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Dr. Laundry explains the science behind how bleach works.

Q. Does Clorox® bleach evaporate in hot water? The fumes are tremendous (even with good ventilation) when I wash a large load of whites in hot water and 3/4 cup of regular Clorox bleach. I'm thinking of washing my whites in warm water instead.

A. Clorox® Regular-Bleach is mostly water: it is 6-7% active ingredients (i.e. sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, caustic, a special polymer to tie up metals) and the rest (about 93%) is water.
So whether you select a hot, warm, or cold cycle, the bleach active isn’t evaporating, but it is reacting with the soils, stains, and bacteria in your wash load. The “characteristic chlorine odor” of Clorox® Regular-Bleach is appealing to many people. That said, there are those who are more sensitive to the smell and find it irritating or offensive. We do have a line of scented bleaches with some really great fragrances: Lemon Fresh, Clean Linen, Lavender, and Fresh Meadow. Hopefully one of the fragranced bleaches will make your bleach loads more pleasant to wash. Also, making sure bleach dispenser lid and/or clothes washer lid are fully closed is helpful in reducing the smell.

In the grocery store, at the mall, everywhere I look these days I see red, pink, and violet, which can mean only one thing in February – Valentine’s Day! My family loves this holiday—from pink waffles to heart shaped pizza and sugar cookies that say “Be Mine” we make it a special day. Of course special days that involve class parties for the kids or romantic meals for two can leave you with a stain removal challenge or two. Here are some stain removal tips to help keep your Valentine’s Day filled with love!

The Chocolate Fountain: Nothing is more fun, or a better recipe for a stain disaster, than a crowd of kids gathered around a chocolate fountain to dip marshmallows and strawberries. Since cream or vegetable oil can be added to make the chocolate flow smoothly, the drips that land on your clothes need special attention.

• Begin by scraping off as much of the hardened chocolate as possible.


• Apply a little of the new Clorox2® Stain Fighter Gel Pen directly to the stain, use the wide tip with the soft scrubber to gently work it into the stain. Wait 10 minutes, then rinse the stain with a little cool water.


• From here, if your item is bleachable, pre-treat the stained area again, this time with a Clorox® Bleach Gel Pen, and then wash immediately with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in the hottest water recommended by the care label.


• If your item cannot be bleached, apply Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster directly to the stain. Rub it in and wait 3-5 minutes, then wash with detergent and Clorox2® in the hottest water recommended on the care label. Re-treat if necessary before tumble drying.

Red Velvet Cupcakes: Maybe your child volunteered you, or maybe you signed up yourself, but if you are bringing these extra special cupcakes to the class party, watch out for extra special stains! Chances are your recipe will include cocoa powder and a lot of red food coloring as well as buttermilk and vinegar to help develop a deep red color. And then there’s the butter and eggs, so if you end up wearing the batter, be sure to treat it quickly.

• First, apply liquid dish soap to the stain and rub it in, then rinse with cool water (never warm or hot). This will help remove the egg without cooking it in, as well as the butter and buttermilk fat.


• For white items, do a quick pre-soak with ¼ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach diluted in 1 gallon cool water. Fully submerge the items for 5 minutes. Drain the soaking solution, and then wash the items in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.


• For colored items, pre-soak with powdered Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster. Dissolve 1 scoop powder or 1 pack in 1 gallon of hot water. Add the stained items and soak for one hour. Then, drain the soaking solution and wash in the hottest water recommended by the care label with detergent and Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster.

Either of these pre-soaks should be effective with one treatment, but you should still air-dry and check for success. If any stain remains then it may be necessary to re-treat the stained area, and keeping the items out of the dryer will increase your chances of success. Here’s to a wonderful day!

I love the excitement that’s building as Super Bowl XLV approaches! For some it’s about the statistics—which team has won the most Super Bowls (Pittsburgh) and which team won the first time they played (Green Bay, 1967) and which team won the last time they played (Pittsburgh, 2009). For others, it’s about the stadium details, like what’s the playing surface (Matrix Synthetic Turf) or will the roof be open (no). Just about everyone loves the commercials, critiquing the half-time show, and noshing on wings, pulled pork sandwiches, chili with cheese and onions, meatballs, and the like. If it’s a jump-from-your-seat-and-scream game, don’t be surprised if you end up with a few stained items you’ll need to get clean!

The best defense is a good offense, so plan ahead if you are hosting and spread a white tablecloth over your buffet table, and add a few decorations in your favorite team’s colors. Don’t be tempted by disposable plastic table cloths that just get thrown away – reusable is always better, and having a good stain removal strategy will help.

