How Do I Make My White's WHITE Again?

i love love love oxy clean. it really gets the stains out and whitens clothes. it seems for us that clorox actually tends to yellow our clothes over time. good luck. now to see what other mommas have to say on the topic!

2 moms found this helpful

Hi K. - I just had to turn my son's shirt white again. He wore it in a river too and it turned khaki. I tried to bleach it but didn't work so I ran to buy oxiclean and after several attempts it's white again. I left the shirt soaking overnight with about 3 big scoops of oxiclean, poured bleach the next day and ran the washing cycle. After that I wash it again with my whites using oxiclean and/or clorox. There were a couple of stains left so I just spray bleach on them and washed. My son is so happy I was able to save his shirt ( I was about to toss it in trash can).
It took about 3 to 4 washes but it did work!

2 moms found this helpful

I add OxiClean to all of my loads of laundry. To really get something white, add a cup of white vinegar to the load of laundry. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant, deodorizer, and gets your whites, white again, but doesn't affect the color clothes.

After Hurricane Ike flooded our house with over 4 feet of water, I took all of our clothes, towels, sheets, blankets (including handmade quilts) back to my parents and washed them in detergent, oxiclean, and vinegar. They came out perfectly. The whites had never been whiter, our hard water in Galveston makes it difficult to keep clothes white. Other than clothing that had other clothes faded on it (i.e. the white sweater that was hanging next to the red sweater now has faded pink spots on one side), all stains, smells, etc. came out.

Vinegar can be mixed with water to clean EVERYTHING in your house. It is a natural cleanser that is not harmful to you, your family, or pets. I use it to clean floors, carpets, countertops, bathrooms, etc.

1 mom found this helpful

I have for several years used the product oxiclean. I put all the whites in warm water with the soap and double dose of the oxiclean and soak either over night for for several hours. This even helps with those marks left on underwear and ucky socks.

1 mom found this helpful

If none of those work, try denture tablets. The fizzy kind. Get a bucket and throw in the tablets, I usually use 2-3 tablets per gallon of water. Let them soak overnight and then wash them. My daughter used my christening gown that had been in my mom's closet for 30 years. It was yellow. We soaked it for three days, using new water each day. It was beautiful after that. Since then, I use it periodically for other white things that have lost their whiteness.

1 mom found this helpful

We had the same problem, but ours was with white towels. We use Oxy Clean in our wash, and we can really tell the difference.

1 mom found this helpful

My mom swears by BIZ, I use oxy clean as well.

Load your washer up with hot, hot water and run it so the oxy clean is dispersed/disolved. Try to soak clothes over night.

I have an HE washer so I can't soak overnight. I instead will fill a bucket with hot water and mix in the oxy and add clothes. I do this with sneakers and they come out looking GREAT! (may loosen the glue on some sneakers so watch it).

Lastly, RIT dye has something that will make your whites that "ultra-blue white" color like when they were new. Just look by the RIT dye section at the store and you should see it.

1 mom found this helpful

I recently read a tip that said to add the bleach five minutes after the wash cycle starts. I've tried it and it does work better. The piece said that if you put it in at the same time as the detergent they're actually working against each other in the beginning of the cycle.

1 mom found this helpful

I don't really have this problem, but my SIL swears by this stuff called "Iron Out". I think thats the name. Its at Walmart where the pipe/plumbing cleaners are. Don't know why because it is for clothes. I have seen it at other stores too. Good luck...

1 mom found this helpful

I don' know how to make them white again, but to keep them white I wash like normal on hot with bleach, THEN I run a second cycle with nothing, on cold, it rinses out out all the left over residue.
Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

I do not use chlorine bleach. I use colorsafe bleach and an enzyme detergent booster. Works for me.

1 mom found this helpful

Rit makes a product called "Color Brightener and Whitener." I have used it successfully. (in the dye section) Others mentioned might work too. Good lluck

1 mom found this helpful

I've had success with adding 1 cup of Baking Soda to the wash, along with the bleach and detergent as well. Also, an extra rinse cycle at the end, helps too. Best of luck!

1 mom found this helpful

My washing machine allows me to add several things at the beginning of the wash and it adds it to the cycle as needed. I use only 1/3 cup of bleach, anything more will kind of yellow it ... and I add oxyclean powder! I swear by that stuff!!! My teenage son loves to walk outside with just his socks, and this process always manages to make me look like a super mom by getting out all the grunge! Hope this helps!!

For solid whites I use a powder called Iron Out. It can usually be found at Wal-Mart and it is normally on the bottom shelf and not a lot of it. Anyhow, throw your whites in the washer with warm or hot water and about 1/4 cup of Iron Out. Let them soak for a little while (5-10 mins is probably enough, but I usually forget about them and it turns into 30+, lol) then start your washer and add your detergent and they will be as white as the day you bought them! If you put things in there that have some color on them odds are that the color will change, so be careful.

Good luck in whatever you try!!

I take a big pan and fill it with water and then drop in a Tide stain release capsule in it and let it sit for an hour or so and it does wonders for my boys socks.

One rather old fasioned remedy you can try is bluing. It is usually sold under the mrs. Stewarts brand, but any will do. Follow the directions on the label, and see if that helps.

Wow! I am so impressed. I was going to say "Once it's been in the river, it's never going to be white again." but apparently I am not as determined as these other moms. Guess I need to get me some OxiClean. Learn something new every day.

Rit. To me its the best. They even make products for other colors... like when your blacks start turning grey, and your blues aren't so blue... I was in the Navy and we used one of their products for our dungarees and then we used the other to keep our white's white. After awhile our dress uniforms would yellow and this would fix it right up.