To refuse to buy bleach?

Since when has bleach wrecked toilet pipes? I still have an original 40 year old bathroom in my house which gets bleached every week, pipes are completely fine. No plumber has ever told me not to use bleach.

white vinegar. For all of them.

Well it's not just natural cleaning products. Literally every.single.thing. is a chemical. H2O is one of my favourite chemicals... I voted YABU simply because of the phrase "high level of chemicals" - but it's one of my pet peeves.

Even 100% natural still contains chemicals, because absolutely everything is composed entirely of chemicals. Nothing is chemical free, and 'natural' isn't always better.

Finally someone not taken in by the "oh I only use eco products man"...it's like the new cif ad which says it can clean yellow and round things....not a mention of actually killing germs. You know those little bugs that actually kill humans.
bleach also gets my white shirts white, not a dull yellow.

The only reason I don’t buy bleach is because unless you are VERY careful with it then well… things get bleached. Bath mats, towels, washing lying on the floor. Just a little drop accidentally spilt and an item is ruined and I am speaking from experience. The only person who uses bleach in my home is me because I’m the only one who is careful enough with it 🤬

I have no issue with bleach for certain jobs, but clearly you do. If it's a hill you're both prepared to die on then so be it. You need a new cleaner and she needs a new job.

Get yourself a ToucanEco (or one of the copycats - just make sure it does what it claims) and make up a batch of your own cleaner. It smells like a weak bleach due to the salt added and if you stick a label on the bottle saying bleach and tell her it’s a house-safe formula, you may get away with it!

And yes, it really works.

Pass an electric current through slightly salty water and you get a powerful disinfectant. Larger commercial units are used by places such as prisons around the world, places where you may not want to have bottles of bleach lying around in case the wrong person gets hold of it but you absolutely do need to get things clean.

The cleaner is temporary, if left for a week or so it reverts back to salty water, so you need to make up a batch regularly.

https://toucaneco.co.uk/household/

Citric acid is good

I can’t believe the posters saying she just needs to use elbow grease! She’s not cleaning her own house, she’s cleaning several all day long! Why would you/ should she make her job harder than necessary?
There are many things bleach deals with quickly.
If you have such an issue with it look for a cleaner who’s happy to only use natural products.

Used eco-over toilet cleaner multiple times and personally it’s one of my favourites but I do also use normal bleach
your house your rules

Well you are entitled to say you won't but bleach. She's entitled to say she feels she needs bleach to do the job the way she wants to do it.

I suppose it's a who blinks first scenario.

Clean it yourself

I don't like bleach, don't like the smell, the damage to fabrics etc from accidental splashes, and potential environmental unfriendliness. Also, limescale is a problem in my area, and bleach doesn't remove it, it just bleaches it! I prefer eco limescale removers for the toilet and sinks, and diluted disinfectant for the hard. floors. I have this disagreement with my partner who likes the smell, isn't used to hard water, and thinks bleach is the only thing that cleans germs on floors.
I had a cleaner years ago who insisted on me buying the disposable 'fluffy dusters ' and it used to really grate... but she wasn't doing a great job tbh. I also had a childminder who wouldn't take on my son using cloth nappies, so that was a deal breaker for me at the time.
In your situation I would say you really don't like ibleach (smell, danger, horror story) and maybe you could accept her cleaning standards being slightly lower in the areas she would normally use it in. And if you are in a hard water area make sure you have something which tackles limescale!

When I worked as a cleaner many, many years ago the company I worked for had a policy of not using bleach because it is a hazardous substance.
We were employed in various business premises.
Some clients weren't happy about this policy and would actually buy bleach themselves and try and get us to use it. So it was a bone of contention even back then.

I can’t use the typical bleach I used to use because I developed an allergy to it.

However, it’s just the fumes - I can still use toilet bleach.

Are you stating that you won’t even buy toilet bleach??

Small squirt Bleach every other day at least. Deeper clean with cif and a rubber glove

it doesn't unless you have really old lead or copper pipes.

Can you find out what specifically she needs it for!? I use the bower collective pine toilet cleaner and their limescale remover and much prefer both to bleach and viakal. Their glass cleaner is great too.
I also think Method is a good in between, as slightly more eco friendly but still strong scents and probably not as eco as they make out.
I don't use bleach and I run air bnbs, there's no need really, it's a disinfectant so not actually a very good "cleaner", I find specific products like limescale remover, toilet cleaners and surface sprays much gentler and better for actual dirt. Bleach I occasionally use for stains on sheets but that's all.

I think the final straw for me came when one day I was bent down slightly with the toilet brush scrubbing trying to get under the rim etc when I accidentally pulled the brush back and got flicked / showered with a face full of toilet water droplets including on the lips. Yeah. That was it for me.

I don't like the thought of a toilet brush either but how on earth do you clean your toilet then (unless you use bleach)? I'd genuinely want to know.

This.

Toilet brush. Good lord. I chucked mine in the 90’s when it suddenly occurred to me that I was sitting multiple times a day right next to flakes of the rest of the family’s turds. Foulest things ever.