Why Does Bleach Turn White Clothes Yellow? | Clorox® (2024)

FAQs

What to do when bleach turns white clothes yellow? ›

→ In a bowl or spray bottle, mix 3 tablespoons of dish soap, 3 tablespoons of baking soda, and ½ cup of hydrogen peroxide. Generously apply your whitening co*cktail to the yellow stain and let it sit for an hour. Wash the garment in cold water as usual and dry.

Add Bleach and Clothing

Fill the washer tub with water until it is about half full, then add 1/3 to 2/3 of a cup of bleach (depending on how dirty the load is) and your regular amount of detergent. Then add clothing to the washer and don't overload. Complete the wash cycle.

What causes the yellow tinge in blonde hair? A yellow tinge in bleached blonde hair may be due to an application error or due to an unsuitable product choice. The yellow tinge often shows up because the bleach is rinsed out too early. Many women will watch the color changing while the bleach does its work.

Fabric whitener: A whitening product like OxiClean White Revive Laundry Whitener and Stain Remover Powder (Buy from Amazon,$8.52) can be effective, but Mehas warns that about following directions and testing first applies here too. Dish soap: Dawn dish soap, to be specific.

Hydrogen peroxide: Ideal for treating bleach stains on white garments. Baking soda: Useful for creating a paste to tackle stubborn bleach stains.

Distilled white vinegar

Distilled white vinegar is another remarkable option to make yellowed white shirts white again. Not only does it have brightening properties, but it also neutralizes odors in fabrics. You can use it as a bleach-free pretreatment or as an additive in a standard wash cycle.

“Lemon juice can be a natural bleach,” says Cristy Stewart-Harfmann, founder of the Happy Family Blog. Squeeze some directly onto the stain and rub it gently. For even better results, let the garment or item sit in the sun for a few hours before you wash it.

Make a paste of equal parts hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and water. Cover the affected areas with a ¼” layer and let it sit for 30-60 minutes. Remove excess residue with a soft brush and throw the item in the washing machine.

If you use bleach wrongly, it can cause damage to your clothes by marking them because bleach can be corrosive. It is a harsh chemical, and you need to bear some things in mind so you can bleach your white clothes safely. Make sure your clothes can bear the strong cleaning power of the bleach before using it.

Will OxiClean white revive bleach clothes? ›

OxiClean™ White Revive™ Laundry Whitener & Stain Remover is a non-chlorine bleach alternative. It has oxygen bleach and is color safe, so you can use it on white items that might have stripes, logos or other forms of coloration!

It shouldn't come as a surprise that bleach is involved in keeping hotel towels white. Hotels use oxygen or chlorine bleach, depending on the type of fabric and stains. Oxygen bleach is a form of hydrogen peroxide and releases oxygen to remove stains without damaging the fabric.

Bleach is one of the best ways to whiten your clothes. However, it can sometimes leave yellow stains on white fabrics. To get rid of them, use baking soda, a stain remover that's safe for white fabric, or white vinegar.

Using too much (either extremely concentrated bleach solutions or undiluted bleach straight out of the bottle) can also cause yellowing. To presoak with bleach, use ¼ cup Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach per gallon of cool water, and limit the soaking time to just 5 minutes before machine washing.

Use a purple or blue shampoo

Try imagining a straight line from your current colour through the centre of the wheel to the other side of the wheel to figure out which toner to use. If your bleached hair looks more yellow than orange, you'll need a purple toning shampoo to neutralise the yellow.

Unfortunately, a bleach stain is permanent. Once bleach has made contact with a fabric, the stain will have set, stripping the colour or dye from the fabric. When it comes to removing bleach stains, the approach you should take is one of restoring the colour that has been lost rather than removing the stain.

Pour white vinegar on yellow stains. Let vinegar sit for 5 minutes. Rinse spot with cold water. Repeat until yellow residue is gone.