Q. I have been using Clorox bleach for more years than I care to recount. However, it seems that now most 100% cotton products (including my white bed linens) are marked "Do Not Bleach." Not "no chlorine bleach"; just "No Bleach". Laundering (good detergent, either hot water or cold), just isn't getting my sheets clean and WHITE. So my questions are: why "no bleach"? And, is there any other solution to this problem?

A. This is one of my pet peeves and one I discuss in my “Debunking Bleach Myths” video on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com). I've noticed that a lot of garment care labels do discourage washing with chlorine bleach, and I've even seen it on white cotton t-shirts. I can tell you that after extensive testing and research, we have found that, when used as directed, liquid bleach like Clorox® Regular-Bleach can be safely used on these garments. There are some items that should definitely not be bleached and we list them on our label (wool, silk, mohair, leather, Spandex and non-colorfast items).

The answer is that many clothing companies simply under-label all clothing to avoid any liabilities from laundry products and processes. You may be surprised to know that a large number of colored items can also be safely washed in Clorox® Regular-Bleach. I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tspn Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden colored area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel); no color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. Any color change could also show you the amount of change in color that likely will occur if you proceed with the liquid bleach usage. You can see a demo on my blog in the video “Laundry 101”.

Furthermore, I know that liquid bleach is the only laundry product that cleans, whitens and disinfects clothing. Detergent alone is not enough to truly clean your whites – using detergent alone can leave behind stains, dirt and unseen “body soil” made up of body oils, dead skin flakes and sweat. It’s estimated that the average person excretes up to 50 grams of body soil per day to deposit on any item touching your body. Yuck! Adding disinfecting liquid bleach to your laundry will remove more of this gunk than detergent alone, plus it gets rid of odor-causing germs. No other laundry additive can make that claim.

So my solution is to keep using Clorox® Regular-Bleach so that you get the clean, white and disinfected clothes that you want.

Q. My daughter at college just called: she washed a black sweater with all of her whites and now, of course, all of her whites are blackish grey. A few of the items can be bleached but I really don't know what to tell her to do. I'm not even sure that bleaching will take care of the problem. She did not dry the items.

A. I do find that most white items can be bleached. For concerns about whether these items can safely be bleached, I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tspn Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel); no color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. You can see a demo on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com) in the video Laundry 101.

Want to proceed? I would do a quick liquid bleach soak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of cool water for 5 minutes), then wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the garment care label using detergent and 3/4 of a cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach. It might require multiple treatments to get the desired result.

If you can't bleach the items, then try several washes in the hottest water recommended on the care labels using detergent and an oxygen bleach like our Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster, or even a short 1/2 hour presoak in the oxygen bleach before the wash. It might require multiple treatments to get the desired result. Also repeated washing usually will very slowly remove a small amount of dye each time.

Are you ready for a break? Got your Memorial Day weekend plans laid out?

I can't wait since this is a special weekend as the family is throwing a 80th Birthday party for my father-in-law, Norman.

One problem being Dr Laundry is that I am expected to solve the inevitable stains from drops and drips that occur at any party that I attend. Since I won't be at your gatherings, I have a couple of good resources for your party and outdoor stains.

• First, check out the new video (Battling Tough Summer Stains with Bleach) on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com). A lot of your favorites are there, from barbecue to ice tea to grass stains with a blow-by-blow description to help solve these problems.


• In addition, we have again opened our Summer Stain Hotline with the top 10 summer stains and how to solve them. Give it a try at 1-877- STAIN-411 that's (877-7824-6411) to solve berry or ice cream or sunscreen stains on whites or colors.


• And if you are still stumped, don't forget you can contact me directly for a personal response at dr.laundry@clorox.com.

Here's hoping for GREAT weather and a good time off for all.
Dr Laundry

Q. I really liked your video in which you mentioned using 1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach to 1 gallon of water to soak clothes for 5 minutes before washing. Worked like a charm!

