Why bleaching agents are bad
Walk down any supermarket laundry aisle, and you’re sure to find a host of laundry detergents that promise to keep your whites white and your brights bright. Sounds good, right? Desirable as that may sound, it's often only a short-term fix, that can be to the detriment of your much-loved clothes, sensitive skin, and the environment.
Alongside surfactants, which are the main cleaning agents in laundry detergents, many household names also include bleaching agents in their formulas. The two most popular are chlorine bleach and sodium carbonate peroxide.
The most common bleaching agent found in laundry detergent is Chlorine Bleach, which is often used in detergents for whitening but, it has plenty of unwanted effects. Firstly, it’s not actually colour-safe so rather than prolonging the colour of your garments it will gradually fade and possibly cause yellowing. It also weakens and slowly deteriorates fabric meaning your pieces will be more susceptible to snags and tears.
Chlorine bleach is part of the organochlorine family of bleaches which are known to be highly toxic, pollute waterways and take a long time to decompose. Because of its damaging consequences on your clothes and the planet, you’ll never find this in our formulations.
Another bleaching agent commonly found in detergents is Sodium Carbonate Peroxide, also known as oxygen bleach. Praised for its stain removing, deodorising and whitening abilities, on the surface it appears considerably less harmful than its traditional counterparts. When broken down, Oxygen Bleach turns into water and oxygen therefore decreasing the negative impact on the environment making it the eco-friendlier choice. However, it is still a bleach compound and not suitable for use on all fabrics.
So, because we want to care for the clothes you care about, we’ve avoided bleaching agents altogether in our formulas, and instead replaced them with gentle, yet still highly effective plant-based surfactants so that you can wash carefully and wear carefree for years to come.
Cover Image via Betim Balaman
