I know some mamas here use it in their homemade dishwasher and laundry soap formulas. Is it evil, though? I've become so paranoid. :o

Is it filled with phosphates? Does it kill the little fishies? Do they do animal testing? Is it a big, evil corporation that uses poor farmers to, I don't know, harvest oxygenated cleaning power?

Please answer this for me once and for all!

Heh, I'm not sure what the ethics are for the Orange-Glo corporation, but I'd imagine they may be slightly better than others, not sure though.

Oxygen bleaches clean via a chemical reaction, a by product reaction. Most oxygen cleaners have sodium carbonate (washing soda) and sodium percarbonate. The combination of all that and hot water spurs off an unstable hydrogen molecule. That unstable hydrogen molecule actually blasts stains away. That's how it works. Also, this reaction leaves nothing but washing soda and hydrogen and oxygen molecules and other broken down molecules that are safe for the environment. OxiClean is considered environmentally friendly and won't kill fish or damage the environment after using it. The powder is not non-toxic though, you can't eat the powder, it's lethal (due to it's high pH, much like borax or washing soda is).

OxiClean is probably is as high quality of oxygen bleaches as other purer oxygen bleaches (but has lower content of the active ingredients), but it's readily available in stores, so I buy it. There are some people who have time to make all their own stuff and have time to scrounge local co-ops and obscure places for all natural stuff and then go home and make their own stuff, but for me, there's a limit to making everything myself - there's other things I'd like to do with my time :D I'm also fairly lazy.

Anyway, OxiClean has the two active ingredients I mentioned above and a little bit of detergent to help soils and muck not redeposit on what you're cleaning and to rinse away clean.

There are some people who deem detergents evil for a variety of reasons. I personally don't because it's a cheaper alternative to natural soap, and unlike natural made soaps, detergents rinse away clean (no waxy residues), can work in all kinds of water types (soft to extremely hard), and in some cases, detergents can be gentler on your skin (gentler pH, rinses away clean, etc) than natural soap. Some people find that over time, natural soaps leave such a residue on clothing and linen/bedding that it looks dingy or it doesn't fluff up anymore. (Most cases that can be remedied with vinegar).

Anyway - hopefully this is enough information. You can do some online research on oxygen bleaches and how they work for more info.

interesting!

I think I might get some. the healthfood store I go to has a one from nature clean.

Thanks, Spastica. That was brilliant! :D

I heard it was bad for the earth but i don't remember why...

thanks for the great info.

we use OxoBright and get it at Trader Joes.
its a good quality oxygen bleach with no fillers just sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate, no added detergents, no scents, just the stuff that does the job well.
we rarely actually use it unless we need to get a bad stain out of something special, like Addys special white dress, or a dress shirt for DH.
and then we use 4-5scoops in a few gallons of HOT water and soak for 6 hours at least, then wash as normal.
i have heard good things about soaking like i do, then sunning, then washing as normal.

as far as corporations go, i have no clue about orange glo corp and their ethics, but the oxobright comes from a good company.

I use OxoBright (bought at Trader Joe's) and it does nothing. Do I have to use hot water? I've tried soaking, washing, etc. I have a front loader if that matters.

I think Oxyclean works best in HOT water as a soak before washing. I don't notice as much of a difference with it in the wash itself. When my nose was broken, I got the shirt I was wearing completely clean the day after by soaking it in very hot water and oxyclean until the water got cold, then washing regularly.