Can You Mix Bleach and Laundry Detergent?

Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach keeps white clothes their whitest and kills 99.9% of germs in your laundry. It works better than detergent alone on hard-to-remove stains including berries, juice, mud/dirt, ketchup, grass, coffee, red wine and tea.

While they are sometimes referred to as “chlorine bleach,” there is no elemental or free chlorine in our bleach products. The sodium hypochlorite bleach active in Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach oxidizes soils and stains, and in the process breaks down almost entirely into salt and water. This makes it quite environmentally friendly. Since it’s even effective in cold water, you can save energy and still get great laundry results compared to detergent alone.

Before you begin, always check care labels to confirm fiber content before washing; avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, spandex and non-fast colors. Also, test for colorfastness to ensure the fabric doesn’t become discolored.

I had heard that bleach should be used before adding detergent because detergent neutralizes the actions of bleach, but the Clorox instructions direct users to add at the same time. Should I separate these phases?

There are several ways to add bleach to your washload. Our directions for a standard deep-fill clothes washer are to add bleach WITH the detergent as the wash water is filling and BEFORE the clothes are added. The reason is you want to dilute the bleach with water before adding the clothes. (NEVER pour full-strength Clorox^® Disinfecting Bleach directly on fabrics).

Another way to add bleach is to add it to the bleach dispenser if your washer has one. This delays the addition like the approach below and on new HE machines is usually the only way you can add bleach.

Finally, on the label you will see “For best results” where we recommend mixing the recommended amount of bleach in a quart of water and waiting 5 minutes into the wash cycle before adding the bleach to a standard washer. This allows a little time for several key detergent ingredients like enzymes and fluorescent whitening agents to get to work before the bleach is added.

So, in summary, you have lots of choices to get the great bleach benefits you are seeking.