this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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I have some serious questions. Do you use bleach? And if so why and on what? I know what it is but I've never had the need to use it. Ever.
I avoid it because it somehow always ends up on your clothes and causes a bleach stain.
Hahaha. You see people with white spots on their clothes and you know what's happened. They've either splashed it on themselves or it's gone in the washing machine that's previously had bleach in it.
I use it sometimes to soak white shirts that didn't respond to peroxide soakers. Used rarely and diluted appropriately of course. The bleach water can be used to deodorise drains afterwards.
Interesting. See I've only ever used Napisan or I've soaped the shit out of something first then thrown it in the bucket of Napisan. I've never needed to use White King.
I use it to clean inside the toilet bowl (Domestos). It’s how my mum taught me and never thought to change my approach. Works really well I think.
I just use double strength vinegar. Sometimes I get adventurous and use toilet duck which has bleach in it but it's rare.
No. Never have either. Napisan is plenty good enough for most things.
I can understand how it got to be 'usual', pre modern washing powder/liquid. But nowadays it just isn't needed imo. Using a blue bag on sheets and shirts isn't needed nowadays either. I do have a bottle of White King in the laundry, but I've only ever used it once to splash a 10% solution onto a brick wall that the local tom cats were spraying on.
I was perusing r/CleaningTips and someone was asking about bleaching sheets and I'm thinking why. I can understand in a commercial sense but not a domestic one.
As a kid I used to walk outside in my white socks and mum would be "you'll be scrubbing those". And scrub I did and inspect she did. So I know soap works. I even do it when my kid gets new shoes and leaves that black shit on her socks and they come out spotless.
I was just genuinely curious why people use bleach because I thought I was missing something.
I understand was originally to help deal with the smell of tallow soap used for washing. And as a sanitizer. Also helped a bit with the yellowing/griming that happened on whites washed with soap alone and inadequately rinsed. And by soap I mean yellow Velvet or lookalike bars of cheap tallow soap, not modern washing powders or detergent liquids. I understand you put about half a cupful in the rinse water, mixed it in well and then added the shirts/sheets so they didn't get bleach stains. This does not sound compatible with modern washing machines. And bleach probably does horrible things to the rubber seals of a front loader. Would welcome input from anyone that actually still uses it for that purpose.
As far as I know my mum never used bleach. It was always bluing to counteract the yellow. I remember her saying it would stain your hands if you weren't careful. I'll have to ask her more tomorrow but I'm pretty sure bleach was not widely used in her day.
Maybe there's a difference between hard water and soft like here in Melb. My mum used bleach when she lived in London, which has hard water. She said it was for the yellowing, but idk as this was a good many years ago and I may be misremembering. I do know from personal experience that washing sheets etc. by hand with soap most certainly does cause yellowing and something has to be done about it or everything turns grimy yellow gray.
Interesting because bluing was used in the UK as well. Maybe different strokes for different folks.
I shouldn’t but sometimes do. For soaking pure white things like cotton sheets with stains that didn’t shift with something else, or I pour a little into the toilet to soak. Or for something nasty.
Usually I just use laundry detergent, napisan, surface spray or soapy water.
Oh. I can understand toilets. I know friends who chuck it in their toilet bowl before going away on holidays.
It’s really bad for the environment so I’ve stopped doing it as much, but it’s very effective
I hate the smell. It sends my sinuses into a sneezing spasm.
I tried the blue domestos once but it tasted horrible. Never tried the green one though.
Seriously though I do use the blue one on my toilet and sometimes sink. I like the way it smells. It smells like dizzy.
The green ones minty fresh.