Peroxide.
Located in most medicine cabinets.
Used in the 90's to bleach hair.
Great for removing blood from fabrics.
Peroxide has a bleaching effect on organic substances.
Which is why it is added to some detergents and hair color products.
The main reason I mentioned peroxide is because it is one of the main
components in oxygenated bleach.
Oxygen bleach chemically is like a solid form of hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen when water is added to it.
Oxygen bleach is made by simply treading baking powder with hydrogen peroxide.
Because of what it's comprised of and how it's made I'll tell you a secret.....
Don't worry about the name brand on this one! It's the same stuff in a cheaper package.
It works when the product is added to water.
It's able to disinfect, remove stains, and deodorize.
It's much safer than bleach and won't cause bodily harm.
Plus it's safe for the environment as when it breaks down
it turns into water, soda ash and oxygen. Simple!
It's pretty great stuff.
It's much safer than chlorine bleach.
While chlorine bleach does kill bacteria it is harmful to plants, animals, and people.
I don't know about you but I don't want that around my people unless it HAS to be.
Chlorine bleach contains sodium hypoclorite.
That would be an oxidizer. The oxidization process is corrosive and will burn skin, cause lung, nasal, skin, and eye damage. It also can discolor or rust metals, and change the color of finishes if it isn't used correctly.
Plus did I mention oxygen bleach is safe for colors?
I'm guessing you already knew that but I just thought I would mention it in case.
So basically oxygen bleach is just as effective as chlorine bleach but it is so much safer.
Just keep in mind oxygen bleach has to be full dissolved in water before it'll work.
Seeing and hearing bubbles is actually a good thing. Remember how peroxide bubbles when it comes into contact with a cut or water? It's the oxygen being released. Oxygen=good.
Oxygen bleach is great for tons of stuff.
Just remember it's better at cleaning up and removing naturally occurring stuff.
Think grass, dirty, blood, cooking oil, coffee, dairy, even wine.
It's not good at trying to remove paint, pen marks, motor oil, or other man made things.
Got it?
You can use it on tested fabrics, plastic, fiberglass, ceramics, carpet, concrete, wood, porcelain, and tons more. Just don't try using it on silk, wood, or other more delicate fibers.
And always test it in a small unnoticed area first if you're not sure.
You can use a scoop in your laundry to help brighten, deodorize, and remove stains from clothing.
I think my favorite thing to use this for though is to clean the items that I clean my home with. Simply put 1/2 a scoop of oxygen bleach in a bucket full of warm water and soak your cleaning sponges, brushes, and other cleaning tools. Just because you use your cleaning tools to clean doesn't mean they don't get dirty and need to be cleaned too.
After they've soaked just simply hang the items to dry and they'll be disinfected, deodorized and ready to tackle your next cleaning job. You can also soak your plastic tip brooms but don't soak a corn broom or you will probably ruin it completely.
You can also dissolve this into water to make a spray bottle for cleaning counter tops, points of contact in your home, and even add some to your homemade mop solution (recipe in an upcoming post.) for some disinfecting.
Today, give your cleaning products a good clean.
They're doing all that dirty work for you and you don't want them to be spreading nasties through out your house.
Also I know for many (including myself) this is a very busy weekend.
We're going to keep the challenge pretty light as it's Superbowl weekend.
Today as you do your prep-work for any festivities you have, be sure to clean up as you go.
A tip I recently read was to fill the sink with hot soapy water as you cook.
That way you can put dirty dishes directly into the sink. Remember how I talked about letting your cleaning products do most of the work for you? Same concept here!
I did this tonight as I made 12 hour banana bread, dairy free scalloped potatoes, and prep-work for next weeks dinners. It made clean up go a lot faster.
Keep up with your current progress this weekend. Don't worry so much about doing extras. Enjoy your friends and family but try not to let yourself get behind.
Pretty interesting take, I must say. We're often used with the normal chemicals for the deep cleaning, as well as sanitizing and stuff. Oxygenated bleach may be worth a try, though it can only be used with the proper appliance and equipment for the duty.
ReplyDeleteLeonard Brush & Chemical
Thank you for this blog post, I am trying to eliminate harsh chemicals from my home as much as possible, and also getting the house ready for a new arrival has me on a cleaning binge, these are some great tips.
ReplyDelete