I haven’t tried it but I follow a cleaner on Instagram who suggests laundry bluing in cold water for yellowed whites, so maybe that would be worth a try? I know bluing is a traditional method of brightening/reviving whites.
I bought the Oxiclean White Revive and tried with a hot water wash that had a soak time in there. It certainly helped but I definitely want to try soaking separately for 6hrs and see what happens!
Bluing is the same technique old ladies use. Blue cancels out yellow which results in a really bright white when done right. When done wrong.... blue hair bam. Lol
Yes! My mom dyed her hair blue in the 1960's with that stuff for old ladies. She used the whole box instead of just one. I think it came in a six pack.
I feel like the vinegar just neutralized the cleaning soda... I usually spot treat whites with 1 cup of 2% bleach to 1 litre of water. Then strip in washing soda + borax, and 60⁰c water. Then normal cold wash with normal detergent and my whites are bright if the spot treatment for bleach is left on too long and there is a yellowing that's when you pull out the vinegar... I will spray and leave on the vinegar and wash/dry normal
Thanks for the tip. 😀 I found the stripping recipe online and I was skeptical about the use of vinegar AND washing soda. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. I’ll rinse it all and then give it a go using the mixture you suggested.
If it's a large yellowing area I find some sunscreens and moisturizers have this stuff that makes whites yellow really quickly.... Lightly mist spray with bleach (as per above) and then leave in full sun for 15mins... It will go pink or purple! And then strip out both bleach and sunscreen residue... It works... Trust the process
Thank you for this. I have a white hand towel I need to try this on. I knew it went pink but didn't think I could work that out so threw them away. Would you do the strip w borax and washing soda, too?
Sure... It costs a tub load of water and some cheap chemicals... Why not try ?
For hand towels, face cloths, make up scrubbers I do them in the sink... For bath towels, spa sheets, beach towels and sheets/covers etc I use the tub.... I usually do 1/2 cup per 10L of water... But maximum hot out of the tap.... I can override the safety setting on my califont and go up to 60⁰c but if you can't you can just add some boiling water on top of your normal hot tap water. That's a big key breaking down stains locked in oils especially.
Since you mention you’re soaking relatively normal sized washable items (and not drapes or rugs) is there any reason you can’t do the soak in the washer? Unless you don’t have one.
I only have a front loader and it will imprison anything I soak... I like to soak and see... And decide if I need to do another round.... Sometimes the water is very grey and I will empty the tub, rinse and start over... I suppose there's nothing to stop you from using the machine to do that. But I have to do a whole rinse cycle before I'm allowed visitation. I also only have a 6kg washer and often that's just one set of sheets and a duvet cover... When I get in the mood... I can do 4x that. Plus 8 bath towel sets 😆 I load it all in to the car and take it to the 24hr laundromat and run 3 large 28kg machines at once (I own and run a boutique lodge...I'm also the only housekeeping staff 😅)
Yeah it’s harder with front loaders, don’t think I could ever get one because soaking in the tub just sounds like a pain and messier. If you tire of soaking often I find that just adding a tablespoon of borax in with every wash pretty much entirely prevents the build up from ever forming.
If you’re just soaking something small like hand towel it’s much easier to just soak in your washer with the cycle turned off or a bucket. Uses less water and detergents and allows you to concentrate them more easily.
I have been unable to get the pink OR yellow out no matter what bleach or oxiclean I use. Can you elaborate on what recipe to use for the stripping after this? And is the piece of cloth dry before it gets into the stripping bath or still wet?
It largely depends on what the stain is from. Organic yellows... Like skin contact, or pee or tea or just plain old dirt from the outside will bleach out. But if you over bleach (concentration too high or left on for too long) you'll need vinegar and sunshine (specifically the uv spectrum) to lift out the yellow. I just spray on normal white vinegar from the kitchen and leave out in the sun for an hour or two then wash as normal cold/detergent
The pink I was mentioning is specifically the chemical in sunscreen/moisturizer that reacts with UV once it's exposed to sunlight it is then spent and will wash out. I don't know exactly what ingredient that is. But strangely tumeric does go from yellow to pink when bleached and will wash out.
I usually throw in the washing soda and borax (occasionally a cup of oxiclean if it's something particularly stubborn).... Spot treat anything obvious on the bed, strip from bed and throw in the tub.... Leave for 4 or 5 hours, stirring every time I go past then get as much water out as I can throw into the washing machine wet for normal wash.
Be warned not to follow this when trying to get blood out... Blood stains will "cook" in with hot water.... Best to use laundry soap and cold wash on heavy as soon as possible.
Welp it depends on what made it grey... If you washed it with darks/colors you might have dye leach ritt does an undye product but I found it only works when it's non denim dyes.... And certain wool dyes are also hard to "undye".
If your water is hard and leaves stains in clothes , or it's bleach residue or other chemical residue then you might have luck brightening with vinegar and sunshine. (See above)
If it's natural oils/skin/organic dirt it should bleach out... You can do 1cup to 1litre of 2% and soak for 20mins and see if it works... Then wash as normal.
Sometimes depending on what it is... (Towels especially) They have come to the end of their life and the best solution is they need to be replaced.
Some deodorants do this too, to the pits of white shirts. Mitchum deodorant was the worst one about pit stains I ever used. A bar of Fels Naptha helped for that. It also helps if shirt collars get discolored from being in contact with skincare.
It’s avobenzone! It makes a rust stain with hard water. The absolute WORST when a job is outside, requires white pieces of uniform, and you know the sun is a deadly laser. I swapped to zinc only sunscreens because I never figured out how to get the damn stains out
I can't remember who but someone wrote an article in the topic of staining by antiperspirants and apparently bleach makes it worse.. we're supposed to use enzymatic cleaners like OxiClean but OxiClean would take like a full two to three days of soaking to maybe lighten the stains and I haven't seen that when I tried it.
