Clorox bleach-scented water [View all]

[woo me with science]

Last edited Wed Oct 10, 2012, 12:22 AM - Edit history (3)

Played a little game in the bleach aisle today. It started when I picked up a bottle of Clorox bleach and it spilled on me, having been opened by someone before. I wiped my hands off, and suddenly had a memory from childhood of spilling bleach on myself. Back then, when you spilled bleach on your hands, you knew you had to rinse them off immediately with water. Your fingers got slippery the way they do when they are assaulted by a strong base, and you worried about your skin. This time? Nothing. It wiped off like water and left only a mild, clean sort of smell. It felt like water....because it was mostly water.

Looked for the concentrations of sodium hypochlorite in the various bleaches. The grocery store brand stated clearly on the label, 6 percent.

Looked at the store "value brand," which was a little more than half the price of the regular store brand. It was a three percent concentration, which means that it was actually *more* expensive for the active ingredients, but those who don't figure that out get to lug home an extra half-gallon of water for their cash.

But the biggest surprise was Clorox, which did not even have the percentages listed on the products on the shelf. Instead, they had a phone number and a nice little note to call if you want to know what is inside.

So I went home and looked up their website. On the pages for each type of bleach, they provide a listing of the ingredients and indicate that they are listed in order of highest to lowest concentration. But they don't give the concentrations there, either.

So I called the Clorox company using a number I found online. There were about eight options for departments, starting with "Investor Relations," but none of them seemed right for getting information about the products. Finally chose one of them and from there was transferred to a customer feedback line, where I spoke to a very nice young woman who informed me that there are "several concentrations" depending on the type of bleach.

The scented bleaches, for example, contain just 2.75 percent sodium hypochlorite. She informed me that bleaches that are "disinfecting" will have the word "disinfecting" on the label, along with a labeled concentration of at least 6 percent. Any bleach without the word "disinfecting" on the label has a lower concentration and does not claim to disinfect.

They are also now selling a (more expensive) "concentrated" brand (about 8 percent) that I suspect is closer to what was sold as regular bleach years ago. The representative said she wasn't sure what the concentrations were years ago.

I let her know my thoughts: that consumers tend to assume that the label "Clorox Bleach" contains a certain product....and that it is a rather slick word game to rely on customers to know that they need to find the word "disinfecting" on the label of a bottle of bleach in order to be assured that it will actually contain what we expect bleach to contain. I suggested that it might be more honest to label all the variations that have been watered down as "DILUTED." At the very least, I told her, the company should put the percentages on all the labels.


And that's the report from your fellow lootee for today.