All that aside, I also liked your advice to add 2 teaspoons Clorox® Regular-Bleach to 1/4 cup water to use as a bleaching solution for testing colorfastness on clothes in a hidden seam on the garment. My question is, how long is the solution viable in a tightly covered glass jar? I would use it only occasionally, and because my laundry equipment is in the basement, I wouldn't want to mix up the solution each time I need to use it. If it's good for only 3-6 months, I would just put it in the washer when it had expired.

A. Thanks for your kind words, and I’m glad you found the videos helpful. As for your question on the bleach solution:

The Bleachability Test was designed to be quick, easy and predictive to encourage consumers to be sure of their next step.

If you want to keep the solution, it should be good for at least 2-3 weeks. Diluted liquid bleach solutions are susceptible to degradation from a variety of sources. Increased temperatures, contamination and even light (that's why we sell it in opaque bottles) cause the liquid bleach active to degrade into salt and water. So I would not recommend long-term storage. Hopefully this isn't too much of an inconvenience to your continued usage.

Q. I got a few drops of glue on my gray cotton sweatshirt, and I can't get it out. Any suggestions?

A. There are different types of glue, and they require different approaches and have differing probabilities of success. Usually, you want to try and scrape off as much as possible from the surface. Then, try to re-dissolve the glue using a suitable solvent. Some like Super Glue/Crazy Glue may have "permanently" bonded to the surface. Acetone or nail polish remover are usually recommended, but pretest with a small drop on a hidden seam to make sure it won't damage the color/garment. I also like using a general purpose solvent like Goo Gone for crayons, gum, etc. Rub in and try and blot off any dissolved material. Do this several times until it all appears to be gone. Then, apply liquid detergent, rub in and wash in hottest water recommended on the care label.

Q. I used the Clorox® Bleach Pen on a small chocolate stain on a new white knit top. It turned the material yellow, and though I tried everything I could think of to the get the yellow out, you can still see some yellow in the spot. How can I remove the yellow color?

A. Sorry for the yellowing. It would have been helpful if you provided the fiber composition of the top or area that was treated with the Clorox® Bleach Pen and what follow-up actions you tried. While the fiber may have some impact, I suspect you went about the stain removal backwards. So while you have successfully treated the colored solids portion with the Bleach Pen, you didn't get all the emulsifier removed.

Chocolate stains are composed of an oil/emulsifier base and chocolate solids. I always recommend that the greasy/oily portion of the stain be treated first, then applied with bleach. I would have used either liquid dishwasher or laundry detergent to preteat the oily part of the stain, then applied the Clorox® Bleach Pen before washing in the hottest water recommended on the care label. You would then have to check for success before drying, so you could repeat the procedure if needed.

Hopefully, you haven't dryer dried it too many times, as this "sets" the oily stain deep into the fibers making subsequent removal much more difficult. At this point, I would try pretreating with the liquid dishwasher or laundry detergent (apply, rub in, wait 3-5 minutes), then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label. Again, check for success before drying in case you need to repeat the procedure. I think this should solve your problem.

Q. What is the probability of having a problem with the load of laundry done after the load of whites due to residual water containing bleach retained in the machine?

A. This shouldn't be a problem if you add the bleach directly to the load as the water is filling and before the clothes are added. If you use a bleach dispenser, I always add some extra water to the dispenser after adding the bleach as an insurance policy. If you want a little extra peace of mind, do a light colored load following the white load. They would be much less likely to have colors sensitive to any residual bleach

Q. I wash my whites in hot water because I have asthma, and hot water is recommended to kill dust mites. Does this cause any significant problems since my t-shirts recommend warm water, or are they just being overly careful in the same as they are by recommending that bleach not be used? Will increasing the heat of the water over the recommended level have a negative effect on the use of bleach?

A. I am a huge proponent of using a hot water wash with 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach to maximize my cleaning, whitening and disinfecting of whites that come in contact with my body (underwear, t-shirts, bedding, and towels). In your case with asthma concerns, I would want to keep using hot water for all of these reasons. Also, the hot water won't decrease the efficacy of the bleach.

