Homemade Bleach vs. the Real Deal

There's serious debate over the potential hazards of using bleach as a cleaning agent, because that big bottle tucked at the back of your cleaning products isn't always the best thing to reach for. A household staple for years, the fumes from bleach can be too intense for pets and small children — and even adults. With potential chemical reactions with other cleaning agents, such as ammonia and even dish soap, chlorine bleach doesn't mix well with the environment and can toxins to the water supply. After making our own homemade bleach from ingredients including hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice, we decided to put the real stuff against our own homemade version to see how they compare.

The Test

On two squares of white flannel, we dripped coffee, smeared some lipstick, and dolloped a bit of ketchup. After using a permanent marker to label each sheet, we gave each a soak in a small bowl, one in chlorine bleach and the other in homemade, for 10 minutes. Once rinsed with cool water, the sheets were washed with an all-in-one laundry bomb, and then tossed in the dryer.

The Results

We compared the two and found that the homemade version held up well in comparison with the chlorine bleach. Both left a bit of lipstick and remnants of the permanent marker behind. The rest of the homemade sheet looked wonderfully clean, which makes reaching for our homemade version a better option than that harsh chlorine bleach.