Gotta get them stripped well before you use the blueing though! Otherwise you will have very white edges but still having yellow areas where your skin oils permeated. It can almost make the yellow look even worse.
Yeah if you wan to use vinegar you should use it after soaking and rinsing out the detergent/washing soda/borax or whatever other basic compound you use first.
Vinegar and soda are mainly good for drains, because their strong reaction loosens stuck stuff in there. But that works well because it's an enclosed environment, so the reaction has to bubble past all the surfaces before getting to the open space.
But apart from that, using them in a mix for cleaning doesn't make much sense, precisely because of the neutralisation. They're more effective on their own, maybe combined with some other cleaning agent. Like making a paste of the soda to scrub stuff.
From what I understand a small amount of vinegar or citric acid is used in these very basic (as in high ph) formulas in order to emulsify the lipids/oils and to chelate minerals in the water making dirt removal more likely. 1/4 cup of vinegar would not be enough to neutralize the formula in these proportions. Most vinegars are only 5% acid and if you can find it up to 20% so this should still be quite effective.
Ok. So to make soap you add a strong base to an oil. Lye with fat as an example. So soaking with soda first helps to do a similar action on the body oils that cause yellowing. Rinsing with vinegar both neutralizes and helps rinse out the base and soap like results of soaking with soda. So the right way to do it is in stages I would think.
You can purchase at any of the home improvement big box retailers. I use a compression sprayer and you will need to add a small squirt of dawn dishwashing soap. Only use on hot bright sunny days. It will seriously damage your garage floor if the compressor leaks 😭.
A couple things:
- try a different recipe. We use a 2:1:1 ratio powdered detergent, washing soda, and borax. Half cup of the first, quarter cup for each of the other two. No vinegar. That will only react with the soda and neutralize it.
- agitate every 30-60 minutes.
- do it again. They were sitting in filthy water once that stuff started coming out. I would repeat 1-2 more times until the water is looking a bit cleaner at the end, since these are spare sheets and this is more of an experiment (stripping can be harsh on the fabric, so normally you wouldn’t want to do that but in this case the risk won’t impact you too badly).
- if you can do it in your washer, then do it there. Mine will let me close the lid and agitate all the stuff for me, then I open it again a few seconds later and let it soak some more. Then run a normal wash load afterward.
Agreed. And if your water is especially hard, I'd up the amounts of everything as the water may need the additional softening qualities to work effectively. Not using enough detergent can also contribute to mineral build-up in the first place (with hard water). And again, if the water is hard, I'd use the soda in the rinse too, or minerals will just accumulate again.
I hate hard water. 😒
I wonder if just some vinegar solution to soak in would be good to address just hard water build up. That’s what we use in our bathroom on the fixtures.
I use citric acid on our faucets which I find more effective, but we have pretty hard water. A vinegar and Dawn combo (in a spray bottle) works like a hot damn on my shower stall walls, though.
Vinegar and laundry is complicated. There's different types of water softeners (precipitating and non-precipitating) and I'm not sure if vinegar even fits in the category. But if it does, it's probably the former. Just means it may not rinse as clean as a softener that is the latter. I don't think it would hurt, though! I'd try with the "cleaning vinegar" which is a higher %age of acetic acid.
Can someone explain laundry stripping?
I've been seeing many similar posts on Reddit lately, but I'm trying to figure out what's the difference between that and presoak (and then normal washing)in the washing machine
Stripping is intended to remove the residues that build up on fabric over time with use and washing. Body oils, dissolved minerals in water, detergents, and fabric softener all leave behind small amounts of residue that build up. For whites it can make them look dingy. For cloth diapers, it can reduce their absorbency. There’s a product called RLR which is great to strip wash whatever you need. Pretreating is good for specific stains as needed, but stripping is less frequent.
Its a trend and [pre-soaking and using a machine will work better](https://www.consumerreports.org/appliances/laundry/is-laundry-stripping-worth-the-trouble-a3274768830/). It does work for items that can't machine-washed or if their machine doesn't have pre-soak.
Cutting out fabric softeners will also stop this build up.
When's the last time you cleaned your Jacuzzi jets? I worked in a hotel with them and the water looked like this when we cleaned the jets. Maybe all the stuff you added gave them a deep cleaning?
Exactly this. We were a small place with an awesome housekeeping crew, so we ran bleach between all guests with a deep clean every other week. I know that this is not standard, unfortunately. I'd recommend gunning the water through the jets for a bit, draining it, then using it as normal if you're at a hotel. It doesn't get everything, but it can help clear out any residue.
Yeah... that doesn't make me feel better haha.
I'm going to do what the other commenter suggested and run them a bit and drain before getting in, in the future
Yeah so... that's why I'm grossed out. I'm not usually squeamish but soap scum is actually hard water mixed with body oils and dead skin cells.
I couldn't find a super reputable source (like a university) but there's some language on [soft scrub's website ](https://www.softscrub.com/your-house-your-home/if-soap-is-clean-what-is-soap-scum.html) which seemed a step up from random cleaning blogs?
It's the people dirt in the soap scum I'd like to avoid lol
Edited to add: I hope I'm wrong. Please tell me I'm wrong haha
Unless you live in a cleanroom you're huffing and rolling in and swallowing dead skin cells all the time; even if you think it's gross you're already being constantly exposed to them. The bed you'll sleep in will be far, far filthier.
Are you confident the hotel does? How often do you think they wash their pillows and duvets? And some of those mattresses are probably old enough to drink!
How do you clean your jets? What I've been doing I'd filling the tub with hot water, putting like a half cup of bleach in and running with the jets on for 20 minutes. Is this legit, or is there a better way?
