Oxy-Clean Performance

[ptcruiser51]

Has anyone seen actual results when using this as just a laundry additive?

I am an unfortunate psoriasis sufferer; I have to put medicine on my scalp at night when I have a flare-up. Consequently, my pillowcases get yellowed. This also happens when I have breakouts on my arms, for instance - my shirts will get stained. I have tried Oxy-Clean, Clorox, and STPP in the wash with no results (not all together, of course); following the directions. Line-drying in the sun doesn't work, either.

My only success is soaking the item overnight in Oxy-Clean in a basin, then it will remove all the yellowing. This is problematic when I have several garments to do. I am hesitant to try this with diluted Clorox to see if I can get "faster" results.

I have to use a commercial machine, so machine-soaking is not an option.

Any suggestions? (The heartbreak of psoriasis is a very real thing, don't let anyone kid you).

 

[whirlaway]

Dry Scalp

Try washing your hair with Listerine,Ive heard it works with some scalp problems.Stay away from scented detergents.Good Luck!

 

[rayjay]

Try the soaking in Oxi_Clean overnight, Then when you take to the laundromat, add a little Clorox bleach.

 

[polkanut]

I know what you mean about psoriasis, it's inherited on my Mom's side of the family. My Mom, Grandma, Great-Uncle, Great-Grandma, and a cousin who's 6mos. older than me have all had it at one time or another. My Grandma was very self-conscious about it, she never wore anything that was above the knee or shorter than a 3/4 length sleeve. Grandma changed her bed sheets daily during a flare up, and washed them in boiling hot water.

 

[launderess]

As I've Said Before

Oxygen and chlorine bleaches will cancel each other out, thus adding both to the same bath will achieve nothing. Indeed oxygen bleach is often used to neutralise any remaining traces of chlorine bleach in textiles.

Oxy-Clean and it's cousins contain quite a bit of washing soda along with sodium percarbonate. You may get more bang for your buck seeking out pure sodium percarbonate and soaking with a detergent/oyxgen bleach bath. Ecover sells pure sodium percarbonate, you can also purchase the same from "The Chemistry Store", and other bulk suppliers.

All oxygen bleaches work faster the higher the water temperature. Therefore you could speed things up by laundering items in the hottest water recommended for the garments.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Can't help you in getting laundry cleaner, but I know this for sure: Oxy-clean and related gives me a rash, the itchy-scratchies and a burning sensation.

Nothing beats washing my colored briefs in same and having the "burning" er... uh... urgent desire to buy Vagisil, Anusol, Peparation "H", Desitin etc.

Doesn't matter how many times I rinse a load of wash, it burns me, and right where the elastic band of the leg-hole meets the upper thigh. Mamma Mia!

OK Lady L., I pose to you the following questions:
I know that chlorine leach is alkaline/base
Therefore oxygen bleaches must be acidic.
What is the PH balance of the cheap watery softeners in a gallon jug? Mildly alkaline/basic? TIA.

 

[launderess]

It's Been Years Since Organic Chemistry

And wasn't that great at the time, however:

When chlorine reacts with hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water. The chlorine hydrolyses into hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which then becomes hypochlorite(OCl).
Cl2 + HOCl + H+ + Cl
HOCl + H+ + Cl

Finally the hydrogen peroxide reacts with hypochlorite:
OCl- + H2O2 (g) -> Cl- + H2O + O2

Both oxygen and chlorine bleaches work best in alkaline conditions, and neither is "acidic".

As for the pH of "cheap" jug fabric softeners, have no idea. However last time one peeped a bottle, it listed "sodium hydroxide as an ingredient.

L.

 

[toggleswitch2]

My organic chemisttry is SO rusty!

Oh boy a bit over my head, will have to process that info.
Many thanks.

Sounds like white vinegar, then, chemically neutralizes all three of the aformetioned alkaline addtives?

(Acid + base) => (salt + water)?

 

[launderess]

Yes, that is why many laundry sours are also "anti-chlors", or one can add white vinegar to remove final traces of chlorine bleach.

Main thing is to remove final TRACES of chlorine bleach. Under no circumstances should one add vinegar to any bath with large amounts of chlorine remaining. The chemical reaction will produce fumes that can and have killed people.

L.

 

[jeffg]

Chlorine bleach is an extremely strong base. Clorox (5.25% sodium hypochlorite) has a pH of 12.5. Lye products like Drano have a pH only slightly higher (13), while household ammonia = 11.

 

[rayjay]

Hi Laundress

I understand that Oxi Clean and Clorox in the same water will cancel out. SO....if I wanted to first do a pre wash in oxiclean, would I need to run a rinse before adding fresh water with Clorox? Or...is oxiclean in the prewash then right on to the main wash with Clorox okay?

Thanks,

Ray

 

[pulsator]

Launderess, I thought the deadly fumes were created by chlorine and ammonia not chlorine and vinegar?

I know chlorine bleach is hard on both the washer and the clothes, but aren't oxy-bleaches also bad for washers?

 

[sudsman]

Can"t Say for other fabric softners

But ths softners I use here are all in the 5.0 to 5.50 ph range. We do have a sour/softner/ anti-chlor combo product with bacstat. in it and it has a that is very low but only 2 oz in used on a 150 lb load so the ph of the final load ends up at 5.50 . It does contain silica fluoride.. However the ph of any product in its purchased form will never have the same ph value as on the finished product.

CHLORINE BLEACH ARE HARD ON WASHERS AND CLOTHES:
This is really not true at all.When used properly LCB will not harm clothes or machinery. I have for may years used 10 and 12 % lcb. and NEVER had problems with machinery or linen due to bleaching. But as with ANY product when NOT used properly quite the reverse is true. Damage to machines and clothing can be noted when ANY product is misused. Not just lcb.

