Lemon Scented Bleach? Does Anyone Else See The Irony of This Product? Clorox Lemon-Fresh Bleach
Written: Nov 23 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A tab bit better than straight bleach, great for cleaning.
Cons: Not a true, germ killing disinfectant.
The Bottom Line: A nice alternative to regular bleach but at the end of the day, it’s just bleach with a lemon masking agent.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Clorox 1 Gallon Lemon Bleach |
The life of a domestic goddess isn’t one of eating chocolate bon bons, watching soap operas and scouting out the pool boy. No, it’s cleaning toilets, doing laundry and the seemingly endless mountain of dishes. Along the way a variety of cleaning products come in to play. Disinfectants, grease cutters and lest we forget the various window, tile, grout and floor cleaners. Along the way my trust bottles of bleach get dragged out from under the kitchen sink. Every toilet gets a dash and it’s the best thing I’ve come across to get rid of the various ant trails. Last week I asked Chris to pick up a bottle of bleach when he was out, I now know I need to be more specific when asking these things. He comes back with three bottles, one a store brand [“It was the cheapest”], one and industrial size [“It was the biggest”] and one that was lemon scented [Because I know you hate that potpourri stuff”].
I was a little skeptical about using a scented bleach, after all it’s kind of like taking a bag of rotting chicken and tossing some marinade on it – it’s still rotten chicken any way you look at it. After having him ask me several times if I tried it out [I made him return the others] I finally dragged it out and started using it. To be perfectly honest, it works the same exact way as regular bleach [minus the disinfecting qualities] but has a lemon scent. That’s it. It doesn’t miraculously do the housework for you. It doesn’t eliminate the sometimes-overpowering smell of bleach – but the lemon scent does help to drive those pesky insects away.
Standard Bleach Vs. Lemon Fresh Bleach
The biggest difference, aside from the scent, is that this isn’t a true germ killer. It has the same cleaning power as the standard bleach from Clorox however it isn’t sold as a disinfectant. If you use bleach to kill germs, prevent the spread of bacteria or to sanitize then this isn’t the product for you. While I have no doubt in my mind that this will work just as well, the manufacturers couldn’t label this as an approved product for these tasks. Why? Well, the scent is part of the reason and another is that the products need to be registered with the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] in order to be qualified, evaluated and listed as an EPA approved germ fighting agent. When I called Clorox to get a straight answer I got the run around, was asked “Why do you want to know” and when I told them it was for a product review they passed me around to a bunch of people that wanted to send me coupons but offered no real solid explanation.
Scent
Let’s be honest here. It’s bleach. Bleach never smells great. Even when it is diluted it still had the ability to flair out your nostrils and make your eyes squint. The lemon scent isn’t over powering and does help to soften the “bleach blow” when you open the container but is it really necessary? Since I had no choice in the matter I had to go with it and try it out in the bathroom as well as in the garage. It worked just as well as the standard Clorox bleach and the after smell of lemon lasted about a half hour. If you have dogs or pets that are overly sensitive to cleaning products I do suggest placing them in another area of the house or outside, my two pooches had their noses up in the air the whole time I was cleaning and after a while I think it started to get to them.
Price
Chris picked this up for $1.79 at the grocery store. When I asked him which one he couldn’t remember “I went to three different stores, cut me a break”. So for all I know, this might have been a local grocery store or a small convenience store – that’s what I get for not being specific. When I checked at the grocery stores near me they were priced anywhere from $1.29 to $1.99, a few pennies more than the regular Clorox bleach and worth it if you can’t handle the straight scent. I was only able to find this in one size, the one gallon bottle, but I think I remember seeing this in the half gallon size somewhere.
Laundry
Since one of my boys has a bad reaction to laundry detergent, using bleach is never an option when washing their clothes. This means I have to wash all their whites twice in hot water, once with soap then once with straight water. For my towels, gym shirts, socks and other whites I use the same two-wash method but do add bleach to the first load. I used this on two loads, one of my clothes and one of Chris hospital scrubs, and both turned out just as clean and bright as the standard bleach however there was no lemon scent left on the clothes. This could have been from the second wash, use of a laundry detergent or the fabric softener sheet in the dryer – take your pick. So as far as laundry goes – this is just as comparable to the regular Clorox bleach.
Things To Know
Bleach should never be mixed with other cleaning chemicals. I don’t care what anyone says, it can lead to a potentially dangerous situation and if used in a closed area, could result in death. No, that isn’t a joke. Unless you have the skin of an alligator, you will want to use gloves when working with this, even in a diluted form. Make sure that you wash your hands well when done using this and if possible, use a finger brush to help remove and that may be on your fingers or fingernails. There are precautions on the bottle and as much as you had to read labels, take the time be become familiar with this product, the do’s and don’ts and what you need know in case it is ingested. Special care should be used when children are present, especially those with breathing troubles or asthma. Always work in a well ventilated area and take frequent brakes when doing major cleaning jobs. Wearing gloves will help prevent your hand from becoming dry but – and laugh if you want – I picked up a pair of safety goggles to use when working with bleach. Since I wear contact lenses I am always fearful of a splash of bleach or other cleaning product getting in my eye so for less than $3.00 I picked up a pair at Home Depot and wear them whenever I am in my “cleaning mode”.
The Bottom Line
As a whole this is a good product that will clean almost anything that regular bleach will but it does not have the disinfecting claim that you get with the regular Clorox product. If this is a concern of yours, then by all means stick with the blue label bottle. I’m not sure if I will purchase the lemon scents bleach in the future, to me bleach is bleach – I use it to clean, not to get a fruity scent in the house. I will say that it cleans just as well as the regular Clorox product, gets whites white in the laundry and works to kill ant trails – so if you are looking for a “nice smelling” [and I use that term loosely] bleach based product then by all means, give the Clorox Lemon Fresh Bleach a try!
As always, thanks for the read!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
For more information about the Clorox family of product, feel free to visit their official website at www.clorox.com.
Recommended:
Yes
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