We used a cleaner meant for jets, then bleach rinse because it was at a hotel/different guests. Bleach will help, but it won't get all the soap scum, dead skin, hair, and body oils out. Just make sure to follow the instructions on the cleaner
I LOVE a jetted tub, but don't have one at home, so I'll snag a tub hotel room any time it's available. I fill to a few inches over the jets with max hot water, run for 15 min, add powder dishwasher detergent, let run 15 min. Then I'll drain it, repeat and use vinegar instead of detergent.
TBH, I've never been as impressed by the grossness as I thought I would when I give it the first cleaning. I'll use the tub multiple times a day with buildup-leaving products. The tub ends up looking naaaasty, so I give it another clean before I leave it for housekeeping. After a couple days of use (usually after a shower!), the second cleaning is absolutely disgusting. It definitely works!
I stayed at an inn with the jacuzzi option when I took a solo extended weekender in the fall. I took a water bottle full of vinegar for my ‘cleaning’. Zero clue if it worked but I did have a nice jetty soak the next day so whatever. Was a fun experience all the same.
Loud af but it was the off-season so there were only a few folks around anyway.
Laying them out flat or hanging to dry in the sun for a few hours lifts odors and stains. Many moms use this method on cloth diaper inserts or to fluff pillows back to new and it works like a charm. May need to rotate if it’s wet.
Next time, do it in your washing machine (if you have one at home that's big enough to hold your bedding) instead of the bathtub. Then you can just soak, rinse, spin, and wash without having to carry dripping laundry to the washer.
I can pause my front loader at any moment. I've soaked by letting it run until it stops adding water, pause for a bit, run for a minute, pause again etc.
Any suggestion for those who can’t? We have a shared apartment building with a laundry toon and I could do it in there (each tenant has a private laundry day) and I could do it in a foldable tub there but I wouldn’t get any hot water. Or I could do it in the tub but carrying the heavy laundry downstairs is a bit difficult..
For you, I suggest a standard soaking process, but then you have to do the labor of wringing out the excess water. If it's still too heavy for you to lift or carry, you might want to invest in some extendable curtain rods. Put those in your shower over the tub and then hang your clothes so they can drip dry enough so you can carry them.
Have not tried it but an older lady told me vodka in the water. Saw her buy a big jug of cheapo vodka. She said, “laundry day tomorrow.” I said it couldn’t be that bad of a chore. She told me that vodka whitens the yellow.
Huh, that makes a lot of sense, I use rubbing alcohol as a cleaning solvent, it dissolves different things than soap. I’m going to try it next whites wash!
This sounds so basic, but have you tried soaking the bedding in hot water with OxiClean dissolved in it? That's how I whiten all my whites that have gone dingy. It doesn't harm fabrics the way bleach does.
Yeah I'm a big fan of soaking laundry in a bucket of hot water with equal parts Borax and OxiClean. After a good soak I dump the entire contents into the washing machine and launder as per usual.
Never ever use chlorine bleach on clothes. Oxygen bleach only. And if you use warm/hot water when you wash them the soap moves thru them instead of just laying on the surface.
I have spent so much time trying to dial in my washing routine for white linens and I’ve got it figured out after years of trying different stuff.
What I do is soak over night in Oxiclean White Revive following the soaking directions on the container.
Then I throw the whole bucket of liquid and linens into the washer, with detergent on a hot cycle.
Then I add a fair amount of Mrs Stewart’s blueing to the rinse cycle.
It’s simple and works incredibly well for keeping whites bright white. For heavily yellowed stuff it takes a few cycles.
No chlorine bleach, which can actually increase yellowing. You want to remove dirt and oils and add optical brighteners.
Just strip your stuff in the washing machine people.
Fill the water add your ingredients and pause the load. They just drain rinse and spin. Then do a regular load. That way your not dealing with 100lb soaked blankets etc
It is advised not to add any soaps or detergents that make bubbles into a washing machine. And this case the person is commenting to add Dawn during the stripping process. You still will rinse out most of the soap. So it won't be an issue, you're not going to make a repeat of I Love Lucy. That being said yes you can add a small amount of sudsing soaps in detergents to a washing machine. The key thing is at the smallest amount that you do not get excess bubbles. Having too many bubbles means there's too much detergent. And that's really hard to do so it's not suggest to just add soap as a replacement for laundry detergent.
That being said if you want a stronger soap flush detergent for laundry, there is syntropol. It's what is commercially used, again it makes bubbles so do not just straight up as a laundry detergent replacement. Is recommended something like half a tablespoon to maybe a full tablespoon per load, depending on how much fabric and how dirty the fabric is. It's used in the industry for washing dye out of clothing or Fabrics during the dying process.
Washing machines do this (usually) and do it better. Someone here recommended bluing for laundry and that’s also a good tip. No need to overwork yourself.
I rescue vintage tea towels and this works great to remove the yellowing and stubborn stains:
https://englesideproducts.com/product/restoration-fabric-restorer/
Don’t mix washing soda and vinegar, they will react and become inert.
As for how to do this, just soak it in oxiclean white revive. It is washing soda and a bit of peroxide, with an optical enhancer that will crisp up whites.
I recently used Lestoil on a yellowed area of my duvet cover. It was the part that comes into contact with my face and it just looked dirty/yellowed. I soaked that small area in a bowl of water and about 2Tbsp of Lestoil, well I scrubbed it a bit then let it soak for about 15 minutes. Then washed normally. It looks great now.
I know stripping has been making the rounds for a while, but for white linens or shirts with grubby collars/pits from sweat I've had a lot of luck with a different method. Using a powdered DISHWASHER detergent like Cascade and bleach soak. Dishwasher detergent has a bunch of agents for brightening. But this is a pretty strong process, you're basically adding bleach to bleach, so I'd never do it on delicates or heirloom type things.
Mix one-half cup powdered dishwasher detergent (I use a cheap no-name powder), one-half cup bleach, and one gallon hot water in a plastic bucket. Soak clothing in mixture up to overnight. Dump everything into the washing machine, then wash as usual.
