Questions about bleach

By mudlark • October 10th, 2007

When I look at the keyword searches that brought people here, I’m always a little surprised at what I find. One of the more frequent search phrases is “toilet encrusted” with, well, you can use your imagination on that one. Let me just set the record straight. If your toilet is encrusted, you might want to try cleaning it a little more often. Just a thought.

I get lots of people looking for information on bleach, and using it for different purposes. So here’s a run-down of some frequently asked questions.

Using bleach to clean lettuce (or potatoes, carrots, apples, any fruit or vegetable)
- Please don’t. You will ingest bleach residue. How much you ingest depends on how well you rinse, what type of water you have, what type of bleach you use, etc. Ingesting bleach is never good. For anyone. If you’re looking for a way to wash your fruits and veggies, get a veggie sponge from your local kitchen gadget store and use vinegar when you scrub. It’ll kill the germs and dissolve the dirt.
Bleach to remove warts
- Again, please don’t. Bleach can cause 3rd degree skin burns. And those leave nasty scars. There are better ways to get rid of warts. Ask your pharmacist. Or your doctor. Or check out these posts.
Bleach to disinfect body
- I don’t know if this refers to internal or external disinfecting. But either way, please don’t. For your own health and safety. Again, there are better ways to cleanse your body – inside and out. I recommend you look into it. Bleach is a very harsh chemical, and not meant for use on the skin, or internally ingested / absorbed / smoked. I don’t know what else you can do with it, but my preference is to leave it on the shelf at the grocery store.

Comments(7) Bleach alternatives, Cleaning tips

Comments

By Carolyn hebert on February 4th, 2008 at 12:07 am

Please don’t forget to mention bleach is usually fatal when swallowed! Your words may lead to dangerous implications.

By mudlark on February 4th, 2008 at 6:32 am

Um, thanks Carolyn. I thought that came through pretty clear through this post and the blog in general, but apparently a second set of eyes is always helpful! Yes, indeed. Any amount of bleach can be fatal when swallowed.

By Warts And Removal on August 20th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Bleach will not remove warts, it will destroy warts, and probably then skin where the wart was. Bleach is mean’t for clothes, and maybe washing other things, but not in wart removal. There are many different ways out there to remove warts, you dont have to harm your body in order to remove the infection.

By Wart Removal on September 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am

Bleach is really only and affective agent against tough stains, or something like that for clothes, its not really mean’t to be put on warts to be a removal method.

By Mark on May 28th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

Actually, bleach is what is used in practically every single municipal water system to chlorinate water. It is also what your white blood cells manufacture to kill bacteria. Bleach is hardly as harmful as many perceive – drinking Clorox out of the bottle, or applying it undiluted on skin is obviously dangerous and could be fatal. However, when diluted properly, it can be used to effectively clean and disinfect, and included in your drinking water.

There are many resources on the Internet – NPR just did a great story on how bleach works to kill bacteria: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=97007890&m=97007876

Wikipedia is also a great resource with scientific facts about bleach.