How to bleach white things: 5 proven methods

The language of color is great and multifaceted. Despite the apparent complexity, the basic symbolism of flowers is clear to everyone. Red, for example, has represented fire, rage, leadership and passion since ancient times. Yellow is the sunny color of hope and imagination. Blue expresses honesty, loyalty and freedom. However, the most versatile color of all is white. It symbolizes calm, cleanliness, silence and occupies an important place in the interior and wardrobe of an ordinary person.

The nature of white color is very contradictory: it is bright and at the same time restrained. White goes well with all representatives of the color spectrum, making them brighter and more saturated. Nevertheless, every housewife knows about the fragility of these properties. Frequent use and improper care of white clothes often lead to color distortion. And returning fabric to its former whiteness is not so easy. In this case, there are always all kinds of modern bleaching products, which are not always safe for fabric.

How can you bleach fabrics at home without using advertised chemicals? This article presents proven methods for each type of fabric. Before you begin, you should carefully examine the composition of the fabric indicated on the label.

Things to consider

Before bleaching, be sure to pay attention to the material of the product and the symbols on the label. It should indicate at what temperature the laundry can be washed. This is important because many of the methods below use boiling water. For example, synthetics cannot be cleaned in hot water, unlike linen and cotton fabrics.
If the item is expensive and you are afraid to experiment, it is better to take it to the dry cleaner.
If the chosen method did not help the first time, then after washing you can repeat the bleaching using the same or a different method.

How to soak laundry correctly

Regardless of which recipe you use, you must adhere to several rules. Carry out whitening following the following recommendations:

Pre-sort the fabric. Dark clothing items should not get into the basin with bleaching agents. There should be no colored clothes - only light ones. In addition, it is important to consider the degree of contamination.
Do not wash linen or cotton with synthetics. Sort fabrics depending on whether the material is natural or not. Also keep in mind that woolen clothes have no place where knitwear is soaked.
Prepare your bleach solution in advance. Whatever products are included in its composition, they must completely dissolve. Otherwise, streaks or stains may remain on the fabric.
Do not soak clothing in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius or for too long if they contain metal parts.
After washing, let the items dry completely. If you remove them while still wet, streaks may remain.

The appearance of yellowness on white towels, sheets, shirts and other things is a common phenomenon.

Note! For soaking you will need an enamel, wooden or galvanized container.

How to bleach white clothes with commercial bleach

What does it cope with? With almost everything: eliminates stains, yellowness, grayness and even helps restore color to faded items.
What fabrics is it suitable for? Depends on the composition.

There are a large number of different bleaches, chlorine- and oxygen-containing, on store shelves.
Products with chlorine work, but can thin the fabric and ruin the color. They are used only for linen and cotton.

Therefore, it is better to give preference to oxygen bleaches. They are suitable for all fabrics, even delicate ones, and do not require high temperatures. This is important if the item cannot be washed in hot water.

How to use bleaches may vary, so follow the instructions on the package. Such products and brands as “Persol”, ACE, “BOS”, “Ushasty Nyan”, Vanish, Amway have proven themselves to be excellent.

Most often, things need to be soaked for several hours in water with bleach and washed. Or add the product directly to the washing machine along with the powder.

If the stains are strong and the fabric allows it, you can boil the laundry with bleach for at least 15 minutes and wash it in a machine.

Bleaching cotton and linen

Most linen and cotton bleaching products contain chlorine. This toxic liquid copes with stains and yellowing with a bang, but leads to thinning of the material. Another significant disadvantage of chlorine-containing products is their high allergenicity.

There is a safer bleaching method for such fabrics. Ammonia perfectly removes foreign shades and does not affect the physical properties of the material. The solution is prepared in proportions of 4-6 tbsp. l. ammonia per 8-11 liters of water, and for particularly dirty fabric you can add 2-3 tablespoons of turpentine. For best results, the laundry should be soaked for 40 minutes. After this, it can be washed and refreshed in the usual way.

