White things have always been and are relevant, fashionable and are a symbol of youth, freshness, and lightness. However, such clothes are influenced by external factors more often than colored ones. This includes all kinds of pollution, constant washing, and just a long stay in the closet without any action. Therefore, the question of how to wash white linen remains relevant. Let's figure out what needs to be done to make white clothes shine with cleanliness.
Rules for washing white clothes
There are several basic rules that must be followed to ensure that the products remain fresh and remain white for as long as possible.
Sort your laundry. Before loading laundry into the washing machine, separate white items from colored items. If this is not done, as a result, traces of colored fabrics may remain on white clothes, which will completely ruin them.
Maintain the correct temperature. In addition to the fact that the laundry is sorted by color, it must also be distributed by type of fabric. So cotton, silk, synthetic and wool products need different temperature conditions. It is usually indicated on the label. For example, fabrics containing synthetic fibers cannot be washed in water above 30 degrees and boiled. If you ignore this rule, you will only speed up the aging process of white things.
Set the correct washing mode. Sometimes hand washing does not give the same effect as machine washing. Therefore, after loading things into the washing machine, you need to accurately set the washing mode for a certain type of fabric.
Soak your laundry. The soaking method is used for heavy soiling, certain types of stains and yellowed items. This is done like this: a basin is filled with water, washing powder, bleach or stain remover is added, where the clothes are immersed for 5 hours. Then you need to take it out and wash it as usual.
Soften the water. Most of us have hard water running through our pipes. In order for washing to bring the desired result, the water must be softened. “Domol” or “Calgon” is added to the machine. If you wash by hand, pour baking soda into the basin at the rate of 3 tbsp. l. for 10 liters of water.
Use bleach. White items should be washed with special tablets or bleaching gels, which are placed directly into the drum with the items. It is important to note that each type of fabric has its own bleach.
If you don’t have a purchased product at hand, you can use improvised materials. For example, add 5 tbsp to a container with water at 30 degrees. l. hydrogen peroxide. Soak the laundry in the liquid. After a couple of hours, rinse thoroughly.
Boil your laundry. Linen and cotton fabrics can be boiled. This method will cope with yellowness and gray tints on wardrobe items. The process looks like this:
- pour 10 liters of water into the pan;
- add 10 g of white;
- add 10 g of powder with a whitening effect;
- place the washed product in a container with the prepared liquid and boil for 20 minutes;
- then remove the clothes and rinse.
If once wasn't enough. Boiling can be repeated.
Tips for caring for white sweaters
To ensure that your woolen items always look clean and tidy, you can take note of the following recommendations:
- If your wool items have turned yellow, you can boil them in a soapy solution. Laundry soap is perfect for this. Then the clothes will need to be rinsed; this is done in several stages with a gradual decrease in the water temperature. In this case, during the last rinse in cool water, add a little vinegar to it.
- Ammonia-based ammonia can also bleach woolen items. It is used in a similar way to soda.
- It is advisable to wash wool with powders specially designed for this purpose, which can be purchased at any hardware store.
- Sometimes it is not the product itself that needs to be bleached, but only the yarn. To do this, immerse the yarn in water, rub laundry soap into it, and boil the solution for an hour. After this, rinse in warm water, where vinegar is added to the water at the last stage. Vinegar is necessary to make the coat more lush and silky.
As you can see, there are no particular difficulties in bleaching woolen items at home; all methods are quite trivial and simple. Moreover, if you decide to use household chemicals, which work faster and, in some cases, more efficiently than folk remedies, try to strictly follow the instructions on the packaging.
Another interesting article on a similar topic: How to wash a hat.
Simple household chemicals for white fabric
Currently, it is impossible to do without household chemicals. And if the harmlessness of the product and the price do not play an important role for you, you can use such drugs.
Whiteness . You should not overuse this aggressive drug, otherwise there is a risk of ruining your clothes. Sometimes, to remove yellowness and grayness, Whiteness is added directly to the drum of the washing machine.
Domestos . If you carefully read the instructions for the product, you will read that the product is used for soaking laundry. It can also be added directly to the washing machine.
Dishwashing liquid . White things, after contact with the skin, absorb fat and sweat, after which they turn yellow. To cope with such stains when washing, add a little detergent to the powder compartment.
Rules of care
In order for white items to last a long time, you need to know the basic rules of care:
- wash and remove stains from white linen in a timely manner, send for storage only in clean form;
- Yellow stains often appear on folded items; it is better to store clothes on hangers;
- Washing for white laundry is not enough; to prevent the item from turning gray, it is periodically bleached;
- Before washing white in the machine, you should rinse it by running the “Rinse” mode;
- White items do not like long-term storage (they turn yellow for no reason), they need to be worn.
Traditional washing methods
Today, the shelves of household stores are overflowing with various detergents for washing clothes. But it is worth saying that some people may be allergic to them. Therefore, in order not to cause harm to health, we advise you to return whiteness to things using traditional methods.
