A wine, ketchup or coffee stain on a new white dress? Need not to worry; bleach should take care of it. The “stain removal 101” we have all grown up with.

And while there’s no doubting the cleaning prowess of bleach, you’re better off without using the product, for it can tatter your clothes if you’re not careful. The worst part; it can damage your skin and eyes if you go even a wee bit slack with it.

Bleach, Stains and Clothes

Bleach removes stains from clothes by the process of oxidation.

Those large molecules that make your clothes dirty often have conjugated double bonds. To be treated, the bonds between these molecules first need to be broken down.

Bleach interacts with the stain molecules and add chlorine or oxygen to them, which causes the conjugated double bonds to break.

This serves two purposes:

• First, the obvious one, it makes the stains more water soluble, and easy to remove on the application of detergent.
• Second, it makes the stains go colorless. So even if there is a stain that can’t be removed, its visibility is greatly reduced by using bleach.

However, if you pour excess bleach into the wash bucket, such that the resulting solution ends up being highly concentrated, bleach can attack the fabric of your garments and oxidize it.

Alternatively, pouring bleach directly on your garments can also tatter them.

This is why you should always use bleach according to the instructions provided on the product packaging.

In addition, you must also wear rubber gloves and safety masks when using bleach to keep yourself protected from a potential spill or the fumes produced by bleach. Most types of bleach products available in the markettoday contain hypochlorous acid, which can cause skin burns and irritate your eyes and lungs if not carefully handled.

With so many precautions to take and instructions to follow, savvy minds would think twice before using bleach to remove stains from their garments. What if I end up using too much bleach and it damages my clothes? What if the bleach accidentally comes into contact with my skin?

So, if not bleach, then what else?

To remove stubborn stains from your clothes, we’d suggest hiring an organic dry cleaner for the job. An organic dry cleaner will clean your clothes in an environmentally friendly way without damaging them.

Are you looking for an organic dry-cleaning service in NYC?

NY Organic Dry Cleaners have got you covered!

We are open 7 days a week and offer free home pickups and drop-offs all across the city. Discover more about our organic dry-cleaning NYC here.