How to bleach white clothes with a mixture of powder, bleach, oil and soda

What does it cope with? This is a very effective way to combat yellowness and all kinds of stains. The product can remove even very old stains.
What fabrics is it suitable for? For cotton and linen.

Pour 1 cup (250 ml volume) of laundry detergent, 4 tablespoons of good powder bleach and 1 tablespoon of baking soda into a saucepan. Pour in 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil.

Pour 10 liters of boiling water, stir and put dry things there. The quantity of necessary components can be changed, maintaining the proportions.

Place the pan on low heat for 15–20 minutes and stir the laundry occasionally. Remove from heat and let sit overnight or 6-8 hours. Then wash the items in the machine.

Bleaching of delicate fabrics

Particular attention should be paid to products made of guipure and chiffon. Such things are bleached with a solution consisting of 9-11 liters of water mixed with 50-55 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide, as well as 25-35 ml of ammonia. They are kept for about 20-25 minutes and rinsed.

Oddly enough, you can bleach tulle using ordinary brilliant green. To do this, add 10 drops of brilliant green to a glass of cold water and stir. The resulting solution sits for 5-7 minutes until a precipitate forms, after which it should be mixed again. The liquid must be poured into a basin and the tulle rinsed under running water.

How to bleach white things with laundry soap and soda

What does it cope with? This method is as effective as the previous one. It helps perfectly even with old stains and yellowness.
What fabrics is it suitable for? For cotton and linen.

Place the laundry in a container with three liters of warm water. Rub each item thoroughly with laundry soap. Add 3 tablespoons of baking soda, stir and leave for several hours.

Place the pan over low heat and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The liquid will become colored as it absorbs contaminants.

Rinse the laundry in warm water. Do this until it comes out clean.

Chlorine-based products

All such products are available only in liquid form. There are about thirty types of chlorine bleaches on the market in the CIS countries, the most popular of which are:

"White";
"Santex"
"Ace";
"Mitsuey" (not to be confused with fabric softener of the same name)

The chlorine present in their composition can discolor ink on any type of fabric. To bleach black fabric , you need:

dilute 10-15 ml of bleach per 10 liters of water;
place the fabric in the container so that it is completely hidden in the bleach;
boil until the desired result is achieved, but not less than an hour.

In the same way, you can clean the item from contamination. But you don’t want the liquid to discolor the fabric when removing the stain, ? The concentration of the solution should be approximately 10-15% less than indicated on the package, and it should be boiled for no more than an hour and a half.

How to bleach white clothes with boric acid

What does it cope with? A solution of boric acid is not able to remove yellowness. But it will rid things of grayness and return them to their former whiteness. For example, it will refresh old washed bed linen.
What fabrics is it suitable for? For cotton and linen, as well as for synthetics, if it is not boiled.

Dissolve 2 tablespoons of boric acid in two liters of warm water. Leave the items in the mixture for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, and wash in the machine.

If the stains are old, boiling will help. To do this, place the container with things and the prepared solution on low heat. There is no need to soak the laundry. Boil for about 1 hour and throw in the washing machine.

Hydrogen peroxide

Don't know how to discolor blue fabric ? Hydrogen peroxide will help with this. It is inexpensive and freely sold in any pharmacy. The recipe is:

dilute the contents of a standard 100 ml bottle per liter of water;
immerse the fabric in the container;
boil according to the same scheme as in the case of chlorine bleaches.

The main advantage of the method is that the risk of material damage is much lower, although it takes significantly more time to achieve the desired result.

Special bleaches

There are different types of chemical bleaches. The choice of one of them is carried out depending on the intensity of pollution and the desired effect.

Optical

The active particles of such products settle on the fabric fibers, changing their color. They are able to reflect light, which visually gives the product freshness.

However, optical preparations do not eliminate stains, but only mask them.

Therefore, such products are used to refresh the whiteness of the fabric or in the presence of stains that cannot be removed by other methods.