The Clorox Company is working closely with public health organizations to support their efforts to educate people about protecting themselves from swine flu and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has advised Clorox that disinfectants effective against Influenza A are also effective against the 2009 H1N1 flu virus (swine flu).

The following hard surface disinfection products can help prevent the spread of the germs that cause 2009 H1N1 flu: Clorox® Regular-Bleach, Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes and Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner with Bleach.

Hand Sanitizers Included in CDC Recommendations to Help Prevent Spread of GermsAlso, in accordance with recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), institutional customers, such as hospitals and health-care providers, can turn to Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Hand Sanitizing Spray to help kill germs on hands. The CDC recommends the following everyday steps to protect your health:
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you get sick with influenza, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Clorox Products that are effective against Influenza A
• Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner with Bleach
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Clean-Up® Disinfectant Cleaner with Bleach
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Disinfecting Spray
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Germicidal Spray
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Germicidal Wipes
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Clorox® Pro Quaternary All-Purpose Disinfectant Cleaner
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Formula 409® Cleaner Degreaser Disinfectant
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Tilex® Disinfects Instant Mildew Remover
• Clorox Commercial Solutions® Ultra Clorox® Germicidal Bleach
• Clorox® Disinfecting Bathroom Cleaner
• Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes
• Clorox® Regular-Bleach
• Formula 409® Antibacterial All Purpose Cleaner
• Tilex® Mold & Mildew Remover

For More Information For more information on how to stop the spread of flu viruses on surfaces at home and in public places, visit the CDC’s pandemic flu Web site at http://www.flu.gov/individualfamily/panfacts.html or at http://swine-flu.alltop.com/.

Q. I have viewed your videos regarding Clorox™ bleach, and they are very helpful. My 100% white cotton t-shirts instruct me to wash them in warm water with non-chlorine bleach. According to your video, you mention that “almost all cotton whites and most synthetic whites” can be bleached. My questions are as follows: What are examples of times when cotton whites and synthetic whites can’t be washed with bleach? I was once told that synthetics become gray if bleach is used, but this would be very difficult to determine using the bleachability test, as would doing the test on all cotton whites to try and find the infrequent instances where they fall outside the “almost all” category. Also, is it possible for color from the labels on the t-shirts to run due to the bleach?

A. Your questions really hit a nerve with me. I am not surprised that a lot of garment care labels inappropriately discourage washing using chlorine bleach, since I've also even seen it on white cotton t-shirts. I can tell you that after extensive testing and research, we have found that, when used as directed, liquid bleach like Clorox® Regular-Bleach can be safely used on all these garments. There are some items that should definitely not be bleached, and we list them on our label (wool, silk, mohair, leather, Spandex and nonfast colors).

Many clothing companies simply under-label all clothing to avoid any liabilities from laundry products and processes. You may be surprised to know that a large number of colored items can also be safely washed in Clorox® Regular-Bleach. I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tspn Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden colored area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel); no color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. Any color change could also show you the amount of change in color that likely will occur if you proceed with the liquid bleach usage. You can see a demo on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com) in the video Laundry 101. In addition, I have done testing on a wide range of items that showed there was no significant difference in fabric integrity between washing in detergent alone and detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.

Now let's finish your list of questions:

- Examples of times that cotton and synthetic whites shouldn't be washed together with bleach? The major issue with white synthetics is Spandex, which will react with the sodium hypochlorite active and yellow the item over time. The major synthetic used in most items is polyester, but there are no issues with using bleach on whites or colorfast colors. Polyester is harder to remove greasy/oily stains and soils from than cotton, which can mean you need to be more observant to catch and pretreat these stains before washing. Unremoved greasy stains can be "set" from dryer drying. The other issue is usually pilling from abrasion during wearing, washing and drying. Consider turning your items inside-out to help minimize this problem. Nylon has a reputation for graying, and it’s recommended that it be washed separately and not with bleach. This results from nylon's affinity to attract any stray color/dye floating in the wash load, and essentially re-dying the item.

- As for the labels: I wouldn't expect any problem. If this was going to happen, it should have been visible "bleeding". If you want further assurance, do a quick Bleachability test as described above on the label color.