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Is It True That People can Use Urine for Bleaching?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Historically, urine has had a number of uses, and laundry is only one of them. People have used urine for bleaching and general washing, and urine has also been used in fulling, the process used to treat wool before sale. In addition to being used as a cleaner for garments, urine was also historically used in toothpastes, which may seem a bit unpleasant to the modern world.

The trick to using urine for bleaching is allowing it to stand, encouraging the development of ammonia by allowing the urine to react to the air. The resulting ammonia is the cleaning agent, rather than the urine itself. Once ammonia has developed, garments can be dipped in the urine, or small amounts of the liquid can be used to treat spots and stains. To full wool, people traditionally poured stale urine over wool in a large vat, and people walked on the wool, agitating it and allowing the urine to penetrate to clean it.

In the past, it was common for people to use urine when cleaning laundry.
In the past, it was common for people to use urine when cleaning laundry.

When laundries used urine for bleaching, it was a fairly stinky process. The urine had to be allowed to sit in vats for weeks to develop the necessary ammonia levels, and it could leave an unpleasant odor behind after it was used as a cleaner. In ancient Rome, urine was actually taxed because people considered it to be so valuable, and it was collected from various public locations for sale to laundries. Well through the Tudor era in England, urine was used for bleaching; those stiff white ruffs associated with the Tudors would not have been possible without a bit of urine.

You may not encounter a situation where people use urine for bleaching in the modern world, but the legacy of this cleaning tradition lives on in the form of many products. Many cleaners today continue to use ammonia-based products, although they are not generally derived from urine. You may even have some ammonia under your sink, in which case you may be familiar with the cleaning power of this chemical.

Historical novels set in eras when people used urine for bleaching often include a nod to this tradition, because people find it interesting and perhaps a bit morbidly fascinating. Urine was sometimes referred to as “chamber lye,” a polite euphemism referencing the cleaning power of urine and its source, the humble chamberpot. In addition to urine, people also used things like wood ash as a stain remover, harnessing the natural lye in the ash.

The ammonium in urine will actually react with real bleach, incidentally.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a HomeQuestionsAnswered researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a HomeQuestionsAnswered researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

anon65503

i have heard also of the above theory regarding urine being good for skin conditions.

anon37943

The doctor told me i had white cells in the urine. why?

anon14018

Yes, I have also heard about the urine therapy. But I think its healing property is not more than its bad effect. As it contains many toxic metabolic waste products instead of ammonia or urea, which can put its harmful effects on the body. So, it should not be used as healing agent.

anon13815

For your information, I know that people use also their urine for the Urine-Therapy, they drink their own urine first thing in the morning, they said that it is good for high pressure blood, lower cholesterol, kidney and many others.

Thank you

anon13801

Is it true that urine can be taken orally as health drink?

anon13797

Will ammonia remove pet stains in carpets?

anon13793

I had very bad acne and an elderly lady told me to take a baby's diaper and wipe my face with it! I was appalled, even after numerous others (islanders and southerners) repeated the same solution to acne!!

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    • In the past, it was common for people to use urine when cleaning laundry.
      By: Monkey Business
      In the past, it was common for people to use urine when cleaning laundry.