Trying to change color or stain from fabric or other surfaces sounds pretty tough and annoying. There are a lot of types of color and stain removers available on the market. Bleach and RIT color remover are two of the most popular color removers nowadays.
However, these two aren’t the jack of all trades either. RIT is good for removing mild colors from cotton and other animal fibers. But bleach is strong and suited for synthetic fibers. To know more about RIT color remover vs bleach, stay with this article to the end.
Comparison Between RIT Color Remover and Bleach
This section contains the information you need to know about bleach and the RIT color remover. Let’s dive in to compare them and know which one is for you.
RIT color remover is a reductive type of bleach that doesn’t contain chlorine in it. The color index reducing agent it contains is sodium hydrocephalus. But, bleach that contains chlorine is known as common bleach. Unlike RIT, it is a strong color-removing agent.
1. Types of Fabric Suited
Unfortunately, RIT color remover isn’t suited for all types of fabric. You can use RIT on cotton, linen, wool, silk, rayon, and ramie. This color remover doesn’t have much effect on synthetic fibers like polyester. Although it also depends on how the fabrics were dyed commercially.
On the contrary, Cotton, polyester, and all other synthetic fibers are bleach-friendly. You can also use bleach to white linen only, to lighten the shade. But remember, you should never use bleach on wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex.
2. Work Range
Unlike bleach, RIT color remover can’t multitask, it has one and only purpose, to remove the dye from the fabric. You can’t even remove any print or pattern from fabric using the color remover. Even the indigo color from jeans can’t be removed from it. You will need a strong cleaning chemical for those purposes.
However, since this color remover can be dissolved in water, it applies more evenly to the fabric. Also, it doesn’t leave any yellowish stains as bleach leaves on the fabric most of the time.
On the other hand, Bleach is a versatile chemical. Although you can’t use bleach on many fabrics, you can still use it to sanitize most of the materials. One can use bleach to lighten the fabric color, remove dye completely, sanitize hospital and restaurant cloths, disinfect tabletops, floors, and many more.
3. Fabric Damage
Since RIT color remover is a mild chemical, it doesn’t damage or weaken the fibers of your clothing. You can use it on any fabric with no worries.
But in the case of bleach, chlorine bleach is the type of chemical that can damage fibers that are not too strong, specifically animal fibers. If you use bleach on any of those fibers, such as wool, the chemical reaction will start to degrade and weaken the fiber.
Bleach can still damage the fibers even after it was washed, which is why many people use hydrogen peroxide after washing a bleached fabric to neutralize and stop further fiber damage.
4. Price Range
RIT color remover is not too expensive, but it’s costlier than bleach. Only one ounce of RIT color remover costs more than 3 dollars. You will need to use a whole packet of color removers for a garment.
Bleach is not as costly as the RIT color remover. A bottle of Bleach 1 pound costs around 10 dollars. So, anyone can afford bleach more than any other color remover and use it for many days.
5. Heat Friendliness
You can warm up the RIT color remover solution or use heat any time, it won’t produce any harmful gas or the productivity won’t decrease.
Bleach is not a heat-friendly chemical. Since bleach contains sodium hypochlorite, the fume bleach released when heated contains chlorine, which is a hazardous element. If inhaled, chlorine can be very dangerous for you.
Gaseous chlorine is so toxic that bleach usually contains a strong warning about not mixing with any other chemicals, specifically cleaning ingredients. The warning is given due to the fact that bleach tends to rapidly decompose its active ingredient when interacting with other strong chemicals.
6. Machine Friendliness
You can put RIT color remover in the washing machine to remove colors from fabrics. It won’t do any damage to the machine or the fabric you want to remove the color from. You can use the color remover like you put the detergents.
Just like the RIT color remover, you can also use bleach in the washing machine, whether to use it on fabric or to sterilize the inside of the machine. However, you got to be careful when using bleach inside the machine, otherwise, it can harm any part of that electronic device.
7. Newbie Friendliness
RIT color remover is fairly simple to use for even a novice. The steps are simple and the chemicals aren’t dangerous, so anyone can use this dye remover without having any kind of problem.
Bleach is not as newbie-friendly as other color removers. There are lots of things you can and cannot do with this product. Moreover, you have to follow the procedures of using bleach strictly if you don’t want any harm to your health and the product you want to bleach, which is quite tough for anyone new to using it.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
- What’s the difference between dye remover and stain remover?
Usually, solvents and detergents are used to remove stains, they can also fade the color a bit with overuse. On the other hand, dye removers can remove the base colors from the fabric, they can’t do much about the stains.
- How can I Undye fabric?
Take the cloth you want to remove dye from and then rub it with a white cloth using hair spray, stain remover, alcohol, or any solvent containing 90% alcohol. The dye will transfer from your fabric to the white cloth with repeated rubbing. When finished, wash your cloth with warm water to remove the residual colors.
Final Verdict
RIT color remover vs bleach, none of them is superior to one other. Think and follow the procedures carefully when working with both of them. For the best results, try using a corner of the fabric with the chemicals to see how it works, and then do the rest if you are satisfied with the outcome.
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