Bleach composition

A stable thickened aqueous bleach composition comprising

• (a) an alkali metal hypochlorite, in an amount sufficient to provide 1 to 14% by weight of available chlorine
• (b) one or more carboxylated surfactants of formula I
• RO--CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O].sub.n R.sub.1 --COO.sup..crclbar. A.sup..sym.I
• in which
• R is a straight chain C.sub.6-20 alkyl, phenyl, a straight or branched chain C.sub.7-30 alkaryl or a straight or branched chain C.sub.7-30 aralkyl, unsubstituted or substituted with substituents unreactive to hypochlorite,
• R.sub.1 is C.sub.1-4 alkylene,
• A.sup.+ is hydrogen ion, an alkali metal cation, or an equivalently charged amount of an alkaline earth metal cation and n is 0.5 to 45, in a total amount of 1.4 to 3.1% by weight of the composition, and
• (c) from 4 to 25% of sodium chloride by weight of the total bleach composition, with the proviso that n is a number such that the hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) is herein defined or the molar average HLB in the case of a mixture of surfactants of formula I is in the range of 10 to 20.

A stable thickened aqueous bleach composition comprising

• (a) an alkali metal hypochlorite, in an amount sufficient to provide 1 to 14% by weight of available chlorine.
• (b) one or more carboxylated surfactants of formula I
• RO--CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O].sub.n R.sub.1 --COO.sup..crclbar. A.sup..sym.I
• in which
• R is a straight chain C.sub.6-20 alkyl, phenyl, a straight or branched chain C.sub.7-30 alkaryl or a straight or branched chain C.sub.7-30 aralkyl, unsubstituted or substituted with substituents unreactive to hypochlorite,
• R.sub.1 is C.sub.1-4 alkylene,
• A.sup..sym. is hydrogen ion, an alkali metal cation, or an equivalently charged amount of an alkaline earth metal cation and n is 0.5 to 45, and
• (c) from 7 to 25% of sodium chloride by weight of the total bleach composition, with the proviso that n is a number such that the molar percentage (E) of ethylene oxide in the group RO--CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O)].sub.n, or the average E in the case of a mixture of surfactants of formula I, is from 20% to 80%, and the value of n is given by the formula ##EQU3## where M is the molecular weight of the group RO--.

A stable thickened aqueous bleach composition comprising

• (a) an alkali metal hypochlorite, in an amount sufficient to provide 1 to 14% by weight of available chlorine,
• (b) one or more carboxylated surfactants of formula I
• RO--CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O].sub.n R.sub.1 --COO.sup..crclbar. A.sup..sym.I
• in which
• R is a straight chain C.sub.6-20 alkyl, phenyl, a straight or branched chain C.sub.7-30 alkaryl or a straight or branched chain C.sub.7-30 aralkyl, unsubstituted or substituted with substituents unreactive to hypochlorite,
• R.sub.1 is C.sub.1-4 alkylene,
• A.sup.+ is hydrogen ion, an alkali metal cation, or an equivalently charged amount of an alkaline earth metal cation and n is 0.5 to 45, and
• (c) from 7 to 25% of sodium chloride by weight of the total bleach composition, with the proviso that n is a number such that the hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) as herein defined or the molar average HLB in the case of a mixture of surfactants of formula I is in the range of 10 to 20.