Super Bowl party foods like chili, buffalo wings, pulled pork sandwiches, barbeque, and meatballs are notoriously greasy and colorful, so it’s best to treat the oily component first and the colored part of the stain second:

• First, apply a little of the new Clorox2® Stain Fighter Gel Pen, using the wide tip with the soft scrubber to gently work it into the stain. Wait 3-5 minutes, and then rinse the stain with a little cool water. Now it’s time to work on the colored part of the stain.


• If your item is bleachable, pre-treat the stained area again, this time with a Clorox® Bleach Gel Pen, and then wash immediately with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in the hottest water recommended by the care label.


• If your item cannot be bleached, apply Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain. Rub it in and wait 3-5 minutes, then wash with detergent and Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster in the hottest water recommended on the care label.


• Allow item to air-dry and check for success. Re-treat if necessary before tumble drying.

You may also have some beverage stains to remove:

• Begin with a cool water rinse from the back before pre-treating.


• If the item is bleachable, use the Clorox® Bleach Gel Pen to pre-treat the stain, then wash immediately with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in the hottest water recommended by the care label.


• For non-bleachable items, pre-treat by applying Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain. Rub it in and wait 3-5 minutes, then wash with detergent and Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster in the hottest water recommended on the care label.


• Allow items to air-dry and check for success. Re-treat if necessary before tumble drying.

Whether you’ll be cheering for the Green Bay Packers or Pittsburgh Steelers, I hope you have a super football-filled weekend!

Q. I'm looking for something to run in my HE washer with colors so that any germs are compromised. What do I use? Can't I just use your regular bleach for HE machines on my colors? I heard I could add it ten minutes into the cycle or something; does that help and when exactly do I put it in? Does Clorox® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster have bleach in it?

A. Before addressing your questions, here’s a little background. For any laundry product to claim to disinfect it must pass a series of tests and register with the EPA. Clorox® Regular-Bleach has done this, so when consumers follow label instructions they can be confident they are eliminating germs and bacteria in their laundry and clothes washer. Clorox® Regular-Bleach is for white items or bleachable colored items made with dyes or fibers not damaged by the sodium hypochlorite active (so no bleaching wool, silk, mohair, spandex or leather whether it is white or not). Unfortunately, there is currently not a product for disinfecting any and all colored laundry items. Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster has a different bleach active, hydrogen peroxide, which is a much weaker bleach and therefore safe for colors. However, it doesn’t meet EPA disinfecting requirements.

Now, to your questions. There are definitely some colored fabrics than can be safely bleached with Clorox® Regular-Bleach, and it is only minimally based on how long the fabric is exposed to the bleach in the wash water. It mostly depends on which type of dye was used to color the fabric. You can easily test bleachability as follows:

• Mix a test solution by diluting 2 tsp Clorox® Regular-Bleach in ¼ cup water


• Apply a drop to a hidden part of the item such as an inside hem, cuff, or seam and then blot dry


• No color change means the item can be safely bleached

I have had success safely bleaching light colored linens and towels, and 100% polyester fleece, to name a few items. For items that don’t pass the bleachability test, you can try the following techniques to at least reduce the germ count.

• Wash in the hottest water recommended on the item’s care label


• Wash any items of particular concern separately from other items to avoid germ transfer, and consider washing them twice


• Use the hottest dryer setting recommended on the care label, and dry items separately or at least with some white towels so the items tumble properly in the dryer.


• Finally, follow up with a washer clean-out cycle with ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach to be sure the clothes washer is disinfected and germs don’t transfer to other loads. In fact, clothes washer manufacturers recommend doing this!

Finally, to your question on adding bleach 10 minutes after the cycle has started, without knowing what type of clothes washer you have, I can’t confirm you will disinfect or improve color retention compared to using the bleach dispenser and following manufacturer’s instructions. This goes back to the EPA requirements, which are based on test protocols and results that ultimately become label instructions. That’s why we consistently recommend that consumers follow label instructions to disinfect. That said, in a standard washer you can delay addition of ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach by 5 minutes and still achieve disinfectancy, and this should improve color retention on dyes that are only slightly susceptible to fading with bleach. With an HE washer, always use the bleach dispenser, filling it to the “max-fill” line, and let the machine delay the addition for you.

Q. Is it safe to have used Clorox® with my compression shirt?

A. I wish I had better news for you. I checked out compression shirts this morning at my local sports outlet, and confirmed that they are made with spandex in addition to the polyester. It’s the spandex that gives the shirt such excellent stretch and recovery properties, but the chemical structure of spandex is easily damaged by sodium hypochlorite. If it hasn’t already happened right away after being washed with bleach, in time the shirt will yellow (if it is white), lose its form-fitting properties and stretch out of shape. So no, you do not want to use Clorox® Regular-Bleach to wash this type of shirt.