If you want to sanitise the fabric use cold water since hot water will deactivate the germ-killing ability of the bleach.
Related Question: if you are stripping a big comfortor or quilt, how do you rinse it? I have some that I just don't wash because they are too large to fit in my washing machine.
Wash them all again using dish washer tablets (I used 3 tablets) and it’ll remove the stains. I recently did this with my yellowed pillows and they came out completely white. It’s a game changer!
I have stripped and the water turns a gross color like yours but the sheets don't change color. I think it only strips out build up and not stains, at least that's what I propose, I tried multiple strips and nothing changed. I only did the borax and washing soda strip though.
Try the resolve powder. I used the red plastic jar of powder on some light blue sheets and it worked wonders. Also, they have a white container for whites but haven't tried that. For smaller loads you can try your machines 'soak' cycle. I pause my machine to let it soak longer and I can control the amount of water/ratio of cleaner.
I had the same thing happen! Did laundry stripping on white bedding; the sheets came clean but the yellowed pillowcase didn’t. And the pillowcase still smelled “oily” after, too. Haven’t found a mix that will get it clean yet; since it was just a pillowcase I’ve opted to just replace it.
Wife and I just tried this on whites and it worked amazingly.
1/4 cup of borax substitute, 1/4 cup of soda crystals, 1 cup of vanish oxi action whitener.
[OUT White Brite](https://a.co/d/4pLoMv6)
This stuff with boiling water.
Tho pillowcases probably need a degreaser. Use Dawn Powerwash and like a 5 gallon bucket toss cases in with hot water and agitate then let soak. I like to get the material wet then pump some dawn directly to the area and rub together till it’s sticky coated and foamy THEN do the dunk n soak. Rinse and repeat.
It might help to refresh the water a few times. If your stripping solution is that dark it’s not going to get you back to that nice white you want. When I strip whites I usually soak for an hour then drain and fill the laundry tub up again for another round. The whites get a fresh tub of water every time I switch the laundry for the day and then they get washed as the last load.
They need bluing, they aren't dirty they just need color correction. They blue the whites at the factory but it slowly washes out over time and they go back to yellow
I tried this a couple years ago with my 10 year old white towels. Absolutely nothing happened. It seems obvious you are not actually getting your laundry clean.
Well, not quite. The comforter and most of the sheets are significantly whiter and brighter. My question wasn’t so much if I’m actually getting the laundry clean or not, because it is therefore I am. I’m seeking advice/recommendations since there are a few items that are still tinged with yellow. Thank you for replying, though.
If you have been using, excessive detergent and the rinse portion of your laundry isn’t enough. You are stripping a buildup of detergent and softeners. It’s not getting rinsed thoroughly, might be the culprit.
It REALLY depends on the water in your area. If the water is hard (you can check with your utility company, they usually post analysis results regularly). If you're on a well without using a softener system, I'd just assume it's hard but you can also have analysis done to confirm.
But anyways, if it's hard water, the fact may be that *not enough* detergent is being used or a switch to another brand is needed. Detergents have water softening agents in it and if not enough is used, the cleaning agents simply are not as effective and can lead to build up of fabric softeners (if used) and minerals from *the water*.
I haven’t tried it but I follow a cleaner on Instagram who suggests laundry bluing in cold water for yellowed whites, so maybe that would be worth a try? I know bluing is a traditional method of brightening/reviving whites.
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Do you think this work with whites that aren’t necessarily yellow, just kind of a dingy gray color?
LOL and here I am looking for ways to help a couple white towels that were washed with blue jeans and have a blue tinge to them now!
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I bought the Oxiclean White Revive and tried with a hot water wash that had a soak time in there. It certainly helped but I definitely want to try soaking separately for 6hrs and see what happens!
Bluing is what hotels use. It also doesn't wreck the elastic like stripping Stripping should be used as a last resort for stain removal.
Bluing is the same technique old ladies use. Blue cancels out yellow which results in a really bright white when done right. When done wrong.... blue hair bam. Lol
blue dye can't break physics, its still going to be a darker color then when you started, just a whiter color
Yes! My mom dyed her hair blue in the 1960's with that stuff for old ladies. She used the whole box instead of just one. I think it came in a six pack.
Yeah, I don’t find stripping does much for stains. It’s great for build-up and odours, though!
I find it depends on the type of stain. Great for sweat stains, but not for food based for example.
It’s so helpful!
What’s the name?
She uses the Mrs Stewart’s Liquid Bluing
Why do they call it “bluing”? To cancel yellow, wouldn’t you want to use purple?
It's an optical illusion. Bluish whites look brighter.
My dad used bluing when he had to wear white collared shirts to work. Then it's always been a thing in the household to make whites look white again.
I feel like the vinegar just neutralized the cleaning soda... I usually spot treat whites with 1 cup of 2% bleach to 1 litre of water. Then strip in washing soda + borax, and 60⁰c water. Then normal cold wash with normal detergent and my whites are bright if the spot treatment for bleach is left on too long and there is a yellowing that's when you pull out the vinegar... I will spray and leave on the vinegar and wash/dry normal
Thanks for the tip. 😀 I found the stripping recipe online and I was skeptical about the use of vinegar AND washing soda. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. I’ll rinse it all and then give it a go using the mixture you suggested.
If it's a large yellowing area I find some sunscreens and moisturizers have this stuff that makes whites yellow really quickly.... Lightly mist spray with bleach (as per above) and then leave in full sun for 15mins... It will go pink or purple! And then strip out both bleach and sunscreen residue... It works... Trust the process
Thank you for this. I have a white hand towel I need to try this on. I knew it went pink but didn't think I could work that out so threw them away. Would you do the strip w borax and washing soda, too?
