Taking care of white clothes : 15 tricks to whiten them when dirty

 

Check out this related post on removing 4 types of stains from white clothes. 

 3. Sort clothes before washing

Separate clothes before the wash – this is common sense, but as you can see from the photo above, many times this is bypassed. I have an unattractive turquoise patch on my pure white camisole.

Do not wash white clothes with any other color. If there is any dye floating around it will find your white fabric. So wash whites with only whites. This is a golden rule for washing white clothes.

If the white garment has a bright trim or colorful embroidery keep it separate. It is NOT white. That  trim may bleed into other clothing.

If you want to wash everything together, atleast ensure that there are no new clothes in the bin together. New clothes usually have unsettled dye and that is sure to latch on to your white clothing. 

 4. Spray stain repellant

You can use a product like the Scotch guard on clothes you really want to keep as white as it was when bought them. The product is a stain and durable water repellent applied to fabric, furniture, and carpets to protect them from stains

 5. Wash your white clothes properly

The steps to wash your white clothes should be as follows

1. 1. Sort your white clothes from the rest of the laundry pile. Only white clothes.

1. 1. Soak it in your washing machine with the detergent diluted and added. (for about 1 or 2 hours if really dirty).

1. 1. If you feel that it needs some more brightness you can add a natural laundry booster to the wash like lime juice or borax or washing soda.

1. 1. Wash as usual. 

1. 1. Dry in good sunlight; But do not leave out for more than necessary after it is dry

If your white clothing has protein stains (blood, egg etc) do not wash with hot water.

 6. Rinse thoroughly 

Remove all traces of detergent from white clothes by rinsing thoroughly in clean softened water. If traces of detergent and or fabric softener remains in the garment there is a chance of your cloth appearing yellow overtime. Rinse till your rinse water is really transparent and clear, which is the sign. 

 7. Clean washing machine

Clean your washing machine insides often, especially the lint screen. The residues of dirt and lint from previous washings can settle on your pure white and make it look dingy.

Lint usually settles on dark colored clothes, but lint can dull the shine of white.

 8. Wear makeup early

Do not put on cosmetics after you have put your white clothes on. Even fragrances can mark white clothes

 9. Use clean water for washing

If you live in an area with not-so-clear water, get it clear first before laundering whites. Some places have yellow or red water ( with iron and minerals) which will stain clothes. 

 10. Use guards

If you know you sweat a lot, wear a protective clothing like a slip inside your white garment so that the sweat would not directly fall on the fabric.

There are collar guards to prevent sweat marks and consequent yellow stains on collars of shirts.

 11. Spot clean stains before wash

If you notice stains on white clothes deal with them immediately. You can use a spot of dishwashing detergent or mild shampoo on delicate clothes to spot clean. Use a soft toothbrush for a rub, especially on collar stains like the one above. Do not use harsh brushes as they will damage cloth fibers.

 12. Iron carefully

As is evident from the picture above, the tshirt is useless now because of careless ironing. The embossed print has spread because I didn’t use a press cloth nor ironed from the back. Need I say more.

Be careful of trims/ paints / prints in white clothes. 

4 tricks to whiten white clothes

 Method 1.  Use detergent powders with optical brighteners

Optical brighteners (Flourescers) are small laundry brightening particles that help in keeping your white clothes white as white or even better.Read more about it here

They absorb ultraviolet light and re-emit blue light making your clothes look brighter. Infact it is said that manufacturers add this to the white fabric which is why they look so bright when you buy them but when you wash they are washed away. You will simply have to restore them with this method.

This detergent with optical brighteners is the best washing powder for keeping white clothes appear whiter.

 Method 2. Using laundry blue

If you like the blue-white look for your white clothes you can choose this method. The blue is a liquid ( can be powder too) added to the final rinse water. A drop is enough to give your clothes that bright look. You will have to ensure that the liquid is completely diluted.

 Method 3. Home made remedies

Use 1/4 cup of vinegar or sieved lemon juice in the last rinse; this can make white clothes slightly bleached naturally and will remove the small stains. 

 Method 4. Using Bleach on white clothes

White clothes can regain their white shine with some bleaching.Infact you can use bleach once a month or so to regularly washed clothes for an extra shine.

But Bleaching is not for all clothes. Infact bleaching can cause yellowing if done incorrectly and inappropriately.

In fact It is better not to use Chlorine Bleach on any other fabric than 100% cotton; especially not on silk wool or spandex. If you do, the item can turn yellow, which is a true blue horror story for white fabric.

( Most clothes that you thought were cotton may well be a blend of synthetic fibers, which is why reading the fabric care label is a good idea).

Another white clothing you should not use bleach on is, if it has any stitching in any other color than white like embroidery or top stitching.

A somewhat safe bleach on white fabrics for stubborn stains is a mixture of equal parts of Oxygen bleach and ammonia. Oxygen bleach alone can do the job very well.

Tackle greying and yellowing of white clothes

How to Prevent General yellowing of white clothes

Usually, this is caused by not rinsing the detergent properly from clothes and then storing them for a long time in humid wardrobes. Over bleaching, under rinsing of alkaline soaps, the deposit of lime and then due to over washing stripping the white fabric of brighteners are other reasons. 

Rinse the clothing after washing, thoroughly. Rinse enough to remove all traces of detergent and fabric softeners from the garment.