Boric acid. This product also has disinfectant properties. It should be used as follows: add boric acid to a container of water at the rate of 2 tbsp per 3 liters of liquid. l. medical drug. The laundry is soaked in the solution for about half an hour, and if there is heavy soiling, the time increases.
Also, clothes are rinsed in a boric acid solution after washing. After which the rinsing is repeated in clean water.
Soap + potassium permanganate. Prepare a solution of potassium permanganate (sprinkle 2 tablespoons of potassium permanganate onto 10 liters of water). Take the product that needs cleaning, wet it, thoroughly soap it with laundry soap and place it in the prepared solution. After 3 hours, wash your clothes.
Ammonia. Ammonia is an aggressive agent, so it should not be used often. But if you still decide to get rid of old stains or yellowness with the help of this pharmaceutical drug, you need to use it in this way:
- Pour 5 liters of hot water (40-70 degrees) into a basin, add 2 tbsp. l. ammonia and the same amount of hydrogen peroxide. Place the laundry in the liquid and leave to soak for half an hour. Then wash it as usual.
- Pour 6 tbsp into a 5-liter container of hot water. l. soda or salt and pour in 2 tbsp. l. ammonia. Stir well. Place items in the solution for 30 minutes, then wash them.
How to bleach a yellowed white blouse, get rid of marks under the arms
Yellowness does not appear throughout the entire product; color changes occur in certain places, so it is enough to limit the treatment to problem areas.
The most common areas of yellowing are the armpits, sleeve cuffs, and collars of blouses and shirts.
Several remedies will help to qualitatively eliminate yellowness:
- Lemon will solve the problem in minutes. Rub the problem area generously with a fresh cut and rinse.
- Soda solution is used to clean synthetic fabrics. It is applied directly to problem areas using a cotton swab.
- Alcohol will easily remove unattractive marks on silk. Wipe the product with a cotton pad until the stain disappears completely.
How to restore whiteness to a white bra without boiling, reviews and videos
The result must be secured by washing as usual.
Advice! You should not wash away yellow marks in hot water, this will only complicate the stain removal.
Eliminate yellowness and grayness
No matter how much your favorite white shirt or blouse costs, over time it can turn yellow or grayish in color. You can return things to their original condition using proven folk recipes.
Persalt + washing powder. Mix washing powder - 200 grams and persalt - 2 tablespoons. The resulting mixture is poured into a container with water for hand washing or into the powder compartment of a washing machine. The water should be 95 degrees.
Salt + hydrogen peroxide + alcohol. The method is suitable for silk and woolen items. The ingredients will be needed in the following proportions:
- salt – 9 tbsp. l.;
- hydrogen peroxide – 3 tbsp. l.;
- alcohol – 3 tbsp. l.;
- hot water – 10 l.
Soak clothes in the resulting solution for about 5 hours. Then wash it as usual.
Laundry soap. Dip the product in cold water, take it out, soap it with plain soap and leave it for a couple of hours. After the specified time has passed, wring out the clothes and wash them in water at 40 degrees.
Starch. Dissolve 2 tbsp in 5 liters of water. l. potato product. You need to rinse things in the resulting solution.
Is it possible to bleach washed clothes?
Did your formal trousers or knitted blouse stain neighboring items in the washing machine or fade after washing? Did multiple treatments have a negative impact? Don’t despair, try to restore your clothes with the help of popular advice.
Rules for choosing a machine wash mode
A simple way to restore freshness and color to things is to wash them again. It is effective when an item has taken on colors from another item. Repeat washing on a mode with a temperature range from 40 to 60 degrees. It is recommended to add 2 times more powder than indicated on the package.
It is important to choose the right type of detergent. Advertising for environmentally friendly products is silent about their insufficient power. When choosing, pay attention to the composition. If it contains bleaching components, then the option is optimal for white and light-colored clothes. Washing with ordinary powders will not remove yellowness or remove the washed-out appearance, but they are well suited for colored items.
Be sure to observe the temperature conditions for different types of fabrics:
- synthetics – +60 0 C;
- delicate materials, wool – +40 0 C;
- linen, cotton items – +95 0 C.
Handwash
The main task when working with washed items is to revive them without spoiling them even more.
To restore the cleanliness of the laundry, it is necessary to pre-soak it. Fill a container with warm water and add the powder. For snow-white items, you can add a little bleach to the solution. Soaking lasts 4-5 hours.
Bleaching should be carried out strictly after testing the selected product on an inconspicuous area - the bottom edge on the back side is perfect.
Boiling efficiency
An effective home method for washing soiled and washed items is boiling. Using high temperature water, you can achieve an amazing cleansing effect. Items made of linen and cotton are allowed to boil.
Soda ash and laundry soap will help whiten white items of clothing. You need to combine the components in a 1:1 ratio, place them in water instead of powder. In critical cases, stir 1 tsp. bleach per 1 liter of water, then leave and pour into boiling water. The product can ruin delicate fabric!