 

[launderess]

Pulsator:

Mixing chlorine bleach with ANY acid will cause the release of chlorine gas. Does not matter if the acid is vinegar or citric acid or what have you, don't do it! There are times when one wishes this reaction, but that is done by chemists or other such persons under controlled situations and proper safety precautions.

There is a reason all chlorine bleach products contain warning about not mixing with other household chemicals. Unless you have vast knowledge of what one is doing, it is just too dangerous. Yet every year people die and or are harmed by mixing LCB with things they shouldn't.

Rayjay:

Hard to answer your query because of the variables involved.

In theory hydrogen peroxide (the active part of all oxygen bleaches), after releasing it's oxygen, simply breaks down into water. However not knowing what strength of oxygen bleach (percentage of chemical to solution), release rate verus cycle length, it is going to be hard to measure what if any remaining product would carry over from a pre-wash.

Yes, you could rinse the laundry well before using LCB, but that seems like allot of work, especially if soaking in oxygen bleach solutions seems to do the job.

As previous poster stated, it is not chlorine bleach per se that damages clothing. Though LCB is a strong oxide (read burning reaction), the problem comes mainly from the fact most home and some commercial users do not properly rinse out and or neutralise chlorine bleach from textiles.

Left over chlorine bleach continues to work on fabrics, and eventually leads to damage. The problem is compounded when said laundry is heated such as being put into a dryer and or ironed.

If one can still smell bleach on laundry, then it is still there. Also certain textiles, mainly cottons tend to hold onto chlorine bleach, hence all that rinsing.

To get around all that rinsing, anti-chlors are used to speed up through-put. However most home uses of LCB bung in the stuff and rinse poorly afterwards.

Thing to remember about any bleaching action, and this applies to oxygen and chlorine based bleaches, is that they are basically again a controlled burning process. Unless one is trying to remove coloured stains, and or whiten/brighten, it is not really required to add bleaches to every wash load, especially LCB. Of course if one is trying to sanitise laundry, that is a different thing.

 

[petek]

Steve..rumour around here had it you never wore underwear?

(duckzn runz)

 

[iheartmaytag]

Chlorine is our Friend

As I have stated so often--I love Chlorine. I like the clean smell. I like knowing that very little survives it's rath. Before my beloved Chlorine many municipal water sources were not potable, I don't have a problem with filtering it out later, but it is best to let it do it's job quickly and cheaply first. Look at it this way, it saves water and trees in the long run by preventing "The Runs".

Here in Middle America I bleach the hell out of everything. The dog wasn't always white you know. Chlorine in concentrations of just one drop per gallon of water is enough to safely wash fruit and vegetables. A 1 to 10 ratio of LCB is enough to disinfect and protect from many viruses and germs.

If you have small children, can't beat Bleach for taking out those nasty potty dribbles from their clothing. Works for older people as well. Spit up and formula stains be gone. Nasty smell in your front load washer--chlorine in smell out. Mold--it's gone. Mildew--didn't stand a chance.

Now my Granny always made her own soap out of wood ash and lye, did this until she went to "the home", she never used bleach in her life, yet the people at the store always wondered why she was having so many drain problems. She used Drain-o as her lye source. She sifted out the aluminum flakes to get the good stuff. Just couldn't convience the 92 year old to try bleach.

Yes, I love Chlorine it's our friend.

 

[toggleswitch2]

~Steve..rumour around here had it you never wore underwear?

Looks around----- who me?

How does that joke go? All the boys wanted to see my underwear when I lifted my skirt. So I stopped wearing it.
Panties. Not the best thing in life but next to it.

So speaking of controlled burn, I washed some of my whites in my aunt's malber comb-o-matic washer/dryer. Unbeknowest to me (@#$%^ symbols!) I had put LCB in the fabric softener dispenser. OOOOOH child every time I perspired the bleach reactivated and I was itchy as hell! I was on fire. Proving once again the final rinse with chlorine bleach is a big no-no!

 

[whitekingd]

I have always had much, much better results using Biz Bleach than Chlorine bleach. It takes out stains that Chlorox just can't get out. I love BIZ!

 

[rayjay]

Chlorine Bleach

Laundres....

Thanks so much for the analogy on bleach. It makes sense that the Oxi clean has to be rinsed out thoroughly so that the LCB can work. At times I do run my whites first through OxiClean (the whole cycle with extra rinse), then turn the machine back on with a hot wash and LCB. Great results.

I do want to try the SSTP but I do have mechanicaly softened water, so I guess I would just use a little in the wash?? (Your advice needed here).

As for rinseing the LCB........some of the new Front Load washers, (WHirlpool Duet for example, add the bleach in the first rinse. So....the machine only has two rinses to get rid of the bleach smell. I do not think this is enough. I recently had to use a Maytage Neptune at a laundromat and noticed that the bleach was added from the dispenser in the first rinse also. I wonder why this is programmed this way???

Well....as you can see I am from the old school and like LCB. I think it is need for certain whites like dish towels, and dish cloths to disinfect them. In school and commercial kitchen, bleach is used to rinse (in a weak soloution to disinfect the lunch trays etc. My wife works in a hospital labe, and bleach is used to clean and clear a lot of the instumentation in the lab.

I just wonder why a lot of people are so afraid to use bleach?? If used properly and rinsed out, it is great. I too agree with iheartmaytag....I like to smell of it. lol

i understand from reading the forums here that SSTP is great for whitening, which I am going to try. I am sure everyone who has used it here likes the results.

But.....in general some people in my area who claim that they do not use LCB have the dingiest tee shirts and kitchen towels around. lol