Bleach

Before the twentieth century, home laundry bleaching in the United States was done by the same method used by the Romans and Gauls in ancient times: clothes were first laundered in a mildly alkaline bath then subjected to sunlight. In 1910, 20 sodium hypochlorite solutions were developed and distributed regionally in the United States. By the mid-1930s these solutions had become available nationwide. In the 1950s, dry sources of hypochlorite were introduced but these products had disappeared by the late 1960s because consumers preferred liquid hypochlorites.

In Europe sodium perborate was first used as a bleaching agent in the early 1900s. The perborate dissolves during bleaching to release hydrogen peroxide. Sodium perborate continues to be used in European laundering because their laundering temperatures tend to be higher than those used in America.