been used for many purposes, especially in medicine. Tea Tree Oil is used as a cleaning product as it is effective and works as a disinfectant. You might be wondering that the smell of the oil will be coming from your clothes, but let us assure you, it won’t leave your shirts smelling like anything. There are many ways to use tea tree oil, and one is to add a few teaspoons of it to your laundry. It can also be mixed with detergent. It is a powerful disinfectant, and after using it once you will forget about chlorine bleach. Don’t trust our words? Try it yourself, and do let us know.
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Natural Sunlight
The sparkling rays of the sun are not only for you to soak yourself into during winter weather but also for your clothes. You have used sunlight for a free-of-cost drying hack but it has one more purpose as well. It brightens and whitens your white-colored clothes. Find the perfect sun-drenched spot in your backyard, and install a clothesline. Not just one, but as many as can be fitted easily into your backyard. This natural resource helps you save money, and acts as a dryer for your clothes. By using eco-friendly ways of doing launder and dryer clothes, you are contributing nothing to the carbon footprint.
The sunlight whitens the cloth, fades the stain, and disinfects. However, you have to keep a check, as excessive exposure to the ultraviolet ways can fade the colored clothes.
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Oxygen-Based Bleach
Last but not the least, oxygen-based bleach should be your alternative for chlorine bleach. Oxygen-based bleach is an extremely powerful whitening agent and removes stains effectively. It can also be used on colored clothes to remove stains, but one thing you have to keep in mind is that it cannot be used for silk, wool, and leather material. Any other fabric works pretty fine.
The one way of using oxygen-based bleach is to soak the laundry overnight with the bleach solution and wash it the next morning. Powered oxygen-based bleach is also available in the market, which can be used by adding it into water. It gives better results as compared to liquid oxygen bleaches.