White sneakers, boots, sneakers and converse are popular footwear today. It is comfortable, practical and functional. It looks stylish and impressive. And the laces allow you to securely fix the sneaker on your foot and adjust the sneakers to size. By the way, white laces are typical not only for sports shoes. They are found on boots and shoes.
The big disadvantage of such lacing is that it quickly gets dirty, turns yellow or gray. However, it is quite difficult to clean such products. In this article we will look at how to wash white laces at home.
Ammonia
Another versatile bleach that you can use. A couple of tablespoons of solution is enough to immerse the laces in it. To enhance the whitening effect, you can add hydrogen peroxide to the ammonia in a 1:1 ratio. Be careful - ammonia has a pungent odor, so try not to breathe in it too much and immediately ventilate the room. You need to soak for half an hour - no more, otherwise you can chemically burn the fibers of the laces.
Traditional methods
Popular wisdom offers several alternatives to expensive bleaches. All these products are available in your home.
Toothpaste
White toothpaste has whitening properties, so why not use it to whiten your shoelaces? It is very convenient to apply the cleanser with an old toothbrush. Wrap the laces around your palm and go over the entire surface.
Laundry soap
The first thing to start with when bleaching delicate items at home is 72% laundry soap. A simple block eats away many types of stains and eliminates yellowness and grayness.
Just wet the laces and lather them well, leave for 30-60 minutes. Now rub and rinse in water.
Ammonia
To remove gray deposits, wash the fabric as usual, rinse and dry. Then apply ammonia to the fabric using a pipette or cotton pad. Leave until dry and enjoy the whiteness.
Lemon
Citrus with a known whitening effect. Cut a wedge or squeeze the juice to process the gray laces.
Tip: Consider the fiber composition of the laces to choose the right washing method. “Whiteness” and boiling are not suitable for synthetics.
Soda and lemon juice solution
Soda is useful around the house for various purposes, including bleaching. The powder enhances the effect of other products. How to wash laces with a solution of lemon juice and soda:
- Dilute baking soda with lemon juice to make a paste.
- Distribute it throughout the fabric.
- Rinse off after 20 minutes.
Hydrogen peroxide
Pour hydrogen peroxide over well-soaped laces. Do not skimp on the pharmaceutical product, this is the cheapest oxygen bleach with a powerful effect.
Tip: Don't forget to bleach the sole of your sneakers: perfectly white laces combined with dusty rubber parts look ridiculous.
Baking soda, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide
Any of these products are also bleach and can be used to remove blackness:
- Make a solution of vinegar with water in a 1:1 ratio and immerse the laces in it;
- soda is diluted with water to a paste, which is then applied on top;
- Hydrogen peroxide can be used just like that and either soak the laundry item in it, or pour it on top so that the peroxide is absorbed into the fabric.
They also use the property of vinegar and soda to enter into a chemical reaction. Soda slurry is applied on top of the laces, and then immersed in vinegar, or poured on top. As a result of this operation, a lot of foam appears - this is the release of carbon dioxide. Water remains in the container, but while the foam is bubbling, it helps all contaminants to come out from the depths of the fibers.
Washing in a washing machine
Using a washing machine for washing is the simplest and most trouble-free option. If the laces are very dirty, with clods of dirt stuck to them, then they should first be washed and soaked.
Items of similar colors can be sent in the same load with laces. You can also send insoles from sports shoes in the same load, if their color is appropriate.
You cannot combine faded items and contrasting shades, as it is very easy to ruin things.
For soaking and subsequent washing:
The selected detergent is diluted in hot water.- Dip prepared items.
- Leave for 30 minutes.
- They squeeze it out.
- Place in a laundry bag.
- Sent to the drum of the washing machine.
- Set the “quick wash” mode.
- It is better to spin at 600-700 rpm.
- The washing temperature should be between +30ºС and +40ºС.
- There is no need to turn on the dryer.
- Moving on to washing.
Using a laundry bag will help protect the fabric from snags that other items (with hooks, zippers, Velcro) can leave.
Laundry soap
Almost every home has this product and is universal. It is suitable not only for white laces, but also for colored ones. You can lather a bar of soap with your hands and wash the laces by hand, or lather them in a thick layer and put them in the washing machine. If the blackness is significant and is unlikely to be washed off the first time, then you can prepare a soap solution.
To do this, grate the laundry soap and add water to it. This way you won’t have to lather the piece with your hands for a long time, but just shake the water – small shavings will dissolve in it faster. You can also prepare a thick paste from the shavings, which will be no less effective.
By the way, there is an analogue of bar soap - a liquid product with the same composition.
How to wash by hand
If you don't wash your laces for a long time, the dirt becomes firmly embedded in them. Such stains are no longer easy to wash off by hand. That is why many housewives do laundry at least once a month.
Advice: Wash seasonal shoes completely before storing them.
To fight stains
Laces that are not yet saturated with dust can simply be washed by hand. Regular detergents are suitable: powders, gels, laundry and bath soaps. As an alternative, dishwashing gel and shampoo are used.
Soak
Before washing dirty laces, soak them in a bowl of warm cleaning solution. This way, stubborn dust will dissolve and you won’t have to aggressively twist the product. The difficulty of hand washing is that thin fabric cannot always be processed along its entire length.
To soak, dissolve a little powder or gel in a basin. It won’t hurt if you add a folk remedy: lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, etc.