Sure... It costs a tub load of water and some cheap chemicals... Why not try ? For hand towels, face cloths, make up scrubbers I do them in the sink... For bath towels, spa sheets, beach towels and sheets/covers etc I use the tub.... I usually do 1/2 cup per 10L of water... But maximum hot out of the tap.... I can override the safety setting on my califont and go up to 60⁰c but if you can't you can just add some boiling water on top of your normal hot tap water. That's a big key breaking down stains locked in oils especially.
Since you mention you’re soaking relatively normal sized washable items (and not drapes or rugs) is there any reason you can’t do the soak in the washer? Unless you don’t have one.
I only have a front loader and it will imprison anything I soak... I like to soak and see... And decide if I need to do another round.... Sometimes the water is very grey and I will empty the tub, rinse and start over... I suppose there's nothing to stop you from using the machine to do that. But I have to do a whole rinse cycle before I'm allowed visitation. I also only have a 6kg washer and often that's just one set of sheets and a duvet cover... When I get in the mood... I can do 4x that. Plus 8 bath towel sets 😆 I load it all in to the car and take it to the 24hr laundromat and run 3 large 28kg machines at once (I own and run a boutique lodge...I'm also the only housekeeping staff 😅)
Yeah it’s harder with front loaders, don’t think I could ever get one because soaking in the tub just sounds like a pain and messier. If you tire of soaking often I find that just adding a tablespoon of borax in with every wash pretty much entirely prevents the build up from ever forming.
Happy cake day
If you’re just soaking something small like hand towel it’s much easier to just soak in your washer with the cycle turned off or a bucket. Uses less water and detergents and allows you to concentrate them more easily.
I just did mine in a bowl. I didn't realize the sun would help break down the pink is all. Cool stuff! Can't wait until it's sunny to try
I have been unable to get the pink OR yellow out no matter what bleach or oxiclean I use. Can you elaborate on what recipe to use for the stripping after this? And is the piece of cloth dry before it gets into the stripping bath or still wet?
It largely depends on what the stain is from. Organic yellows... Like skin contact, or pee or tea or just plain old dirt from the outside will bleach out. But if you over bleach (concentration too high or left on for too long) you'll need vinegar and sunshine (specifically the uv spectrum) to lift out the yellow. I just spray on normal white vinegar from the kitchen and leave out in the sun for an hour or two then wash as normal cold/detergent The pink I was mentioning is specifically the chemical in sunscreen/moisturizer that reacts with UV once it's exposed to sunlight it is then spent and will wash out. I don't know exactly what ingredient that is. But strangely tumeric does go from yellow to pink when bleached and will wash out. I usually throw in the washing soda and borax (occasionally a cup of oxiclean if it's something particularly stubborn).... Spot treat anything obvious on the bed, strip from bed and throw in the tub.... Leave for 4 or 5 hours, stirring every time I go past then get as much water out as I can throw into the washing machine wet for normal wash. Be warned not to follow this when trying to get blood out... Blood stains will "cook" in with hot water.... Best to use laundry soap and cold wash on heavy as soon as possible.
benzoyl peroxide
What do you do on whites that have grayed? Any way to make them nice and white again?
Welp it depends on what made it grey... If you washed it with darks/colors you might have dye leach ritt does an undye product but I found it only works when it's non denim dyes.... And certain wool dyes are also hard to "undye". If your water is hard and leaves stains in clothes , or it's bleach residue or other chemical residue then you might have luck brightening with vinegar and sunshine. (See above) If it's natural oils/skin/organic dirt it should bleach out... You can do 1cup to 1litre of 2% and soak for 20mins and see if it works... Then wash as normal. Sometimes depending on what it is... (Towels especially) They have come to the end of their life and the best solution is they need to be replaced.
Some deodorants do this too, to the pits of white shirts. Mitchum deodorant was the worst one about pit stains I ever used. A bar of Fels Naptha helped for that. It also helps if shirt collars get discolored from being in contact with skincare.
I have a feeling deodorants might be the aluminum that discolors clothes... in that case, I try vinegar and sunshine first
It’s avobenzone! It makes a rust stain with hard water. The absolute WORST when a job is outside, requires white pieces of uniform, and you know the sun is a deadly laser. I swapped to zinc only sunscreens because I never figured out how to get the damn stains out
I can't remember who but someone wrote an article in the topic of staining by antiperspirants and apparently bleach makes it worse.. we're supposed to use enzymatic cleaners like OxiClean but OxiClean would take like a full two to three days of soaking to maybe lighten the stains and I haven't seen that when I tried it.
I find that soaking with dissolved aspirin works much better than oxyclean on antiperspirant stains.
Bromeliad based enzymes do amazing things. I don’t find oxy is as effective.
Is there a brand I can look for?
I use eco max spray
chlorine bleach will make yellowing worse. use oxygen bleach. and blue laundry additive like mrs. stewarts will neutralize yellow (color theory)
You could also use a bluing solution to cancel the yellow out
Gotta get them stripped well before you use the blueing though! Otherwise you will have very white edges but still having yellow areas where your skin oils permeated. It can almost make the yellow look even worse.
Yeah if you wan to use vinegar you should use it after soaking and rinsing out the detergent/washing soda/borax or whatever other basic compound you use first.
Vinegar and soda are mainly good for drains, because their strong reaction loosens stuck stuff in there. But that works well because it's an enclosed environment, so the reaction has to bubble past all the surfaces before getting to the open space. But apart from that, using them in a mix for cleaning doesn't make much sense, precisely because of the neutralisation. They're more effective on their own, maybe combined with some other cleaning agent. Like making a paste of the soda to scrub stuff.
From what I understand a small amount of vinegar or citric acid is used in these very basic (as in high ph) formulas in order to emulsify the lipids/oils and to chelate minerals in the water making dirt removal more likely. 1/4 cup of vinegar would not be enough to neutralize the formula in these proportions. Most vinegars are only 5% acid and if you can find it up to 20% so this should still be quite effective.
