Dunked in a barrel of bleach water

[frankiebrown]

So I understand that being dunked in a barrel of bleach water would be highly dangerous and uncomfortable (red skin, burning, rashes). But what would it do your hair? Would that have basically the same effect as bleaching your hair blonde? Or would it make your hair fall out? Make it dry and brittle?

Thanks for any feedback

[neilfriske]

if it was pure bleach it would hurt like a bitch and your hair would go blonde. I don't think it would fall out.

[waylander]

It depends - you knew I was going to say that didn't you?
Depends on how strong the bleach is, how long the subject is in the bleach and whether they get to rinse it off soon after. Is this industrial or domestic bleach?

[frankiebrown]

Originally Posted by neilfriske

if it was pure bleach it would hurt like a bitch and your hair would go blonde. I don't think it would fall out.

No, not pure bleach.

Originally Posted by waylander

It depends - you knew I was going to say that didn't you?

It always depends, lol

Originally Posted by waylander

Depends on how strong the bleach is, how long the subject is in the bleach and whether they get to rinse it off soon after. Is this industrial or domestic bleach?

Let's say domestic bleach, reasonably strong (strong enough to cause an incredibly strong chemically smell and strong enough to give you a rash) but not strong enough to kill you. Think heavy-duty disinfectant. The character's in the water for about a minute total, completely submerged for approx. twenty seconds.

[jclarkdawe]

Clorox recommends a ration of 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon of water, or a ration of 1 part bleach to 256 parts water for disinfecting. When cleaning stock tanks, I dump a gallon of bleach into 125 gallons of water, or a ration of 1:125. Usually clean the sides of the tank and bottom by sticking a sponge into the water with my hand and swirling it against the sides and bottom. I end up smelling of bleach, prefer not to splash myself, notice sort of a greasy feel to the water, but other then that, no harm, no foul.

If you're talking a standard barrel, you're talking 55 gallons. (Sixty if you stuff it to the brim.) If you dump a gallon in, this is about double what I work with or four and a half times Clorox's recommendation. Might turn your hair white but probably not, will feel a bit funky, will stink a lot, but probably not that harmful.

Here's the Material Safety Data Sheet for Clorox bleach. It's a PDF file that will download onto your computer. Even a 100% mix seems to only cause minor irritation.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

[frankiebrown]

Originally Posted by jclarkdawe

Clorox recommends a ration of 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon of water, or a ration of 1 part bleach to 256 parts water for disinfecting. When cleaning stock tanks, I dump a gallon of bleach into 125 gallons of water, or a ration of 1:125. Usually clean the sides of the tank and bottom by sticking a sponge into the water with my hand and swirling it against the sides and bottom. I end up smelling of bleach, prefer not to splash myself, notice sort of a greasy feel to the water, but other then that, no harm, no foul.

If you're talking a standard barrel, you're talking 55 gallons. (Sixty if you stuff it to the brim.) If you dump a gallon in, this is about double what I work with or four and a half times Clorox's recommendation. Might turn your hair white but probably not, will feel a bit funky, will stink a lot, but probably not that harmful.

Here's the Material Safety Data Sheet for Clorox bleach. It's a PDF file that will download onto your computer. Even a 100% mix seems to only cause minor irritation.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Superbly helpful, as always, jclark. Thanks so much.

[King Neptune]

In times past I worked in a yarn dye house, and there were a variety of nasty substances around, but there was no chlorine bleaso I can't speak to that, but ammonia and lye were used for bleaching, and either will kill. Touching some was no problem, but one day someone spilled some amonia and passed out for the fumes. No one ever put a hand into a vat of boiling lye solution that bleached the excess dye from equipment. If you are setting it in an industrial setting, the you might want to change the chemical.

[debirlfan]

When my father had a serious infection, they soaked his leg in the whirlpool in Dakin's solution - which is basically diluted bleach. (and yes, it works.)

[sunandshadow]

If the character's eyes and nostrils get in the bleach that seems like it would be a much bigger problem than the hair.

I've bleached my hair and it took 10 minutes to go pale yellow with a mix of bleach strong enough to cause eye damage if one were clutzy enough to get it in their eye and not rinse it immediately.

[waylander]

I'd be worried about eyes, nostrils and other mucous membranes.

[StormChord]

The hair would go blonde and maybe become more brittle, but it won't all fall out. Their eyes would be more worrying. They'd probably go blind if any of the solution got in their eyes - the eyes would at least be damaged, and they'd have difficulty seeing clearly for a while.

[WeaselFire]

Duration?

I use straight bleach from the bottle for cleaning infections and drying up poison ivy. No lasting effect on skin, no burning, rash, etc. I have worked with barrels of disinfecting bleach solutions, arms fully submerged, with no change to skin of feeling.

Stings in the eyes, smells and is hell on my jeans, but no real medical effects.

Jeff