Do you use bleach on your colored clothes?

[acejka]

Not color safe bleach, the real stuff, and not have it discolor their clothes?

I have a couple friends who use it and swear their clothes come out fine, you just have to dump it in and swirl it while the washer is filling, and do it before the clothes are added.

I've never tried it and have no experience with it since I grew up in a house with someone who couldn't have bleach added to his clothes.

Any experienced bleach users want to weigh in?

I've also heard about people diluting it to wash down kids toys every now and then to kill the germs.

 

[SaraJayne]

Accidentally, yes. And I have the spotted clothes to prove it.

 

[Coconut36]

Heck no and like the PP I have accidentally had it get in the wash (stored over the washer and dripped in) and it ruined my clothes.

I can't see the point in using bleach on colored clothes..so harsh it would damage the clothes/colors so fast and unnecessarily...why would you even need or want to use it on colored clothes?

To clean kids toys (hard, non porous)..yeah sure..that is pretty common knowledge although I am not a fan of harsh chemicals and would only do that to my own kids toys if there was a nasty illness going around (stomach bug or strep) especially when they were in a mouth stage. I can probably count on one hand that number of times I did it.

 

[Kimbysmom]

No offense to your friends, but they're full of it. I remember being a kid and staying at my aunt's house for a week. She mixed all of our colored and whites together in the wash and added bleach and ruined a bunch of new summer clothes that my parents just bought us. They were so mad, and I'm still ticked that she ruined my brand new Little Mermaid tee shirt (we're talking when the movie was brand new in theaters here). Man, that makes me feel old .

 

[shortbun]

Back when bleach was all we had, I was taught to do the following.
1/2 cup bleach diluted with 4 cups water and added to the wash water as it came into the washer. Never with jeans and always sort colors carefully.
I haven't bought bleach in three years. It's a carcinegen.

 

[Imzadi]

As someone who does fabric dyeing, and what is called dye discharging, (removing color for special effects,) I can tell you that your friends must wear all 100% polyester clothes or synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers, by their very nature of being synthetic, are nearly impossible to dye and harder to release colors.

Bleach will take out color from all natural fibers: cotton, linen, rayon, wool. It will actually turn wool yellow. It may not fade silk dyes, but the bleach itself will weaken & eventually destroy the silk fibers. Even fiber blends, like a 50/50 poly-cotton blend may fade a bit.

 

[Robinrs]

My uncle thought he was doing me a favor by washing his own clothes....

He ruined an entire load of clothes by adding bleach.

Taught me to never leave that crap out again in the laundry room.

 

[Kellydelly]

Why would your friends want to wash their colors with bleach in the load? Unless they are trying to disinfect their clothes or something .

 

[cornflake]

I've done this plenty, yeah actually. It works only with a top-load washer (I have never tried it with a front-load, as I think it wouldn't work but I actually haven't tried).

Yes, I do it in a disinfecty way and I tend not to separate loads as I don't have much white.

If you fill the washer first, and add the bleach TO THE WATER (not to the bleach dispenser) when it starts filling, like 1/2 c. or whatever to a full machine of water, then add the clothes when the washer is at least half full, it won't do anything. It's too diluted to pull colour, at least in my experience, and like I said, I have done this multiple times. My stuff tends toward mostly all cotton.

Usually with sheets, bedclothes, towels, etc., if someone was ill or to like, bathmats or whatever.

I've never had anything spot or discolour or anything else.

 

[EMom]

I don't use bleach on ANYTHING. I'm allergic to it. But I wouldn't use it on colored clothes.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Not color safe bleach, the real stuff, and not have it discolor their clothes?

I have a couple friends who use it and swear their clothes come out fine, you just have to dump it in and swirl it while the washer is filling, and do it before the clothes are added.

I've never tried it and have no experience with it since I grew up in a house with someone who couldn't have bleach added to his clothes.

Any experienced bleach users want to weigh in?

I've also heard about people diluting it to wash down kids toys every now and then to kill the germs.

I would not attempt this. I suppose if it was VERY diluted, it MIGHT not ruin the clothes-but it probably will and at the very least, will weaken the fabric.

If I have items that are not white that I want to disinfect, I wash them on the highest temp water that they can tolerate (according to the label) and then dry hot or hang out in the sun.

As to washing kids toys with bleach-there are directions on the bottle and it is safe (follow the diluting directions and let toys thouroughly dry).

My dh misuses bleach (and all cleaners and the hot tub chemicals) because he won't read and/or follow directions so I have to hide or not buy stuff. My bleach is well hidden.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

Why would you bleach colored clothes?