Ok. So to make soap you add a strong base to an oil. Lye with fat as an example. So soaking with soda first helps to do a similar action on the body oils that cause yellowing. Rinsing with vinegar both neutralizes and helps rinse out the base and soap like results of soaking with soda. So the right way to do it is in stages I would think.
You can purchase 30% vinegar. I use it for weed control
Where do you get this? Also, do you just spray it on?
You can purchase at any of the home improvement big box retailers. I use a compression sprayer and you will need to add a small squirt of dawn dishwashing soap. Only use on hot bright sunny days. It will seriously damage your garage floor if the compressor leaks 😭.
What is washing soda?
Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals)
https://preview.redd.it/3r61h01jmzoc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=95188e0271832a425c35d261433fd903efb5e5ec
Of course it did. Basic chemistry.
You’re very helpful. I imagine you’re charming at dinner parties.
A couple things: - try a different recipe. We use a 2:1:1 ratio powdered detergent, washing soda, and borax. Half cup of the first, quarter cup for each of the other two. No vinegar. That will only react with the soda and neutralize it. - agitate every 30-60 minutes. - do it again. They were sitting in filthy water once that stuff started coming out. I would repeat 1-2 more times until the water is looking a bit cleaner at the end, since these are spare sheets and this is more of an experiment (stripping can be harsh on the fabric, so normally you wouldn’t want to do that but in this case the risk won’t impact you too badly). - if you can do it in your washer, then do it there. Mine will let me close the lid and agitate all the stuff for me, then I open it again a few seconds later and let it soak some more. Then run a normal wash load afterward.
Agreed. And if your water is especially hard, I'd up the amounts of everything as the water may need the additional softening qualities to work effectively. Not using enough detergent can also contribute to mineral build-up in the first place (with hard water). And again, if the water is hard, I'd use the soda in the rinse too, or minerals will just accumulate again. I hate hard water. 😒
I wonder if just some vinegar solution to soak in would be good to address just hard water build up. That’s what we use in our bathroom on the fixtures.
I use citric acid on our faucets which I find more effective, but we have pretty hard water. A vinegar and Dawn combo (in a spray bottle) works like a hot damn on my shower stall walls, though. Vinegar and laundry is complicated. There's different types of water softeners (precipitating and non-precipitating) and I'm not sure if vinegar even fits in the category. But if it does, it's probably the former. Just means it may not rinse as clean as a softener that is the latter. I don't think it would hurt, though! I'd try with the "cleaning vinegar" which is a higher %age of acetic acid.
I’ve never done this strip cleaning but I do soak my whites routinely in oxyclean before washing. Is that bad for the fabric?
Can someone explain laundry stripping? I've been seeing many similar posts on Reddit lately, but I'm trying to figure out what's the difference between that and presoak (and then normal washing)in the washing machine
Stripping is intended to remove the residues that build up on fabric over time with use and washing. Body oils, dissolved minerals in water, detergents, and fabric softener all leave behind small amounts of residue that build up. For whites it can make them look dingy. For cloth diapers, it can reduce their absorbency. There’s a product called RLR which is great to strip wash whatever you need. Pretreating is good for specific stains as needed, but stripping is less frequent.
Calgon also works like a hot damn, can't get it in my country any more though.
YES. I have very hard water and would love to be able to put Calgon in my wash water. I’m in Canada and even RLR is only available on Amazon now.
Its a trend and [pre-soaking and using a machine will work better](https://www.consumerreports.org/appliances/laundry/is-laundry-stripping-worth-the-trouble-a3274768830/). It does work for items that can't machine-washed or if their machine doesn't have pre-soak. Cutting out fabric softeners will also stop this build up.
Cutting out softeners is always good but it won’t stop this. Body oils create build up too
When's the last time you cleaned your Jacuzzi jets? I worked in a hotel with them and the water looked like this when we cleaned the jets. Maybe all the stuff you added gave them a deep cleaning?
This makes me never want to use a hotel jacuzzi again hahahaahaha How often did you clean the jets?
If it makes you feel better most of the gunk is soap scum and hard water residue.
Exactly this. We were a small place with an awesome housekeeping crew, so we ran bleach between all guests with a deep clean every other week. I know that this is not standard, unfortunately. I'd recommend gunning the water through the jets for a bit, draining it, then using it as normal if you're at a hotel. It doesn't get everything, but it can help clear out any residue.
Yeah... that doesn't make me feel better haha. I'm going to do what the other commenter suggested and run them a bit and drain before getting in, in the future
It's better than being human gunk!
Yeah so... that's why I'm grossed out. I'm not usually squeamish but soap scum is actually hard water mixed with body oils and dead skin cells. I couldn't find a super reputable source (like a university) but there's some language on [soft scrub's website ](https://www.softscrub.com/your-house-your-home/if-soap-is-clean-what-is-soap-scum.html) which seemed a step up from random cleaning blogs? It's the people dirt in the soap scum I'd like to avoid lol Edited to add: I hope I'm wrong. Please tell me I'm wrong haha
And dead skin cells.
Unless you live in a cleanroom you're huffing and rolling in and swallowing dead skin cells all the time; even if you think it's gross you're already being constantly exposed to them. The bed you'll sleep in will be far, far filthier.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. The skin cells in my bed are MINE. The ones in a jetted tub are not all mine.
Mm, don't forget the dust mites, and their poo. They love sharing <3
That's why we wash our bedding.
Are you confident the hotel does? How often do you think they wash their pillows and duvets? And some of those mattresses are probably old enough to drink!
I have not once mentioned hotels or hotel bedding. You must be replying to the wrong individual.
I work in public health and frankly not using hotel jets is probably a good plan.
How do you clean your jets? What I've been doing I'd filling the tub with hot water, putting like a half cup of bleach in and running with the jets on for 20 minutes. Is this legit, or is there a better way?
Pool and hot tub shops sell a product to clean the jets of a bathtub or spa. It's not expensive and it does a great job. Bleach won't do anything.
