Bleach and laundry detergent are a staple in most people’s laundry rooms. They’re both tough and effective cleaners, but have you ever considered if it’s safe to mix bleach with laundry detergent?
Mixing bleach with laundry detergent is safe and effective for all-white clothes and linens. Bleach mixed with laundry detergent will work to clean, brighten, and disinfect your clothes and is effective at removing tough stains.
You don’t want to dump both cleaners in your washer and call it a day, but using both can be a great way to get your laundry extra clean and bright. Read on to learn everything you need to know about mixing bleach with laundry detergent.
What Happens if you Mix Bleach with Laundry Detergent?
Mixing bleach with laundry detergent will result in a cleaning solution more powerful than using either by itself. Using them separately will clean your clothes and remove some stains, but mixing the two in a single load will help give your clothes a brand-new, untouched look.
Bleach and laundry detergent are designed to be mixed together, so you don’t have to worry about any dangerous chemical reactions happening. Mixing these two cleaners will help to disinfect, clean, and brighten your clothes, while also removing any tough stains or marks.
Can I Use Bleach by Itself in Washing Machine?
Bleach is a powerful cleaning agent that disinfects, brightens, and eliminates germs and debris. You can use it by itself in your washing machine if it needs a good clean. You’ll want to check your washing machine’s manual just to be sure, but most machines will benefit from being cleaned with bleach.
All you need to do is add about 60ml of bleach to your bleach dispenser and run a wash cycle with hot water. If your washing machine doesn’t have a bleach dispenser then you can dilute the bleach in a quart of water before adding it directly to the drum. When the cycle is complete, you’ll see an amazing difference in your machine because the bleach will have removed any dirt or grime that’s built up in it from past use.
How Do I Use Bleach in a Washing Machine?
The biggest thing to remember when using bleach is that you never want to apply it directly to your clothes because it could damage the fabrics. Instead, you want to pour the recommended amount of bleach into your machine’s bleach dispenser.
Another way to use bleach in a washing machine is to add it into the drum yourself once the washing water begins to fill up the machine. You’ll want to add the bleach into the water first and then add your laundry for best results.
You could also mix the recommended amount of bleach with a quart of water and then add it to your machine. This will allow the bleach concentrate to dilute before it comes into contact with your clothes and will prevent damaging them. Always read the instructions on your container of bleach for the most effective directions.
Can You Only Use Detergent and Bleach with Whites?
Bleach is a strong chemical that lightens and brightens fabrics, so you should never use it for colored clothes and fabrics. Only use bleach on white or colorfast clothes and fabrics such as socks, t-shirts, pillowcases, tablecloths, and the like.
Using bleach on colored clothes will clean them, but it will also leave them discolored, stained, and unusable. For best results, only use bleach on all-white items that don’t have any coloring.
Is Laundry Bleach the Same as Regular Bleach?
The bleach that you use for washing your clothes isn’t the same as the bleach you use for cleaning. They are similar, but their active ingredients aren’t the same and are meant to be used for different purposes.
Regular bleach is often referred to as ‘chlorine bleach’ because it contains hypochlorite as an active ingredient. If you check the label on your clothes or linens, you might notice that it says to only use ‘non-chlorinated bleach’ when washing them. That’s because regular bleach isn’t safe to use on many clothes and fabrics, including spandex, wool, silk, and leather.
Laundry bleach is safe to use on most fabrics because it contains peroxide as an active ingredient instead of chlorine. This is a less harsh chemical that won’t damage or stain your clothes and linens. Always be sure that you have the correct bleach before adding it to your washer.
Can I Mix Bleach with Laundry Pods?
It’s perfectly fine to mix bleach with laundry pods as long as you do so properly. Laundry pods are just like regular detergent, except the liquid is contained in pods. The detergent dissolves during the wash cycle when it’s mixed with water.
You can mix bleach with laundry pods the same way that you’d mix it with laundry detergent. All you need to do is add bleach to your machine’s bleach dispenser, drop the laundry pod in your washing machine’s drum, and you’re done!
If your washer doesn’t have a bleach dispenser, then you can follow one of the other methods to safely add it to your load. The best method is to dilute the bleach with water before adding it to your washing machine. Another option is to add it once your machine has started to fill up with water. As long as you’re diluting the bleach before it comes into contact with your clothes, then it won’t cause any damage.
Final Thoughts
It is perfectly safe to mix bleach with laundry detergent. Both are powerful cleaners that have unique properties that will clean, disinfect, and brighten your clothes while removing any stains or marks. Make sure you’re adding your bleach safely by using your washing machines’ bleach dispenser or diluting it with water so that your clothes and linens aren’t damaged.
Jamie is the Founder of My Home Dwelling. He is a homeowner and enjoys sharing his homeowner tips with others. He has real estate experience working as a new home construction Realtor. Jamie has worked on numerous residential construction sites helping with interior and exterior renovations. He loves refinishing furniture, DIY home projects, and sharing his knowledge online.