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My dad said I was ruining the couch by using bleach. Then my neighbor said bleach was the only way.
Found this weird old floral couch at a thrift store in Austin for $40. Had some mystery stains on the cushions. My dad told me to never use bleach on fabric, said it would eat through the threads. But my neighbor across the street insisted that a little diluted bleach is fine for cotton covers. I tried the neighbor's method on one cushion first and it worked perfectly, no damage. So which side do you guys land on for stain removal on thrift finds, bleach or no bleach?
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olivia_webb2mo ago
Test a hidden spot first. Bleach works, but it's risky.
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phoenixgonzalez2mo ago
olivia webb said "test a hidden spot first" which is smart but heres the thing nobody's bringing up. That couch is from a thrift store in Austin, so its probably been through decades of random spills and who knows what kinda mystery funk. The real question is what kind of fabric it actually is, not just "cotton." A lot of those old floral couches have a polyester blend or even some synthetic stuff that reacts totally different to bleach than real cotton. You could test a spot and it looks fine but then the whole cushion turns yellow or the dye bleeds weird because of the mix. So I'd say bleach is fine if you're sure its 100% cotton and you dilute it like crazy, but if you're guessing, stick to vinegar and baking soda first.
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