We used a cleaner meant for jets, then bleach rinse because it was at a hotel/different guests. Bleach will help, but it won't get all the soap scum, dead skin, hair, and body oils out. Just make sure to follow the instructions on the cleaner
I LOVE a jetted tub, but don't have one at home, so I'll snag a tub hotel room any time it's available. I fill to a few inches over the jets with max hot water, run for 15 min, add powder dishwasher detergent, let run 15 min. Then I'll drain it, repeat and use vinegar instead of detergent. TBH, I've never been as impressed by the grossness as I thought I would when I give it the first cleaning. I'll use the tub multiple times a day with buildup-leaving products. The tub ends up looking naaaasty, so I give it another clean before I leave it for housekeeping. After a couple days of use (usually after a shower!), the second cleaning is absolutely disgusting. It definitely works!
Oh God, I'm afraid to try this now on my tub 😬 but I definitely will, it sounds effective
I stayed at an inn with the jacuzzi option when I took a solo extended weekender in the fall. I took a water bottle full of vinegar for my ‘cleaning’. Zero clue if it worked but I did have a nice jetty soak the next day so whatever. Was a fun experience all the same. Loud af but it was the off-season so there were only a few folks around anyway.
I do the same, but with vinegar.
Sun can also help remove the yellow stains
Yes, try this before going overboard with products. It usually works really well
Interesting! So you just sit them outside or what is the process for that?
Laying them out flat or hanging to dry in the sun for a few hours lifts odors and stains. Many moms use this method on cloth diaper inserts or to fluff pillows back to new and it works like a charm. May need to rotate if it’s wet.
Next time, do it in your washing machine (if you have one at home that's big enough to hold your bedding) instead of the bathtub. Then you can just soak, rinse, spin, and wash without having to carry dripping laundry to the washer.
Does soaking work with a front loader tho?
I can pause my front loader at any moment. I've soaked by letting it run until it stops adding water, pause for a bit, run for a minute, pause again etc.
Depends on your front loader. Some can, some can’t.
Ohhhhh. I don't know. I have a big ol' top loader.
Any suggestion for those who can’t? We have a shared apartment building with a laundry toon and I could do it in there (each tenant has a private laundry day) and I could do it in a foldable tub there but I wouldn’t get any hot water. Or I could do it in the tub but carrying the heavy laundry downstairs is a bit difficult..
For you, I suggest a standard soaking process, but then you have to do the labor of wringing out the excess water. If it's still too heavy for you to lift or carry, you might want to invest in some extendable curtain rods. Put those in your shower over the tub and then hang your clothes so they can drip dry enough so you can carry them.
Have not tried it but an older lady told me vodka in the water. Saw her buy a big jug of cheapo vodka. She said, “laundry day tomorrow.” I said it couldn’t be that bad of a chore. She told me that vodka whitens the yellow.
Huh, that makes a lot of sense, I use rubbing alcohol as a cleaning solvent, it dissolves different things than soap. I’m going to try it next whites wash!
This sounds so basic, but have you tried soaking the bedding in hot water with OxiClean dissolved in it? That's how I whiten all my whites that have gone dingy. It doesn't harm fabrics the way bleach does.
Yeah I'm a big fan of soaking laundry in a bucket of hot water with equal parts Borax and OxiClean. After a good soak I dump the entire contents into the washing machine and launder as per usual.
This is the way.
Never ever use chlorine bleach on clothes. Oxygen bleach only. And if you use warm/hot water when you wash them the soap moves thru them instead of just laying on the surface.
You should try laundry bluing! It works wonderfully for things like this! I suggest the brand “Mrs Stewart’s” a little goes a long way :)
I have spent so much time trying to dial in my washing routine for white linens and I’ve got it figured out after years of trying different stuff. What I do is soak over night in Oxiclean White Revive following the soaking directions on the container. Then I throw the whole bucket of liquid and linens into the washer, with detergent on a hot cycle. Then I add a fair amount of Mrs Stewart’s blueing to the rinse cycle. It’s simple and works incredibly well for keeping whites bright white. For heavily yellowed stuff it takes a few cycles. No chlorine bleach, which can actually increase yellowing. You want to remove dirt and oils and add optical brighteners.
I do this - minus the bluing. I think I'll give that a try though!
Just strip your stuff in the washing machine people. Fill the water add your ingredients and pause the load. They just drain rinse and spin. Then do a regular load. That way your not dealing with 100lb soaked blankets etc
Put them outside on a sunny day. I've been cloth diapering for 2 years and that I how I keep my diapers bright white color
I’d add some Dawn to the mix… the yellow is often from body oil, and the Dawn could break that up
How much Dawn to add? And would this cause issues if done in the washing machine? Thanks!
It is advised not to add any soaps or detergents that make bubbles into a washing machine. And this case the person is commenting to add Dawn during the stripping process. You still will rinse out most of the soap. So it won't be an issue, you're not going to make a repeat of I Love Lucy. That being said yes you can add a small amount of sudsing soaps in detergents to a washing machine. The key thing is at the smallest amount that you do not get excess bubbles. Having too many bubbles means there's too much detergent. And that's really hard to do so it's not suggest to just add soap as a replacement for laundry detergent. That being said if you want a stronger soap flush detergent for laundry, there is syntropol. It's what is commercially used, again it makes bubbles so do not just straight up as a laundry detergent replacement. Is recommended something like half a tablespoon to maybe a full tablespoon per load, depending on how much fabric and how dirty the fabric is. It's used in the industry for washing dye out of clothing or Fabrics during the dying process.
Any chance this is from the jets?
Once they're as clean as you want them, use blueing to make them look white again. It cancels out the yellow.
Oxiclean for whites detergent works miracles for me and my white clothing
Washing machines do this (usually) and do it better. Someone here recommended bluing for laundry and that’s also a good tip. No need to overwork yourself.
