How to bleach white clothing

March 24, 2018 11:58 AM

What is the best way to bleach white clothing to get it as white as possible?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

Use bluing.
posted by cabingirl at 12:00 PM on March 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

It depends on the fiber content ... for 100% cotton, there's nothing like chlorine bleach and a bluing rinse...

cabingirl, jinx!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 12:02 PM on March 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've had good luck with letting soiled cottons soak in Oxyclean (use warm/hot water to dissolve the Oxyclean) - overnight, 6+ hours - and then washing as normal.

Then either air-dry to be on the safe side, or if you need to put it in the dryer, look it over well to be sure it's as white as you want before drying, since heat-drying can set stains.

I think it also depends on the fabric and the type of stain/discoloration, e.g. you're not supposed to use Oxyclean on wool or silk.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:28 PM on March 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

After washing with bleach and hot water, put the garment out in the sunshine to dry. If you don't have a clothesline, use a bush.
posted by Carol Anne at 1:55 PM on March 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

If you are dealing with protein stains (like yellow armpit stains), chlorine bleach will actually make the yellowing worse. Soak with hydrogen peroxide or OxyClean/other oxygen bleach instead. This article has more.
posted by snowmentality at 3:07 PM on March 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

Here are some tips that look as though at least some might work.

I haven't tried any of these as I don't wear white, but I'm trying to get some white dishcloths cleaner, so I'm interested in this myself :)
posted by purplesludge at 3:18 PM on March 24, 2018

Tide powdered laundry detergent (it's generally what hotels use because it's pretty powerful) plus a generous amount of bleach, hottest and longest wash setting, make sure not to overload the washer.
Trouble/spot areas can be pre-sprayed with any bleach based cleaning solution.
Heavily soiled whites can be prewashed in oxyclean.
I love bleaching my whites so I know this works. :)
posted by OnefortheLast at 3:46 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oxyclean soak overnight or a little longer in my experience works very very well. Shockingly well. I've used this method to restore items I thought were destined for the trash bin.
posted by belau at 3:47 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

My wedding dress was vintage cotton and the color of a manila envelope when it was given to me. I soaked it in the bathtub with dishwasher detergent powder, which is a very strong detergent with a fair amount of bleach, and very hot water. The fabric was fragile, so I gently agitated it by hand. After a while (it was a long time ago, can't remember, 30 - 90 minutes), I let the water drain, rinsed several times with pretty hot water and laid it on a sheet on the lawn in the sun. To my surprise, it came out bright white.

Bleach and strong detergent can damage fabric.
Hot water makes bleach work better.
Sunshine is a bleaching agent.
Oxyclean sounds like a good idea.
Bleach is bad for the environment because chlorine.

For regular laundry, I do whites separately, 1/4 cup bleach, hot water. I do the bleach load last because my stupid front loader tends to get stinky, and doing a load of whites with bleach is the best way to clean it.
posted by theora55 at 8:08 PM on March 24, 2018

Oxyclean is remarkable. Bluing is great as a regular addition to the wash - just a drop or two. Agree that bleach is best avoided whenever possible.
posted by Miko at 10:05 AM on March 25, 2018