Wearing anything white can make you instantly look clean, fresh and elegant. It’s the most probable reason why white clothes have become your wardrobe staple and are put on heavy rotation—white tees, white dresses, white button-downs, white pants, name it. Who can blame you, though? White clothes feel as cool and comfortable as they look. They don’t absorb as much heat as coloured fabrics.
But, while your whites are nice and crisp at first, the downside is that they can also stain fast just after a few uses. The biggest challenge is keeping them looking as immaculate as when they were brand new. With proper care, this doesn’t have to be the case, though.
Before you reach for the bleach—which by the way, gradually weakens and damages your clothes—check out these tips to keep your whites white without the harmful chemicals.
How to Keep White Clothes White
The basic rule in doing the laundry is to separate the whites and colours, and for an obvious reason: you don’t want any colour staining your whites. White clothes have to be washed together in a separate load from your colours.
- Washing Your White Clothes
Sort your whites properly. Keep your white clothes separate from the dark. Take a cue from the best laundry service singapore: keep heavy fabrics away from the lighter ones, and the heavily soiled from the lightly soiled. It’s also better to wash your towels on a separate load.
Read the care instructions. What works for one may not for another. So, before anything else, make sure you read the washing instructions on the label. It doesn’t hurt either to patch tests first to avoid any damage.
Pre-soak your whites. This process loosens up the dirt and stains on your clothes so they are easier to remove during washing. Fill your washing machine or tub with warm water, dissolve your detergent, and let your clothes soak in it for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
- Treating Stains
Stains and spills are a fact of life and knowing how to remove them is a skill that will prove useful regardless of how old you get.
Treat stains immediately. You’ll have the best chance to remove stains if you treat them straight away. Use a vinegar solution (one-part vinegar to one-part water) to blot the stain. Follow this with a solution of diluted dish soap then rinse.
Try a cold rinse. Egg, vomit, and blood are some types of protein stains that could damage your clothes. They are better washed and rinsed with cold water—otherwise, hot water can cook the protein and make it even harder, if not impossible, to remove.
Avoid rubbing stains. When treating stains, make sure to work into the fabric in circular motions. This is to ensure that you don’t spread the stain further onto the clothes, making it more difficult to clean.
- Storing Your White Clothes
Invest in quality hangers. Although cheap, wire hangers can be flimsy and thin that they don’t provide enough support to keep your clothes in good shape. Use wooden hangers instead to prevent any related damage.
Store your clothes in a cool, dry place. Much like shoes and bags, clothes are also targets of mold and mildew growth in damp environments. They not only result in a foul odour but can also cause damage to your clothes and serious health issues.
Remove clothes in plastic dry cleaning bags. When your clothes are freshly out from the dry cleaners, they are usually covered in plastic bags to keep them dry and stain-free—at least until you get home. But, make sure to remove them otherwise, the material could trap heat and moisture that can damage your clothes.
What Causes Yellow Stains & How to Remove Them
It’s not just accidental spills that can stain your white clothes but many other products you use on your body—toothpaste, soap, deodorants, etc. Even your makeup, perfumes, and your sweat can leave patches of stains when they come in contact with your clothes. Their appearance only becomes more apparent as they age or are exposed to heat.
But why do stored clothes turn yellow? As expert laundry cleaners would say, it is the result of a chemical reaction between chlorine bleach and the fibres of your clothes. As the bleach starts to break down the fibres, it also causes them to turn yellow. It happens more in synthetic materials but natural fabrics are no exception—cotton and linen may start to oxidise as well when stored for a long time.
The fact that many of your clothes spend more time in storage than they do on you also doesn’t help in preventing yellow stains. The repeated washing and exposure to sunlight could have slowed down the yellowing process, if not prevented entirely.
How to Whiten Your Whites
So, what can you do other than dispose of your discoloured white clothes? Assuming that you’ve already re-washed your clothes and bleach is a no-go, below are some tricks you can do to restore your clothing.
Sun Bleaching
Sunlight is nature’s bleaching solution. To sun bleach, lay your wet clothes out as flat as possible, in a way that every part of the fabric will receive direct sunlight. It may take more than one sun bleaching to see your clothes whitened.
Natural Whitening Remedies
If you need some extra bleaching powder, you may also try some household remedies such as adding lemon juice to your laundry. Afterward, rinse your clothes with a cup of white vinegar added to the water. Hang your clothes outside under the sun to dry.
Professional Laundry
Skip the hassle and avoid the potential risks associated with DIY solutions by letting the professionals do your laundry. A laundry expert is trained and equipped with professional-grade solutions to get rid of the stains that you cannot. Using such a service not only saves you time but also ensures that your clothes are treated in the safest and most effective way possible without the potential damage.
Do you have any other tips for maintaining your white clothes? Let us know by leaving a comment.
