| Author | Content |
Lala_Jane
North West, OH
Zone 5b
February 8, 2008
2:53 AM | I have neglected to wash the thick, white, fluffy "company" towels in a timely fashion and now they are dingy on the outside. You know the towels I'm talking about. The ones that hang in the corner back by the shower that nobody actually ever uses. (What the heck is the point of that anyway?) I'm sure a lot of it is just everyday dust, but there is also a smoker in the house so I'm betting there's some smoke / nicotine coming into play here too.
Does anybody have any ideas how to whiten these babies back up? My mom swears by powdered dish washing detergent & dry bleach (didn't work) and an online search told me to use vinegar or alcohol (which didn't work either).
These really ARE nice (expensive) towels that I think I shall start using instead of saving for the imaginary company. But I would love to bring them back to their pristine state before doing so.
Any and all suggestions apprecated! |
threegardeners
North Augusta, ON
Zone 5a
February 8, 2008
9:47 AM | My Mom always swears by hanging whites out on the clothes line to freeze, it's supposed to whiten them up again. Is it freezing there? |
Lala_Jane
North West, OH
Zone 5b
February 8, 2008
11:28 AM | Is it freezing here? It is, but it might not be tomorrow. But it will be the day after that. That is if we're not experiencing torrential rains and flooding. Then it will be freezing with 3 feet of snow.
Sorry, LOL. The weather here has been so bizarre this winter that I guess I went off on a tangent. I will try the frozen towel trick and see what happens. Thanks for the tip! |
ecrane3
Dublin, CA
Zone 9a
February 8, 2008
11:45 AM | If they're white, why wouldn't you just use some plain old liquid bleach when you wash them? (regular bleach, not one of the color-safe ones...they don't whiten as well). The dry bleaches are also the color-safe kind which is probably why they didn't do well for you, but real bleach should work just fine (and if it doesn't, then nothing will!) |
Lala_Jane
North West, OH
Zone 5b
February 8, 2008
12:26 PM | If that's the case we're at "nothing will." Maybe with repeated washings (with bleach) they will continue to lighten, but you can definitely tell which side of the towels faced "out" and where they were folded when hanging on the rack. |
ecrane3
Dublin, CA
Zone 9a
February 8, 2008
10:31 PM | But have you used real bleach? You mentioned above using dry bleach, all the dry bleaches are the color-safe sort and they don't whiten nearly as well. I'm talking about liquid bleach, sodium hypochlorite, that's the one that if it doesn't work nothing will. I just want to make sure we're not talking about different sorts of bleach here. |
Lala_Jane
North West, OH
Zone 5b
February 9, 2008
10:50 AM | Yeah, liquid bleach was my first try before I went hither and yon looking for the magic solution. I generally use regular bleach with hot water as SOP when washing whites. Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned that at the onset. I'll keep at it though. Maybe with repetition they will keep lightening.
(spelling)
This message was edited Feb 9, 2008 10:23 AM |
slowtornado
Belle Plaine, KS
February 10, 2008
12:14 AM | Hi there, I stopped using liquid bleach everytime on the whites. I used to do towels, socks and t-shirts in the same load. But I noticed too much bleaching makes them yellow. Now I use Oxy-Clean in every load with hot water. The white's seem to recover and are as bright as new. On really dirty or dingy whites I let them soak overnite. Then run them again with detergent. Bleach also causes cotton to wear out quicker. And be careful with the freezing, they will actually break if they're frozen solid.
Lora☺
edited to add *with hot water*.
This message was edited Feb 9, 2008 10:17 PM |
Lala_Jane
North West, OH
Zone 5b
February 10, 2008
10:31 AM | Oxy-Clean....I'll give it a try, thanks! |
sugarweed
Jacksonville, FL
Zone 9a
March 10, 2008
10:19 PM | Lala did that work?
I know that I mixed some and spilled it fresh on a floor several years ago.
I then got distracted and the oxyclean really cleaned where it was spilled and not cleaned up.
;) |
nanbernier
St. Robert, MO
Zone 5b
April 14, 2008
9:52 AM | Boiling in bleach water or peroxide water and laying it on bushes or green grass in the sunshine to dry.(you need the chloriphil from green leaves to react with the sun to whiten) After it is whitened with peroxide it can look kind of yellow (yeah, it sounds weird) but a quick wash will clean all the residue out. I learned these tricks from a gal that grew up in a country that didn't have the washers, electricty, grocery stores... her DH and young children wore white all the time and we lived in a state that had the worst red clay... It works every time for me, tho' I only do it when regular washing with bleach won't work.