If you have been storing a white clothing for a long time, get it out in the sun every often. The sun is a natural bleach and will prevent yellowing to a degree. But that does not mean that you should keep it long in the sun. Overexposure to sunlight can also cause yellowing

A cup of vinegar or a commercial laundry brightener (without bleach) added to the first rinse can brighten your white clothes and remove yellowing to a degree.

Household blue (Blueing liquid or powder) used in the final rinse water can prevent yellowness in white clothes. Dissolve the blue thoroughly in rinse water, otherwise, it may form  streaks on the fabric.

How to prevent and remove greying of white clothes

Going grey or a sickly beige – This is one of the most dreadful things that can happen to a white fabric. 

With dry-wash-only clothes, this happens because of incorrect drycleaning. This is why you must give your precious clothes only to a reputable dry cleaner.

If this discoloration has happened to a washable cloth, it maybe because you have not rinsed all the detergent properly.

To remove the greying shade try to soak the garment in a solution of baking soda and peroxide in water for about one hour and then rinse thoroughly. This can remove that sickly dingy look from your white garments.

Do not think I am trying to spook you out with this horror picture but this is how my kid’s socks look after a day of school. Me thinks, she tried to clean the floor with it and succeeded.

I do not know why schools insist on white uniforms and white socks. Maybe I know, because nothing can look more elegant than white garments but it is killing my laundry schedule to keep it looking pristine.

Maybe I should follow my own advice or buy more of those socks. So the final tip is to try only so much; if it is beyond whiteness, discard!

Do not clutter up wardrobe space with drab looking clothes which were once white. You can only do so much.

Reference : boston.com

 

A stain sighting on your white garment is a bummer! (for want of another word to say what you feel when your favorite white jeans get this sickly yellow stain from those delicious Nachos you gobbled up  in the dark at the movies)

A more intense adjective may come to your mind if the garment in question is your favorite party gown in lily-white, wouldn’t it?. Stains bring out strong emotions.

After you are over the devastated feeling, the next step is looking for ways to remove the stain. What is the best stain remover for white clothes? Well, it depends on what the stain is and what fabric the garment is made of.

Getting most stains out of white clothes is not much of a problem if you know the right methods.

 

Stains on white clothes ? First prevent them.

The best way is to prevent those stains of course. Ensure that you do not get your white garment in contact with makeup, sweat, grease, fragrances, food, beverages etc.

Tackling simple stains in white clothes depends a lot on the care labels of your white clothing. If it says dry clean only you will not be able to use any of the home remedies mentioned here. Pack it off to the dry cleaners and hope for the best. Go to a reputed one with good reviews. They usually have the perfect solution for you.

Related post : Learn to read the Fabric care labels.

Removing stains from white clothes

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Washing white clothes after every wear is recommended because some stains may not be visible to you at first glance. But after wearing it once, next time if you decide to wear it again after a nice press with a hot iron, the heat will somehow pronounce the stain and make it permanent.

You can try to increase the amount of detergent in the wash as a simple but effective remedy and use hot water if the care label of the garment says this is allowed.

Small faint stains can be removed at the washing stage itself by adding laundry boosters to the washing cycle; vinegar, lemon juice, borax, washing soda etc serve as laundry boosters that will fade these stains.

Bleaching is usually the most popular way to remove stubborn stains from white clothes – but then it also depends on the fabric.

Cotton takes bleaching beautifully well but you cannot successfully bleach synthetic fabrics. You cannot use bleach on your favorite silk or wool garments. Your spandex blend garments should also not be bleached. You also cannot bleach white clothes with colored stitching/trims/embroidery etc. With the synthetic fabrics, you can try any non-bleach stain removers available in the market

If using bleach, you should be using oxygen bleach rather than the chlorine bleach for reasons of concern for the fabric as well as the environment. Soaking the fabric in oxygen bleach solution for some time usually does the trick.

There are stain sticks available in shops which work as instant stain removers. They act almost instantly and eliminates most fresh food and drink stains like fruit juices, ketchup, coffee etc on the spot. They do not work as effectively on ink, blood-stains, grease, grass or mud stains, though. 

Yellow is a beautiful color but not on my favorite shirt!

These yellow stains are usually seen around collars and they are mostly due to the deposit of body oils mixed with sweat. It just about fixes itself to the clothes and looks downright disgusting.

Ring around the collar on white shirts is caused by sweat and dirt and because the collar sits close to your neck it sticks. So the best way to prevent this is to keep your neck clean. You can use a collar guard to completely prevent this.

If all these did not do the trick, Reconcile yourself to the fact that some rings never go away completely.

These appear as yellow or brown colored stains. This appears because of iron and magnesium content in the water coming out of the pipes.

Do not use Regular bleach to remove rust stains. It will only increase the discoloration. You will have to use a rust remover on the stains to remove them.

To prevent the rust content in the water use a water softener or an iron filter. To prevent rust stains let the water run a bit removing the collected rust in pipes before the first use.

Your antiperspirants may have a hand in the underarm stains on white garments – especially those with aluminum chloride. Mixed with sweat, body oils deodorants you use can leave a dirty yellow stain.

If over sweating is an issue you may wish to tackle this at source by eating less greasy food and drinking more water to make your sweat less staining and even avoiding sweaty places. Wear protective clothing between the white clothing and the underarms. Wash white clothes after every wear to prevent the underarm stain from being permanent.