Boiling
It is not recommended to boil the laces: the plastic parts at the ends will become fluffy, and it will be very difficult to thread them back into the shoes. In addition, the aggressive method affects the quality of the fibers: the fabric itself is quite loose, and boiling water will cause it to lose its elasticity or even break.
Important: Boil laces only as a last resort and for no more than 20-30 minutes.
Toothpaste
Everything is simple here - apply toothpaste over the fabric. You can do this with your finger or with a brush - this option will be more effective, since the paste will better penetrate deep into the fibers. After this, just wait 15-20 minutes and wash off the residue.
In addition to the laces, it quickly whitens the shoes themselves. Her noses are cleaned from sneakers or sneakers. If you often wear white shoes, then get any inexpensive paste and a brush to clean them with. Toothpaste is easily washed off from surfaces, and the cleaning process itself takes no more than 5-10 minutes.
Reasons for losing the snow-white color of shoes
It is very difficult to protect white shoes from getting dirty. An aggressive environment awaits her literally everywhere. Before you try to get rid of stains, you need to find out the cause of their occurrence:
- Leather dress shoes suffer from the ingress of water, dust and dirt; they often bear marks from the black soles of someone else’s or even your own shoes; they can be scratched by stones or knocked off by curbs;
- sports shoes - sneakers, sneakers made of leather and leatherette - are susceptible to the appearance of creases into which dust and dirt become clogged;
- rag shoes, sneakers, sandals can darken after the first exit into the city, where there is a lot of smoke from cars and just street dust;
- The white stitching threads and edging of any shoe darken not only from dirt, but also from care products.
White shoes look very beautiful, but require special care
There are various ways to restore white shoes to their original appearance. You can entrust your item to professionals or do it yourself.
Chemicals
If you don’t want to select home cleaning methods, then use ready-made store-bought products. For white laces, you can choose any bleaching agent, and for colored and white laces, you can choose stain removers. Vanish is widely used; other items of clothing and shoes are washed with it, as well as carpets, furniture, etc.
But there is no need to resort to store-bought products; the laces can be easily cleaned using what you can find at home. In addition, if you clean your shoes and laces regularly, then they have time to become slightly dirty - in this case, you just need to wash them in the machine along with other things.
Caring for white laces
Dry the laces thoroughly and put them into shoes only after they are completely dry! It is advisable to dry the products in the air or in a well-ventilated area. Do not leave laces in direct ultraviolet light or dry items using radiators, radiators or electrical appliances, otherwise they will turn yellow.
To make the material less dirty, iron the items after drying with a hot iron. After ironing, the structure of the fabric will become smooth and closed, which will protect it from dirt and dust. In addition, the products will be easier and faster to wash.
To preserve the aesthetics, physical properties, whiteness and cleanliness of sneakers and laces for a long time, before the first use, treat the products with a special spray that repels moisture and protects against dirt. And how to clean white sneakers and sneakers, see the link.
Why do you need to boil laundry?
By boiling you can not only achieve whiteness, this method allows you to get rid of stains. Boiling water helps to disinfect things and cope with many infections. For example, when boiling they die:
- influenza viruses - almost instantly;
- pathogens of hepatitis B and C – in an hour;
- anthrax bacilli and even spores - in an hour;
- spore-forming tetanus bacillus and spores – after 3 hours;
- Staphylococcus aureus, which causes mastitis and severe illness in infants - almost instantly;
- fungi that cause fungal diseases.
It is useful to treat underwear in this way after a stay in the hospital or maternity hospital. It is recommended to disinfect towels by boiling after visiting a public bath, swimming pool or beach. This method is also good if there is an allergy sufferer in the family who cannot stand the smell of washing powder, because you can boil laundry with soda or laundry soap.
By boiling laundry, you can destroy clothing lice and their larvae - nits. This turns out to be relevant after the child’s stay in the camp where such a problem arose. It will destroy boiling water and dust mites, which thrive in house dust and bedding, causing inflammatory diseases of the skin and eyes.
The disadvantage of boiling is that only products made from natural fibers can be subjected to it. Synthetic fabrics will lose their original structure and become unsuitable for use. Some things made from natural raw materials are also at risk. These include clothing and bedspreads made of wool. An inadvertently boiled sweater can shrink by several sizes or even turn into something like a felt boot.
However, boiling laundry is useful if a child or adult cannot tolerate washing powders. Allergy sufferers are advised to wear items made from natural fabrics, and many of them can be washed well and bleached by boiling.
Useful tips
- Don’t forget that sneakers are dirty not only on the outside, but also on the inside - apply all products to the inside surface too, if you haven’t soaked the shoes.
- Do not use oily products such as kerosene and gasoline for cleaning - they can completely damage the fabric.
- After each wear, wipe your sneakers with a damp cloth so that dirt is less absorbed into the material.
- Remove black stripes on the skin with a regular office eraser.
- Do not speed up the drying process with a hairdryer or in any other way - this can damage the fabric or skin.
When is the best time to buy new ones?
Cause | Description |
Lost form | If the laces have stretched or “got like an accordion”, no amount of treatment will help them. Their long and thin shape is much more difficult to restore than a sweater and trousers. |
Even “Beliz” and “Vanish” do not wash off | It will not be possible to save products from such “ingrained” dirt. |
Just too lazy to wash it | The laces are cheap, but they look very similar. If there are unique species, white ones certainly are not one of them. Therefore, if the dust is very ingrained, it is easier to go to the store for a new pair. |