G'Luck
Nan |
ardesia
Saint Helena Island, SC
April 23, 2008
10:57 AM | Has anyone else noticed that bleach does not work as well anymore? I have 100% cotton white towels and I can't get the spots and stains out of them. In the past I always used white because you could always bleach them to make them look good again but no more. I wonder if the percentage of chlorine has been reduced. |
ecrane3
Dublin, CA
Zone 9a
April 23, 2008
11:10 AM | I'd check the label and make sure you're using the amount they recommend--if they changed the concentration maybe now you're supposed to add more to the load for best whitening. Or try adding just a pinch more the next time you do laundry and see if that helps. |
ardesia
Saint Helena Island, SC
April 23, 2008
11:15 AM | Actually tried all that and all the other stuff like oxy clean, etc. Ever since Phil had the heart attack he is on blood thinners and he bleeds at the drop of a hat. If he scratches a mosquito bite he practically needs a transfusion. Just drying himself after a shower can cause bleeding if he wipes off a scab or something. If I can get to the towels quickly enough peroxide works well but I'm not always around.
I'm considering dark towels but they always take on a faded look so quickly. |
Bubba_MoCity
Missouri City, TX
April 23, 2008
2:42 PM | It works on everything else, so it might work on towels - Greased Lightning. HD and Lowe's and most $$ stores have it. |
McGlory
Southeast, NE
Zone 5a
April 23, 2008
2:45 PM | A couple of years ago an old farmer told Handsome Man to use Cascade dishwasher detergent. I mix hot water and detergent in the sink and let stuff soak for a day. It really has taken out everything. I used it on some old white tea towels, and they are quite bright now! |
ardesia
Saint Helena Island, SC
April 23, 2008
4:42 PM |
I'm going to try that one tonight. |
ardesia
Saint Helena Island, SC
May 4, 2008
7:58 PM | OK, I tried soaking one towel in the Cascade dishwasher stuff and it was amazing how it got the old stains out. Thinking I might be on to something I did a whole load of whites in the machine using Cascade instead of regular laundry detergent. Once again, I was stunned by how it got old stains out and the biggest surprise was how soft and fluffy the towels were. I felt like I was in an old 1950's detergent commercial.
Today I am soaking an antique linen pillowcase in Cascade. It was all brown with age and had nasty stains from being stored in a damp location.
Thanks, McGlory - by stock in Cascade, I'll be using a lot of it. LOL
|
McGlory
Southeast, NE
Zone 5a
May 4, 2008
9:22 PM | Glad it worked for you! I'd never thought of using it in the machine. Off to buy stock now. :-) |
ecrane3
Dublin, CA
Zone 9a
May 4, 2008
9:27 PM | Never thought of using it for washing clothes! I guess it makes sense, they're both appliances that you stick stuff in and it runs water around. Wonder what laundry detergent would do to the dishes? LOL
Just be careful and only use it on the whites, I don't think the bleaching agents in the dishwasher detergents are the color safe kind, so it may do bad things to your colored clothes. |
ardesia
Saint Helena Island, SC
May 4, 2008
10:05 PM | I thought of that too and won't take a chance. The stuff is designed for hard surfaces not fabric and I suspect it has lots of water softeners to help prevent water spots on glasses, etc and that must have really helped in the laundry. |
Gourd
Antoine Mesilla Park/Mesquite, NM
Zone 7b
July 15, 2008
10:59 AM | I came here for something else but love the cascade solution.. do you all think it will work with well water, all my stuff here is turning yellowish and sometimes the bleach works and sometimes stuff comes out even worse, I'm thinking that it just depends on what type of water is in the well on that day.. I hate to stop using white sheets, towels, etc.. it has ruined almost all our towels. They look horrible. putting cascade on my shopping list..
|
nanbernier
St. Robert, MO
Zone 5b
July 15, 2008
11:19 AM | I have white curtains that sat on the shelf for 5 years and yellowed beyond beleif. This soaking overnight and washing in dishwasher detergent works wonderfuly well.
Gourd, we need to run out and buy stock in this stuff.
|
slowtornado
Belle Plaine, KS
July 21, 2008
11:20 PM | LOL by the end of this thread. But I have to warn you NOT to use anything but dishwasher detergent in the D/W. D/W det. does not suds because the machine is used under pressure and hot water. Sink soap etc. makes suds, the pressure will cause the seals to leak. Suds & water everywhere. It wasnt my machine, but I witnessed the aftermath & mopping!
LOL^_^lora
BTW, getting Cascade too. |
psychw2
Boise, ID
Zone 6a
July 21, 2008
11:28 PM | AAAAAAAalllllllright!!! I have some beautiful Battenburg lace that has yellowed. I kept it because I just couldn't bear to part with it... gonna try some Cascade in the washing machine! |