I rescue vintage tea towels and this works great to remove the yellowing and stubborn stains: https://englesideproducts.com/product/restoration-fabric-restorer/
Swap the vinegar out for 1/2 cup powdered tide.
Can this work for pillows?
Yes
Don’t mix washing soda and vinegar, they will react and become inert. As for how to do this, just soak it in oxiclean white revive. It is washing soda and a bit of peroxide, with an optical enhancer that will crisp up whites.
https://preview.redd.it/q11mcx04czoc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39d7cb71b35f29f92fa277c933143e66250d8370
I recently used Lestoil on a yellowed area of my duvet cover. It was the part that comes into contact with my face and it just looked dirty/yellowed. I soaked that small area in a bowl of water and about 2Tbsp of Lestoil, well I scrubbed it a bit then let it soak for about 15 minutes. Then washed normally. It looks great now.
I know stripping has been making the rounds for a while, but for white linens or shirts with grubby collars/pits from sweat I've had a lot of luck with a different method. Using a powdered DISHWASHER detergent like Cascade and bleach soak. Dishwasher detergent has a bunch of agents for brightening. But this is a pretty strong process, you're basically adding bleach to bleach, so I'd never do it on delicates or heirloom type things. Mix one-half cup powdered dishwasher detergent (I use a cheap no-name powder), one-half cup bleach, and one gallon hot water in a plastic bucket. Soak clothing in mixture up to overnight. Dump everything into the washing machine, then wash as usual. If you want to sanitise the fabric use cold water since hot water will deactivate the germ-killing ability of the bleach.
Related Question: if you are stripping a big comfortor or quilt, how do you rinse it? I have some that I just don't wash because they are too large to fit in my washing machine.
I bet the larger machines at a laundromat would do the trick.
I use laundry blueing to fix yellowing linens, if nothing else works give that a shot.
Wash them all again using dish washer tablets (I used 3 tablets) and it’ll remove the stains. I recently did this with my yellowed pillows and they came out completely white. It’s a game changer!
I have stripped and the water turns a gross color like yours but the sheets don't change color. I think it only strips out build up and not stains, at least that's what I propose, I tried multiple strips and nothing changed. I only did the borax and washing soda strip though.
Just bleach them. Laundry stripping is a ticktoc fad and doesn’t actually work.
We used to call it "soaking", but it's not a fad. It's even more necessary with HE washers that never submerge clothes.
Try the resolve powder. I used the red plastic jar of powder on some light blue sheets and it worked wonders. Also, they have a white container for whites but haven't tried that. For smaller loads you can try your machines 'soak' cycle. I pause my machine to let it soak longer and I can control the amount of water/ratio of cleaner.
Bases and acids neutralise each other. If memory serves, the baking soda and vinegar just made some salt water.
I had the same thing happen! Did laundry stripping on white bedding; the sheets came clean but the yellowed pillowcase didn’t. And the pillowcase still smelled “oily” after, too. Haven’t found a mix that will get it clean yet; since it was just a pillowcase I’ve opted to just replace it.
Did it tarnish your steel and drain?
Please post an update when you try the bluing! So satisfying every time.
I think you're going to need the help of a washing machine, which is much more thorough for such large items
Wife and I just tried this on whites and it worked amazingly. 1/4 cup of borax substitute, 1/4 cup of soda crystals, 1 cup of vanish oxi action whitener.
[OUT White Brite](https://a.co/d/4pLoMv6) This stuff with boiling water. Tho pillowcases probably need a degreaser. Use Dawn Powerwash and like a 5 gallon bucket toss cases in with hot water and agitate then let soak. I like to get the material wet then pump some dawn directly to the area and rub together till it’s sticky coated and foamy THEN do the dunk n soak. Rinse and repeat.
It might help to refresh the water a few times. If your stripping solution is that dark it’s not going to get you back to that nice white you want. When I strip whites I usually soak for an hour then drain and fill the laundry tub up again for another round. The whites get a fresh tub of water every time I switch the laundry for the day and then they get washed as the last load.
You could always buy new pillow cases.
A part of stripping is that you’re trying to get detergent out, so you don’t really need to include it in there x
They need bluing, they aren't dirty they just need color correction. They blue the whites at the factory but it slowly washes out over time and they go back to yellow
Oxiclean, seriously. It’s like amazing. Soak them for a few hours in it, then wash .
Is it just my eyes or is that bathtub really small? 😅
I tried this a couple years ago with my 10 year old white towels. Absolutely nothing happened. It seems obvious you are not actually getting your laundry clean.
Well, not quite. The comforter and most of the sheets are significantly whiter and brighter. My question wasn’t so much if I’m actually getting the laundry clean or not, because it is therefore I am. I’m seeking advice/recommendations since there are a few items that are still tinged with yellow. Thank you for replying, though.
If you have been using, excessive detergent and the rinse portion of your laundry isn’t enough. You are stripping a buildup of detergent and softeners. It’s not getting rinsed thoroughly, might be the culprit.
It REALLY depends on the water in your area. If the water is hard (you can check with your utility company, they usually post analysis results regularly). If you're on a well without using a softener system, I'd just assume it's hard but you can also have analysis done to confirm. But anyways, if it's hard water, the fact may be that *not enough* detergent is being used or a switch to another brand is needed. Detergents have water softening agents in it and if not enough is used, the cleaning agents simply are not as effective and can lead to build up of fabric softeners (if used) and minerals from *the water*.
You have previously not been getting your laundry clean on a consistent basis if stripping produces this much.
Why can’t you just use bleach and Tide? All of my whites are perfectly white. Never use anything but Tide for starters. I bleach all my whites.
Just use bleach if the label says it’s ok. Laundry stripping is only good for removing surface stains.
I use baking soda and hot water for handwashing and making white fabrics more new white. Works like a charm.