But how should you wash them? The care label on the shirts I looked at (inside the side seam near the hem) had some fairly restrictive washing requirements, including cold water wash and do not bleach. If you have found that detergent alone in cold water hasn’t been enough to get these shirts clean, then try adding liquid Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster. Instead of sodium hypochlorite, it contains a hydrogen peroxide that is actually safe for spandex.

Q. I have been told that using Clorox® bleach with detergent lessons the disinfecting of Clorox and that you should presoak laundry before washing it to disinfect anything and that Clorox only disinfects when used with plain water. Is this true?

A. No, adding detergent along with bleach doesn’t reduce its disinfecting capabilities. Technically the sodium hypochlorite active does decrease a very small amount with detergent, but as long as you use the correct amount of bleach, you will have enough bleach present to react with soils and bacteria and disinfect the load.

Just so you know, for any product to claim that it disinfectants, it must pass a series of tests and register with the EPA. Part of the registration includes listing the label instructions for how the product can be used to disinfect. So when you hear or read instructions from others for using Clorox® Regular-Bleach to disinfect, you need to be sure those instructions are consistent with what’s on the label to be confident that germs are being eliminated. Also, Clorox® Regular-Bleach is a multi-purpose disinfectant that is used to disinfect more than laundry, and bleaching solutions for disinfecting vary depending on the application. Sometimes it’s a bleach + water solution, and sometimes bleach + water + detergent. Here are instructions for some common disinfecting applications:

• 
  Laundry in a standard washer— Add ¾ cup bleach to dispenser, if available. If not, add bleach and detergent to the washer as it is filling with water, before the laundry is put in. For best laundry results, dilute 3/4 cup of this product in 1 quart of water and add to wash cycle 5 minutes after the wash cycle has begun. For heavily soiled loads add slightly more bleach (up to 1 1/4 cup).


• Laundry in a High Efficiency washer— In HE machines with a ¾ cup or larger bleach dispenser, add clothes, detergent, ¾ cup bleach and start washer. In a machine with no or small bleach dispenser (less than 3/4 cup), follow pre-soaking instructions.


• Laundry Pre-Soak— Rinse to remove loose soil and fully soak bleachable items for 5 minutes in a solution of ¼ cup bleach to 1 gallon of cool water.


• Hard Non-Porous Surfaces (i.e. kitchen counters, floors, appliances, baby furniture, children’s plastic toys)—Prepare a bleach solution of ¾ cup bleach to 1 gallon water. Wash, wipe, or rinse items with water, then apply the bleach solution. Let stand 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and air dry.

Finally, I want to clarify that whether or not you would need to pre-soak your laundry to disinfect it depends on several things, such as what you are washing, what type of washer you use, and what type of dispenser (if any) your clothes washer has.

As the New Year begins, it’s a great opportunity to reflect on the past year and make some resolutions for 2011. By the time our last box of Christmas decorations is packed away, I’ve had plenty of time to look around the house and figure out my to-do list. It always seems that whatever I decide on ends up involving the laundry, and this year is no exception. Here are my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions:

• Donate clothing that doesn’t fit or is no longer being worn. This sounds simple enough, but it’s actually pretty involved if you want to avoid just throwing things out. First, I go through my husband’s and my closet, and then I work with both of my kids to sort through their clothes. Next, and this is really important, everything gets washed before being donated. That’s because I want to make it as easy as possible for the different agencies that we support to be able to efficiently pass on the items. Finally, I sort the items based on finding the best place to receive the donation. Soccer uniforms (freshened up with Clorox®2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster) and too-small cleats are turned in to the hand-me-down box at the youth soccer club. Kids’ jeans and shirts (stains gone thanks to the Clorox®2 Stain Fighter Gel Pen) go to our local Rescue Mission for families in need. Dress shirts, pants, jackets and skirts are sent to Wardrobe for Opportunity, http://www.wardrobe.org/donatec.html, a great organization in the San Francisco Bay Area that helps provide job-seekers with interview-appropriate clothing and accessories. This year I also have sheets to donate (after washing them with Clorox® Regular-Bleach) to a group that prepares bandages to send overseas. What organizations could you support in your community by donating clean, gently used clothing and household items?
• Restore a vintage denim jacket. My daughter has been eyeing denim jackets, and I remembered that my husband has an old one that he hasn’t worn in years that could fit her! We pulled it out of the back of the closet only to find it’s going to need some attention before she’ll want to wear it—more attention than I wanted to spare during the busy holiday season! The holidays are over now, and I figure one overnight pre-soak with a couple of Clorox®2 Packs will clean it up beautifully.
• Stock up on “bleach-friendly” sheets and towels. Years ago, sheets and towels were reliably made with vat dyes and were always bleach safe. More recently, less expensive dyes have been used, but at the expense of bleachability. Fortunately, the tide is turning on this one as more retailers advertise “bleach-friendly” sheets and towels. I just picked up bleach-friendly sheets for my son’s new bed, and now I need to get some for the rest of us so we can all sleep in germ-free, fashionable comfort!
• Exercise! This may be the stereotypical New Year’s resolution, but after spraining my ankle just before Thanksgiving, and not exercising (but eating lots of great meals and treats) all the way through the holidays, it’s time to get back on track with a regular fitness schedule. I’ll be joining my friend Melissa to walk around beautiful Lake Merritt three days each week, and bicycling. Fortunately, Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster will keep my workout clothes clean and stain-free!

