A bleaching agent is any compound that bleaches the colour out of fabrics, paper, or other materials. Household bleach or sodium hypochlorite is used in the home for whitening clothes, removing stains, and disinfecting. This is because sodium hypochlorite yields chlorine radicals, oxidizing agents readily reacting with many substances.

Hair bleach on the other hand contains H₂O₂ (hydrogen peroxide), which gives off oxygen radicals as it decomposes. Oxygen and chlorine radicals both have comparable, and excessive bleaching effects.

Disadvantages of chlorine

A problem with chlorine is that it reacts with organic material to form trihalomethanes like chloroform, which is a well known carcinogen.

Chlorine is a respiratory irritant. It also attacks mucus membranes and burns the skin. As little as 3.5 ppm can be detected as an odor, and 1000 ppm is likely to be fatal after a few deep breaths. Exposure to chlorine should not exceed 0.5 ppm (8-hour time-weighted average - 40 hour week.)

Chlorine from typical CFCs like trichlorofluoromethane, which is stable, but reaches the ozone layer, is one of the two radicals formed there: the highly reactive chlorine atom, much more than the dichloromethyl radical, initiates the dreaded step in the ozone degradation chain reaction.