How to Neutralize Bleach With Hydrogen Peroxide

Need to quickly deactivate bleach? Here's how to neutralize chlorine in household bleach with hydrogen peroxide in your shirts, clothing, and other fabrics.

Question

How do I make a neutralizing rinse?

Answer

This is an interesting question – what do you want to rinse? In general, the rinse cycle that follows the wash cycle, will effectively neutralize a laundry load with bleach. However, there are times when people are working on fabric projects where they use bleach for decorative effects! Under these circumstances, you want to quickly stop the bleaching action from sodium hypochlorite (the active in Clorox® Regular Bleach₂). In that case, a hydrogen peroxide solution that’s 1 part hydrogen peroxide + 10 parts water will work.

Readers, do any of you use bleach for decorative fabric effects?