Top Tips To Keep Your Whites Whiter Than White
Have you ever searched your wardrobe to find your favourite white shirt only to discover that it is no longer brilliant white – but is turning an interesting shade of yellow? Or maybe even grey? Or does a lovely new white dress have a stain that just won’t come out in the normal wash? If you’ve ever needed some tips on washing whites – take a look here from some suggestions from the pros!
Top Tips To Keep Your Whites Whiter Than White
The Lemon Juice and Baking soda (Natron) Method For Stains
What you will need: lemon juice, baking soda and water
1. Mix the baking soda and lemon juice (or you can just use water) into a paste.
2. Rub the paste all over the discoloured area and leave for 1 to 2 hours.
3. Wash the clothing as usual then let it dry and hopefully it will be back to its original snowy white!
Lemon Juice and Salt For Stains
A slight variant on this is the following:
What you will need: lemon juice, household salt and cold water.
- Wash out the stain with cold water, then squeeze lemon juice directly onto the stain.
- Next lie the garment flat and pour salt over the lemon juice.
- Leave it to sink in for a few hours or overnight.
- When it has had a good soak brush off the salt and wash as usual.
- This should also work on sun tan lotion stains.
Soap And Water For Stains
In my experience this only works well on fresh stains. After tubing with soap it is easier for the washing machine to break down and lift the stains out of the fabric. If caught in time before the stain has dried it works well and especially on oil-based stains, including grease stains.
What you will need: Soap and cold water.
- Wet the stain and rub with hard soap (liquid soap will also work).
- Rub the fabric against itself vigorously and repeat several times.
- Wash as normal.
Ace Bleach For Stains
Ace bleach can be purchased at most supermarkets in the UK and Europe and it is suitable for most materials. It’s great for getting stubborn stains out of white clothes and works well on coffee, wine, tea, and ink. However, to be sure do test in advance on a small discreet patch.
What you will need: Ace Bleach for clothes
- Simply apply the liquid bleach to the stain and leave for up to an hour.
- Now, wash as usual and leave to dry.
- If you have a really entrenched stain, you may need to repeat this process several times. However I have used it over the years on super stubborn stains and (almost) always got them out – though sometimes I have had to leave for quite a few hours.
- Ace is an oxidising laundry stain remover. The only thing that you need to be careful of, is that although the bleach is suitable for clothing, repeated use can weaken the fibres (especially cotton) and fade the colour on cottons. It works by breaking down the chemical bonds in the stain molecule, making it colourless. However, if it’s the case of throwing away a garment, or getting the stain our albeit weakening the fibres, it means that you still get some wear out of it.
Dr Beckmann Enzyme Based Stain Removers
I prefer not to use these as they are so specific. However, Enzyme laundry stain removers work by breaking down each stain into manageable components and work well on blood and chocolate. After using the stain remover you launder as usual.
Sunshine To Brighten Whites
Another trick for a fading white blouse, shirt or dress is to wash it and then leave it to dry in direct sunlight. This can help lift the colour and brighten it .
Whitener Sachets for White Washes
You can also purchase little sachets of “white wash brighteners in the supermarket and they do help brighten your whites. You simply pop them in the washing machine along with your detergent.
Always Wash White Clothes On Their Own
One of the simplest things to do when washing white clothes is to ALWAYS wash white clothes with other whites and never with any coloured clothes.
We hope you found these tips useful.
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