Get my whites back to whiter than white!

August 8, 2006 7:25 AM

A treasured white T-shirt (with logo) has gone from bright white to dull blue thanks to an errant blue T-shirt...

We've tried using Rescue It, but that has merely mutated the dull blue into a dull grey.

Do you have any ideas how to rescue my T-shirt? :)

(PS: I'm in the UK so references to most US cleaning products are alas useless to me!)

posted by badlydubbedboy to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Best answer: Bleach maybe?
posted by magodesky at 7:38 AM on August 8, 2006

How old is the t-shirt? I'm not sure if this is available in the UK, but Rit dye's White Wash or Whitener and Brightener might be helpful. (It's also available to buy on their website, if you have faith it'd work.)
posted by itchie at 7:58 AM on August 8, 2006

More to the point is Rit Dye Color Remover:: "specially formulated to remove dye stains from whites washed by mistake with colored items."
posted by ottereroticist at 8:01 AM on August 8, 2006

I second Rit Dye Color Remover. I gave some to my girlfriend in England and she was floored when it worked on a white ramones shirt that turned orange in the wash.
posted by parmanparman at 9:54 AM on August 8, 2006

Rit comes in small light packages. It should be inexpensive to mail if it's not available in the UK (I'll volunteer if you don't have anyone else).
posted by winston at 11:33 AM on August 8, 2006

If nothing else, one could claim to have attempted the old whitening technique using the substance called "bluing", where a slight blue tint was added to white laundry to fool the eye into thinking it white rather than dull beige.
posted by Sallyfur at 7:32 PM on August 8, 2006