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Use ¼ cup (60 mL) of bleach for every gallon (3.8 L) of water. Stir with an old spoon you can dedicate just to laundry purposes. Use chlorine bleach if the item is white and non-chlorine bleach (sometimes called oxygen bleach) if the item has color. You can also use regular chlorine bleach on a colored garment if you’re trying to lighten the color of the entire item. If you’re just pre-soaking the material to remove stains before washing, only leave it in the solution for about 5 minutes. You can add a few minutes to that time if you’re working with really tough stains. If you’re attempting to lighten the color of the fabric, leave it in chlorine bleach for up to 10 minutes. While wearing gloves to protect your skin, rinse the item under the faucet until you’ve removed as much bleach as possible. Keep the faucet running as you slowly pour out the bleach solution so that it can be diluted even more as you dispose of it. Unless you’re going to throw the item into a washing machine immediately, you’ll need to stop the bleaching action from continuing. Create a solution that’s equal parts water and hydrogen peroxide in a different bucket or in a stoppered sink. Let the item soak for about five minutes before rinsing again. Launder the item however you would normally, but if you’ve chosen to skip the neutralizing step, do not toss this item into the wash with dark colors. You will likely get bleach onto something else that you didn’t mean to. Wash it separately or with whites.

Summary:
Pour in the bleach. Soak the cotton item in the bleach solution. Rinse the item with cool water. Neutralize it with hydrogen peroxide. Wash normally.