Here’s wishing you and your family a happy and healthy 2011, and keep those laundry questions coming!

Q: Do you still make Coldwater Bleach? I live in San Bernardino, CA and was able to buy it about 6 months ago, but can't find it anywhere.

A: This is a very timely question given how cold it is outside right now, and I wish I had better news for you. Unfortunately, the Coldwater Bleach has been discontinued, but you can always count on Clorox® Regular-Bleach being available. Fortunately where you live in San Bernardino, winter weather is generally pretty temperate and so much of your winter “cold” water is going to be around 60°F. This means common problems for people washing in very cold water may not be as much of an issue for you, such as the detergent failing to adequately dissolve or disperse in the water.

If your clothes washer is newer, chances are the “cold” setting is designed to add water from both the cold and hot lines to produce a minimum wash temperature that will provide better performance than ambient incoming cold water. If you have an older washer, you can always do this yourself manually. Begin by adding detergent to an empty washer and start the washer to fill with hot water. Swish the agitator to help dissolve (powders) or disperse (liquids) the detergent when there is about 3 inches of water in the machine. Then, switch the temperature setting to “cold” and add the laundry load. For bleach loads, for best results dilute ¾ of a cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1 quart of water and add to the load 5 minutes after the cycle has begun. Or fill your bleach dispenser to the “max fill” line. It is particularly important when washing in cold water to not under-use bleach or other laundry products.

This is not to say never wash in cold water! Reducing wash temperatures is a great way to save energy and important for protecting our planet. Adjusting load sizes, pre-dissolving detergent, pre-treating stains, and even spiking cold water with a little hot are all techniques to get good results and save energy.

Q. Any tips on removing tarnish from the beads/decorations sewn on holiday sweaters? The sweaters are hand washable.

A. Tarnish is simply a thin layer of metal oxide formed when a metal (for example copper, bronze, silver, or aluminum) reacts with oxygen. Note that silver also needs to have contact with a sulfur containing material (such as hydrogen sulfide) to tarnish. Tarnish removal is achieved by either dissolving the metal oxide layer or reversing the chemical reaction that caused the tarnish in the first place. For best results, you should ideally remove the decorations to treat them, especially since you will likely need to rub them following treatment to restore any shine. Here are some treatments you can try:

1. For tarnished brass or copper: in a plastic or glass container, dilute 1 Tbsp of a weak acid (vinegar or lemon juice) in 4 cups water and add 1 tsp of salt. Add the items and let soak for a few minutes. Transfer to a second container and rinse thoroughly. Rub dry with a soft cloth like an old t-shirt.
2. For tarnished silver: line the bottom of a non-metal container (like a plastic dishpan) with aluminum foil. Add the items so that each one contacts the foil directly. Then pour in a solution of 1 cup baking soda per gallon of very hot water. Wait several minutes, then remove the items from the solution and rinse thoroughly. Rub dry with a soft cloth: heavily tarnished silver often needs to be treated several times, so repeat as necessary.
3. For tarnished aluminum: home treatments require elbow grease and can scratch, so hopefully this is not the material your decorations are made of! Aluminum pots and pans can be scrubbed with SOS pads to remove tarnish, but those can also scratch, which doesn’t matter so much on a 10 qt stock pot but may not be acceptable for your decorations. If they are small beads, you may also not be able to hold them and scrub hard enough to get the tarnish off. In that case, check your local Autoparts store to for an aluminum wheel cleaner.

I haven’t tried the above methods on metal objects while they are attached to fabric, and my concern is that the tarnish that is removed from the metal will redeposit onto the fabric. Again, taking the decorations off is the best way to avoid this. I realize you may not be able to—you could even have beads knit into the sweaters! In that case, you can try treating the sweaters and beads together in a large plastic dishpan with ½ cup vinegar diluted in 2 gallons of water + 1 Tbsp salt (for bronze and copper). If you are going to try a commercial aluminum cleaner while the decorations are on the fabric, test the product first on a hidden portion of the garment to make sure it won’t damage the garment. Also, be sure the sweaters are clean before you start by washing them first in a mild detergent--avoid detergents and laundry additives with oxidants (will make tarnish worse).