My sheets are a little blue :(

September 7, 2015 3:20 AM

I washed a white cotton beadspread (IKEA Indira) with some sort of stain remover for whites. It turned it a gently glowing bluish white. I would like it to be the original colour, a pleasant creamy white. I have washed it since this happened and it's still glowing with an alien light.

I assume there were optical brighteners in the stain remover, and I won't be using it again. Will the pale blue eventually wash out? Or is this some sort of Nightvale type scenario where I'll have to live with my bedspread having a gentle blue glow forever?

posted by Acheman to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

Best answer: Yes, that sounds like optical brighteners to me. They're commonly added to detergents, but they do wash out. A bit of Googling tells me that hunters are paranoid about UV-showing clothes, and that they have both kitchen chemistry and commercial products that are supposed to get rid of it. Dyers and fabric hobbyists, though, think that optical brighteners wash out, or can be bleached out (make sure the bleach doesn't have brighteners in it!), and that sunlight tends to make them less effective over time.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:23 AM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Most laundry detergents have optical brighteners in them, so you may be prolonging the agony. Try washing it in a detergent meant for dark colors.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:21 AM on September 7, 2015