Oxygen

When such a composition is dissolved in water, its granules disintegrate into soda and active elements. During this reaction, oxygen is released abundantly. It activates the oxidation process, which removes contaminants. The fabric brightens, streaks and stains disappear. Such bleaches can be used on any fabric; they practically do not cause allergies.

Chlorine bleaches

Such products not only eliminate yellowness and return fabrics to their original white color, but also disinfect clothes. However, chlorine is a toxic substance, so after bleaching the fabric must be rinsed several times and then washed.

Chemicals

If you trust exclusively industrial products, then you can use special bleaching chemicals to bleach synthetics. Fortunately, there are many of them today, but when using such chemistry, you should definitely take into account that not all bleaches are suitable for the material being described. Therefore, in order not to spoil synthetic clothing, do not forget to read the instructions for using chemicals.

To date, the following bleaching agents have proven their effectiveness:

Amwey Pre Wash Aerosol. It is sprayed onto the grayed fabric, after which the treated clothing is washed as usual. In some cases, the procedure needs to be repeated.
Amwey SA8 powder. It is used for regular washing of clothes in a washing machine.
Antipyatin soap. A budget option for whitening synthetics. This product is used to treat clothes directly fifteen minutes before washing.

In addition, oxygen bleaches “Vanish”, “Bos”, “Umka”, etc. are very popular today. These products have many advantages. They are environmentally friendly and absolutely safe for allergy sufferers. In addition, oxygen bleaches have very pleasant aromas and give positive results at any temperature. It is worth noting that such substances not only whiten synthetics, but also effectively remove stains if they exist. “Vanish”, “Umku” and “Bos” can be safely used for washing children’s clothes.

Basic washing rules

To prevent an item of a contrasting color from fading, you will have to wash it by hand, carefully, avoiding strong mechanical impact. When washing by machine, the risk of ruining the dress increases. Frequently washing black and white items is completely prohibited. Check the label.

Co-wash

When the dress is black, it is better to deal with the white collar separately by removing or removing it. If this is not possible, the following rules must be observed:

Use liquid detergent. On black clothing, dry powder will most likely leave light streaks.
Carefully study the composition of the detergent. The presence of bleaching components is unacceptable.
Check the water temperature - it should not exceed 30°C.
To reduce the intensity of washing, pre-soak the dress in warm water for 1-1.5 hours.
Rinse the item thoroughly and dry it. Only after this can you start bleaching the cuffs and collar.
Isolate the white parts of the clothing and carefully wet them. Apply bleach.
Keep track of the time. Always follow the instructions for working with household chemicals.
Rinse again, but this time only the treated white elements.

Separate wash

It is much easier to wash a black dress with a white collar and cuffs if they are detachable. But even in this case, a number of points need to be taken into account.

To wash the dress, use a special detergent for black clothes to prevent it from fading. For removable parts - a means to maintain whiteness.
Baby soap is great for removing dark spots on the inside of the collar.
You should be careful with bleach and cheap bleaches. If used frequently, they can lead to an undesirable effect: the white parts will turn yellow.
Be gentle with frequently washed items. They may look shabby from too many washes.

How to remove old stains

A dress that has been taken out of the closet for the first time in a long time may be distressed by old stains of food, sweat, or simply yellow stains on the collar and cuffs. Don't rush to throw away the item. There are effective ways to deal with such stains, you just need to follow important rules:

Use the same products as for removing fresh stains. But don’t expect them to help the first time. Most likely, you will need to perform whitening procedures twice or use several different products.
Before using the product on the visible part of the collar, you need to test it from the inside and wait a few minutes to make sure there is no negative effect on the fabric.
You can keep things in bleaching solutions a little longer, but do not increase the mechanical impact. This will lead to tissue destruction.

For deep-seated stains, it is better to purchase a high-quality stain remover. It won't be cheap, but it will quickly and easily put your favorite dress in order.